billmerbach

Well my friend came over brought me 5 gallons of premium gas.....put it in and go. Well me being the dummy I am forgot to hook back up the lower radiator hose and fill it up. Needless to say I blew a head gasket. No water in the oil but I'm building up pressure and bubbles in the radiator. I got the stuff to fix it but I just feel horrible and want to cry/die.


Let the insults begin.

oldcutlass

Hmmmm, we learn by our mistakes. I bet you won't do it again. Hopefully nothing major.

oldstata

Head gasket pretty easy fix you can have it done in a day! Just make sure your push rods and rockers go back where they were. Take your time mark your distributor or just bring it to TDC and you will be fine

Edit : have the heads checked this will most likely be your down time

Octania

"Hmmmm, we learn by our mistakes."

Some days I feel like all I do is "learn"

heh

btw, that is good for a nomination but not necessarily the award.

Wood

Had a buddy change oil in his 01 camaro one time. Starts it up after and sees no oil pressure. He forgot to put the new oil in! Engine turned out to be okay but he ran in for a good 15 seconds wihout ANY oil. Needless to say there is definitely compitition for this "award" haha (myself included..)

billmerbach

Well only ran it less than 2miles and there was still a little water in the block but yea I'm gonna check it out I feel so stupid oh wait I am

z11375ss

No temp gauge I assume. I feel for you man.

Tedd Thompson

No water, no temp gauge, it needs something in there to register other wise it just reads a big C....Tedd

m371961

Me? I never do anything dumb, (and tell on myself).

Macadoo

Ever tried priming your engine without the oil filter on? No danger of damage but I think I STILL have oil under my toe nails.
You'll bounce back, Bill. We all make mistakes.

rcdynamic88

"We learn from our mistakes...you ought to be a fricking genius by now son!"

I remember when my Dad said that line to me after a string of bad decisions.

z11375ss

I remember one time putting a BBC into a Buick Skylark. It had pretty much NO fittings in the oil plug screws in the block, oil everywhere! I had put in a very long day installing this motor. My good friend told me to clean everything up, tools included. Put everything away, and let's get some dinner. Got the plugs, put them in, had the garage all cleaned, nothing to step on etc, fired that sucker up and broke in the cam. Best advice ever. When you are tired and things are going a little crazy, take a break, get some food, and clean up. You restart with a clean mind and a clean garage. Things go smoothly together. Have you guys ever had a bolt that just won't go in and are trying for hours? Take a break, clean up, and get some food. You come back and that sucker goes right in. You all know what I'm talking about, don't you.

billmerbach

Temp never went above 215

billmerbach

Thing is I. Can't believe I did it I'm always checking my stuff twice esp on my car and I can't believe I did it I'm hoping nothing is bad I mean I've heard of worse things happening with little to no damage so I'm hoping I get lucky

z11375ss

I hope you get lucky too, my man. I've had situations like where my oil pump has failed. I caught it in time. Hope you don't have any issues. You'll be fine either way. One involves work unfortunately!

billmerbach

I'm just gonna pit head gaskets on check the heads for warpage and pump them back on its a strong running motor and before I figured I blew the gasket I fired it up and it ran fine bit just too much pressure in the radiator

z11375ss

What do you mean there is too much pressure in the radiator?

billmerbach

Fire it up for less than 2min and it has the pressure like it just ran the Indy 500

z11375ss

Yeah, the more I thought about it the more you made sense. Good luck! A head gasket change is a PITA but the motor is probably fine.

billmerbach

I hope I mean it still runs fine so hopefully God is giving me a learning curve

z11375ss

We've all had these brain cramps. How about the time I forgot to put the sleeve on the oil pump driveshaft and it walked out of the pump shearing the shaft and the pump? Duh!!!!

