I have been having some problems getting coolant in my crankcase as I have had in previous posts. I don't know where my problem is. I pulled my water pump and intake to eliminate some variables because I know I have a problem. I put 20psi of air on it for 24 hours and have no pressure loss. I don't know if this is enough or if I should pull the heads and have them checked. My question is....how accurate is this? It seems to exclude head gaskets or warped heads, but my engine is not at operating temperature. If it's not up to temperature.....will a crack show up?? Anyone have any insight on this? Thanks

 

I used plate steel and rtv to block off coolant passages on my heads. I did basically the same thing i place of my water pump with plate steel, rtv & a 1/2" pipe nipple welded with gauge & valve.

 

A cylinder leak down test will confirm where you are loosing compression. Essentially you force compressed air into the cylinders and look for bubbles in the radiator or a hissing coming from the intake manifold, tail pipe, or crankcase. This tells you if the intake / exhaust valves or rings are bad, or if the head gasket is blown. By testing all 8 cylinders you can find out where the head gasket is bad (or which valves / rings are bad).

 

Not positive, but I think he is talking about pressurizing the radiator/cooling system. A leak large enough to show up will probably be evident in other ways. How do you know it is coolant in the crankcase? How much? Have you tried a quality stop-leak just to see what happens?

 

I guess you're right...

 

I did a test on the engine, with the intake and water pump removed. I did a test on my engine cooling system. I wasn't necessarily trying to isolate at a cylinder. I have done a conventional radiator pressure test with the radiator still connected to the engine. I lost pressure. What I did this time was remove my intake and block my coolant passages and pressurize the engine coolant passages wit compressed air. I figured with this, it will show me if I have a loss at the heads/block or if my issue is actually the intake manifold. If I still had a loss of pressure, then I would know that I need to pull my heads. The more I am thinking about it, when I did the radiator pressure test....my engine was not at operating temperature and still showed a loss of pressure. I am thinking my intake is the culprit. I have had moisture (coolant) in my oil. I had the engine apart when I first got the car back because of this problem. When things were pulled off, I had no noticeable signs of a bad head gasket and I was not getting moisture into the combustion chambers either (plugs weren't gunked up). I have a couple of things that I need to address. I was informed that the head bolts have been removed and reused about 3-4 times and I think they have lost their "stretch". Upon starting this work, I noticed that 3 of my head bolts were out of torque spec too. There has been about 30 miles driven since it was pulled apart. I know the heads have been redone three different times and probably resurfaced or milled....which may be causing my intake sealing issue.??? Now I may need to find a good thick intake gasket. The way it is set up now, I will be able to reinstall my intake and test it before I waste anymore oil.