292 Head gasket seepage

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wellcraft17

Senior Member
Just developed a very small seepage of radiator fluid from the edge of the head gasket between #7 and #8 cyl under the exhaust manifold. I really don't want to remove the heads and replace the gasket and was contemplating trying the black pepper or ginger root trick. Would really appreciate everyone's opinion on this and what they would do and how effective is this.
 
Try the pellets from a parts counter. If the leakage gets into a cylinder, you should smell it in the exhaust. Then the head must come off.
 
Thanks for your input, the motor has 71K on the odometer and I rebuilt it 30 yrs ago. There is no oil in the radiator nor is there any water in the oil. It fires right up, idles good and will run all day long at 70 mph so I'm thinking and I agree with you ponymare, the metal in the gasket is starting to deteriorate thus the seepage. I think I'm going to try the pepper route and if that doesn't fix it I guess I'll bite the bullet and replace the gaskets which I really don't won't to do. I wonder if Fel Pro will warranty the gaskets, just kiddingl!
 
Try retorquing the head gasket before adding any kind of 'stop leak' to the radiator. This would be a good time to also retorque the cylinder head that's not leaking right now. External seepage from the FelPro composition head gaskets at the lower edge of the cylinder heads is not unusual and especially if the original grade five or grade six head bolts are used. Part of that has to do with the solid design of the head gasket above the upper row of head bolts which causes the lower edge of the head to not pull hard enough into the head gasket in that area. Ted Eaton.
 
Thanks Ted, should I back off the head bolts a little and then retorque? What would you recommend for torque number? My manual says 65-75 ft lbs.
 
By the time you get everything out of the way to retorque the head, just a few more bolts and you can have the head off.
 
wellcraft17 said:
Thanks Ted, should I back off the head bolts a little and then retorque? What would you recommend for torque number? My manual says 65-75 ft lbs.
Click to expand...

With grade eight bolts, I like 70 lbs on the short bolts and 75 lbs on the long bolts. While I don't use the grade 5 or grade 6 bolts on Y builds very often, I'd use the same 70/75 numbers and 'feel' for any excessive stretch in the bolts as you are tightening them. I'd first try retorquing the bolts without loosening them. If you find that you can get some movement when retightening them this way, you are on the right track. Ted Eaton.
 
Thanks Ted, if re torquing the bolts stops the seepage I'll be very happy. Lowrider, I agree with your thought process however I absolutely do not want to remove the heads unless I have to. Retorqueing will be easier for me once the valve cover is off,maybe I'll get lucky and it will work.
 
Very good advice above. The pellets I'm talking about were used at the factory. All V8's got two.
 
Retorqued the head and that apparently solved the problem,hopefully I'll get a few more years out of this motor and I'll pass it onto my son. Thanks for all your comments/ suggestions. Hoosier Hurricane, I had no problem reaching all the lower set of bolts with the stock manifold on.
 
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