Burning coolant bad

pirotec354 · May 19, 2009

Ok guys im in need of some serious help or ideas. My car is burning coolant pretty bad. I thought that it might be the lower intake gaskets so i changed those THREE times, but it still did the same thing. So after trying that and having no luck, I went and got my lower intake checked to see if it was warped, and it was so I had it milled. They took .010 off of one side and .007 off of the other side. Soo I went and installed it yet again and its still burning coolant just not as bad. Im pretty sure its not head gaskets either b/c I just changed those about a month and a half ago and I did a compression check on every cylinder and everything checked out. And also it seems to have an ungodly amount of pressure on the system. I can squeeze the upper radiator hose and its almost as solid as a rock. Oh and by the way, the coolant was coming in one of the center ports of the lower intake, which i thought was odd. But damn, im so tired of this. I just want to be able to drive it again. And im sick of paying full coverage on something i cant even drive. Thanks in advance guys.
-Justin

CC'S95GT · May 19, 2009

head gaskets! it is possible for a head gasket to leak: coolant to oil, oil to coolant, oil to exhaust, coolant to exhaust. also between cylinders. best thing to do is a cylinder leak down test. (similiar to a compression test but better) that will tell you where your leakage is going.

95-stang · May 19, 2009

" I can squeeze the upper radiator hose and its almost as solid as a rock"

Mine too, though mine uses no coolant at all and never overheats. Weird.

pirotec354 · May 19, 2009

DESERTCOX05 said:
head gaskets! it is possible for a head gasket to leak: coolant to oil, oil to coolant, oil to exhaust, coolant to exhaust. also between cylinders. best thing to do is a cylinder leak down test. (similiar to a compression test but better) that will tell you where your leakage is going.

I guess I will try that when I get access to a leakdown tester, but I did a compression test two days ago and every cylinder was at 150 and within 10% of each other. I just doont get how it could be a head gasket when it ran just fine before I took it apart. I originally took the intake of to replace the gaskets because I had a vacuum leak, and after it was put back together, it started doing this.

95-stang · May 20, 2009

Well if it helps mine did this hose thing on my old stock motor and now my crate motor and i'm suspecting the intake, its the only thing i used on both motors, everything else was renewed.
This intake upper\lower was genuine Ford SVO, unused and in a box so whether its straight i have no idea, but i'm thinking of replacing it as there's no one round my area who could true it up.
I'm assuming somewhere its blowing a little air into the system enough to pressure the hose but nothing else, its doing my head in as i've tried 2 types of intake gasket and no improvement.

pirotec354 · May 20, 2009

Yea that sucks man, hopefully you can get it fixed. What type of gaskets are you using? Well anyways Im going to just tear my heads off again i guess and replace the head gaskets and maybe get some arp head studs instead of the bolt kit. My uncle will machine the heads for free if I need them done, so that will save me a little money. I just want this thing fixed, so this way i'll just be eliminating any guessing games. Thanks for the replies guys.
-Justin

snakebit95 · May 20, 2009

Are you torquing the intake bolts in the order recommended by Ford? If so, how tight are you torquing them? Are you torquing them all in very small increments, or torquing them to spec with one or two cycles? If done properly, it will take 7-8 cycles to properly torque all of the intake bolts evenly. It does not take a lot of over-torque to slightly lift a head and cause a leak either. If I remember correctly, 20 FT∙LBS is about the highest you want to torque them.

94Snake · May 23, 2009

you don't actually need a leakdown tester to test the cylinders for this, but you do need access to a compressor of some sort, nothing big, and only about 20 psi in the lines. install your compression test set like you normally would except pull the valve stem (like in a tire) out of the of the rubber tube on the end that threads into the spark plug adapter. it will allow air out of the cylinder but not back into it if it remains installed. make sure your car is in neutral, remove the radiator cap and make sure that both the intake valve and exhaust valve are closed on the cylinder your testing and plug the compressor directly into the rubber tube. the cylinder will fill with air and if your head gasket is busted near a water jacket, bubbles will begin to rise in the radiator. also you can listen intake tube and your exhaust to see if your valves are leaking too, if you hear air going into the oil pan that's normal unless it really seems like an excessive amount when compared to the other 7 cylinders. hopefully this makes sense for you, also one more thing, since your intake is now milled, wouldn't that throw off the alignment of the intake to heads slightly? Because now the inake will sit slightly lower than it used to. Just wondering.