coppercutlass

Z I gotta say the walk away relax get some dinner and get to it once you clean up method to be the best. Most of my failures have been because of less than stellar parts but I go into that very well knowing the possibilities of failure and so far its 50\50 . 50% being success and the other 50 being split between 25% learning and 25% parts failure . When I was restoring my 72 when I was 17 i would get frustrated and walk away and get to it later or the next day or week. Its because of that the outcome was great. Over this last summer I did some major work and I took a step back didn't rush my self and what I found was not only was my work quality better but the confidence in my work was better because I didn't rush my self and I took the time to check and double check ., the kicker is I did the most work on my car ever in a 7 month time span I had fun and the output was some of my best work done in a long time on my car. Bill take your time it will pay off.

z11375ss

Well we all know the rush to get er done and get out on the pavement. Slow and steady wins the race in the garage. A heavy foot and adrenaline get it done at the track. You know this all too well. Copper!!

rustyroger

My **** up; I put a new radiator in my Dodge truck in a hurry, filled it up with antifreeze, then decided to move it out of someone's way. It actually moved a few feet before it puked all the transmission fluid out of cooler line.

But a refill with oil and no damage done. I haven't made that mistake since.....

Roger.

olds3442

if your sure it only got to 215 degrees you should have not screwed anything up.usually you will have water in oil, I have got olds motors way hotter with no damage but they had water good luck

billmerbach

Yea so far no water in oil im just gonna wait till Christmas break and tackle it I hate it about ADHD I never focus and I get in a rush I was just wanting to show my friend all my work and now im paying the price

Tedd Thompson

If the water dropped below where the sending unit sets it will register cold , you might have gotten hotter than you think but time and new gaskets will tell....Tedd

billmerbach

I think I should be good I was searching auto sites and stuff and I shouldn't have a cracked head or block because I was able to fire it up before I concluded head gasket and it still ran so I'm not loosing compression I take a straight edge to the heads to check for straightness and if they're good I'm just gonna change head gaskets

billmerbach

That's the thing it did drop below but my sender still read 215 and when I pulled the sender out I still saw some evidence of water and steam and could hear water bubbling down inside

oldstata

Have you made sure that you have bleed the system for air pockets ? You could also buy the kit from your local parts store to test the coolant to see if it has hydrocarbons in it to make sure that it is head gaskets. I think it runs 50 bucks before tearing into it

billmerbach

I'd rather tear into it since I have the stuff.....I got to thinking if it did get hot I need to check my valve seals anyway....and I could just see the bubbles rising in the water when I had put some in and fired it back up

oldstata

The coolant will have bubbles while the air pockets work out and the t stat gets hot enough to open

I realize your frustrated but to tear into it with out a little diag will cause you more frustration/ money

billmerbach

Ok I'll start there but one question why would it built up pressure so soon and how do I get the air pockets out

Lars

I was drilling drain holes in my 4 cylinder enduro car and drilled 2 holes into the gas tank, didn't realize it till we got to the track. I had water in the gas and 2 holes in the tank��

tru-blue 442

Bill, I agree with Oldstata. I would refill, check for leaks, run it up to temp,
let it cool down, check the crankcase, then check inside he radiator for any
oil, fill again if needed. You may still be good to go. I don't think you got it hot
enough to hurt it myself. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

billmerbach

I hope not I just hate that I did this I'm so stupid and the fact that I just got the engine running semi right and I go and do this my luck never ceases to get worse

M-14

I always leave a funnel on the part that needs fluid, or put the jugs of fluid on the core support so you can't close the hood. Sometimes I'll tie a rag to the steering wheel to remind me to do a double check.

billmerbach

Ok I ran it for a good 20 min checking the temp and everything it never went above 200 but I'm still getting massive pressure but no bubbles through the radiator....also no water in oil...I believe my heater hoses are backwards though or I got a clog in the core. My buddy says he'd run it after a compression test and I agree but I'm just worried

tru-blue 442

Post a pic of your h/h set-up. Is your heater working?

billmerbach

Looked in my service manual and everything is right....I think I got a blocked core cause water is going in but I got an empty exit hose which imo would explain the air pocket.