Coolant Leak From behind the block

[CDNTurboZ]

I have noticed this for the last few days, after I come to a stop off the highway or in the city I will get some smoke coming from under that hood. I have checked it when the car is idling and see no immediate leaks. I have left the car overnight in the garage and there is barely any coolant on the ground. Where could it be coming from? By the end of my day the overflow bottle is pretty close to empty, but the rad is full. (This is after driving about 100 km)

freeze plugs??
-how hard are they to replace ?

turbo coolant lines?(i suspect this may be it)
-do I have to remove the head to redo the lines?

any help would be great (I can't keep topping off coolant every day)
thanks
steve

[turbovanman²]

I would jack up the car and look for the telltale green/brown crusty trail. Freeze plugs are not bad but on your back, hard to get a good hit, plus the DP and starter has to be removed. The lines you should be able to do on the car but thats if they are not seized or break off in the turbo!

[CDNTurboZ]

I would jack up the car and look for the telltale green/brown crusty trail. Freeze plugs are not bad but on your back, hard to get a good hit, plus the DP and starter has to be removed. The lines you should be able to do on the car but thats if they are not seized or break off in the turbo!

sounds fun lol:yuck: , I'll have to check when I get the car home I know there was coolant on the tranny a bit, and on the starter:yuck: (went out to the car at university today, and saw a big puddle of coolant..... looks like I have two leaks now, this one appers to be coming from the heater hose which I just replaced maybe a month ago. I don't think this the original leak that I was lookingfor as this is right at the rad, I don't think it could spray that far.

I'll have to walk over to CDN tire to buy some cheap coolant, fill it up and limp home. Should be an interesting afternoon.....:p

[cordes]

My coolant feed line on the shadow was leaking something fearce at one time. Once I tightened down the line all was well again, but man did I run through a couple jugs of coolant for a couple of days.

[CDNTurboZ]

well I just got home, I walked for 30 min to superstore to get some coolant , filled it up and drove home. it held not too bad, good thing it is still cold here No the task of finding the leaks, after I parked it in the garage just now there already is a big puddle of coolant starting......

[CDNTurboZ]

well we took a look at the car tonight, it appears that the head is cracked by the number 4 cylinder. It might also be the exhaust stud, does the last exhaust stud on the number 4 cylinder pass throught the water jacket??
Either way I'll be removing the head tommorrow morning and replacing the gaskets,etc.

One other question, I have another good 86 head that I want to put on, but it has the roller cam on it. Will I have to change the cam gears?? This good 86head came from a previous 86 turbo z that I had.

[Dave]

well we took a look at the car tonight, it appears that the head is cracked by the number 4 cylinder. It might also be the exhaust stud, does the last exhaust stud on the number 4 cylinder pass throught the water jacket??
Either way I'll be removing the head tommorrow morning and replacing the gaskets,etc.

One other question, I have another good 86 head that I want to put on, but it has the roller cam on it. Will I have to change the cam gears?? This good 86head came from a previous 86 turbo z that I had.

Good. :thumb: Headgasket was my guess.

As for the 86 head, as long as it has a round tooth (I think) gear than yes it will work. It may be round tooth or square tooth, I forget which years what came with what. Anyone verify?

[turbovanman²]

well we took a look at the car tonight, it appears that the head is cracked by the number 4 cylinder. It might also be the exhaust stud, does the last exhaust stud on the number 4 cylinder pass throught the water jacket??
Either way I'll be removing the head tommorrow morning and replacing the gaskets,etc.

One other question, I have another good 86 head that I want to put on, but it has the roller cam on it. Will I have to change the cam gears?? This good 86head came from a previous 86 turbo z that I had.

Its probably the exhaust manifold studs leaking, all the lower ones go into the coolant jacket. I have never seen a head crack in that area but you could be the first, :o

Just use the cam gear that came on your 86, I believe this will retard your cam timing 4deg due to the fact the roller cam is ground differently. I really should write this down.

