Water leak in head.

whirnot

whirnot

Well-known member
Yesterday while removing my distributor, when I removed the head nut to remove the shielded cable, water leaked up past the head bolt, and down into the #3 cylinder. I decided to pull the head and look for any issues, this is a car I got recently and has yet to run right due to a number of issues. The head gasket looked fine, so I surmised the head must have some warpage in the area to leak after a single nut is removed. So I am trying to decide, should I have the head milled or just leave it and make sure it is all torqued down OK? Suggestions?
 
Use a straightedge and measure for warpage with feeler gauges or shim stock - rotate the straightedge around the area in question.
 
I would get it checked by a professional and have it milled if necessary. I was going to do the same thing as you, but I erred on the side of caution and took it to get milled only to find out it had 2 small cracks on it, making it worthless, so I replaced the head.
 
This is the very reason I never use the clamp and why Ford stopped using them, they will leak when removed. You probably don't have a warping issue but checking the head will do no harm. Checking the block will only worry you and cause you to have nightmares and spend money.
 
The Dog:cool: jist piped up, "I TOLE THEM & I TOLE THEM TO GIT RID UF THET CLAMP, jist like Jimmy Rodgers jist sed"!--"Them cars DON'T have 47 head studs, like a JAGUAR" (That's a CAT, you know!)
Bill W.
 
Paul,
You are correct it would not have happened if I drained some water, I just never imagined I needed to to pull the dist. You can bet the clamp won't be going back on. But the good news, I had the head milled .010 cleaned up everything, checked, cleaned and lapped all the valves and I now know exactly what condition the upper end is in. Could not believe it, took the head into a very busy machine/racing shop at 9:30 a.m. they called at 5:00 and it is done, cleaned checked and milled.
 
Hey Bill,
If it took .010 to clean up the head surface.....you did GOOD !
I'd put some sealer into any stud holes which have gone thru into water jacket.
 
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