[CDNTurboZ]

Ok today we finally got the head off, bought all the gaskets, etc. Pistons look good, but there is a lot of black carbon debris caked on them(i am assuming this is bad from the bad gas the car had in it) The new head got a new intake/exhaust gasket. I finally got the turbo off the old exhaust manifold (there is no shaft play:thumb: )

I have a few more questions for tommorrows reassembly:

-what should I put on the intake and exhaust studs?? some sort or sealant?
-how about the new turbo lines, I bought some new ones a while ago (thanks Garret:D ) should I use some sealer on them as well?

-now we have a new timing belt we want to install as well, we haven't moved anything, do I need a timing light??


now when you mean 4 degrees, thats the cam timing right? so how would I set it to 4??


also why exactly do you need a timing light to do the timing? My dad and I both are clueless when it comes to timing,
-any tips, etc would be great
steve

[turbovanman²]

Ok today we finally got the head off, bought all the gaskets, etc. Pistons look good, but there is a lot of black carbon debris caked on them(i am assuming this is bad from the bad gas the car had in it) The new head got a new intake/exhaust gasket. I finally got the turbo off the old exhaust manifold (there is no shaft play:thumb: )

I have a few more questions for tommorrows reassembly:

-what should I put on the intake and exhaust studs?? some sort or sealant?
-how about the new turbo lines, I bought some new ones a while ago (thanks Garret:D ) should I use some sealer on them as well?

-now we have a new timing belt we want to install as well, we haven't moved anything, do I need a timing light??


now when you mean 4 degrees, thats the cam timing right? so how would I set it to 4??


also why exactly do you need a timing light to do the timing? My dad and I both are clueless when it comes to timing,
-any tips, etc would be great
steve


First off, take the head to a machine shop and have it pressure tested, if it checks good, have it planed.

Only the exhaust studs need sealant, use Permatex liquid teflon. Intake bolts can go in dry. You should replace all the exhaust studs as they get brittle with age. Only coat the pipe threads with sealant, the hose fittings are AN and will seal dry.

Use a new MP 005 head gasket and new bolts.

You need a timing light to set the distributor timing-this should always be checked after head or timing belt work. Hook up the pickup to #1 cylinder, unplug the coolant sensor and wait for the coolant fan to kick on, look in the window on top of the trans-you want 12 deg. If its more or less, loosen the distributor bolt and move dist until you get 12. Tighten, recheck and then hook up coolant sensor. Thats it.

Make sure to change the oil BEFORE you start it, otherwise all that crap you put into the oil will get churned up and damage the bearings.

[CDNTurboZ]

Thanks for the help guys
well today we installed the new intake, and exhaust manifold on the head, bolted everything on, and torqued the head down. (it wasn't too hard actually) we finished hooking up all the turbo coolant lines, and heater lines, modified the thermostat (according to thedodgegarage)tonight, and hopefully tommorrow I'll put the new vacuum lines in and change the timing belt.

I turns out one of the previous owners took out the head stud at the transmission end of the head. and for some reason drilled out the bolt and put this massive 1/2 bolt on there instead:mad: The bolt literally came off by hand.... Looks like the old head is junk, not a big deal as I have like 3 spares:thumb: This roller cam hopefully should make a difference!

[CDNTurboZ]

Well I have done some searching and if you use a 88 roller cam you just set the timing to stock.:confused:

How do I know what year cam I have?? is there a way to tell if it is a turbo roller or n/a roller cam?? I quickly looked over the cam and can't see any year on it.

thanks again

edit: did some reading on td.com and found out that you can't id cams :o

[turbovanman²]

Well I have done some searching and if you use a 88 roller cam you just set the timing to stock.:confused:



Just set timing to stock.

[CDNTurboZ]

Well we finally got some time over the last few nights to finish everything up. Tonight we started up the car and it runs not too bad. Only one leak, coming from the turbo coolant line, hopefully I'll tighten it up tommorrow.

I think we'll have to mess with the distributor timing.

I think it is running a bit too rich (I left the airbox off) would that cause it? I know it is running rich as the exhaust from the car burns your eyes.....:yuck:

[turbovanman²]

Triple check vacuum lines to MAP. Cam timing off, coolant sensor bad-is the fan running all the time?