burning a LOT of coolant...not sure why???

[yitzac1990]

Have some bad news, but not sure what happened!

I had put about 450 miles on my new motor build, 4 oil changes, 3 filters. Everything going great, running smooth, no problems/leaks/smoking at all. Even did a few mountain road drifts, and everything seemed great. Car has a really good amount of power and I love it.

I attended my first drift event this past weekend and it all went downhill. Car was running great in the morning before my first run, then I did a burnout to warm my tires, and did one drift run (on course less than one minute, varying RPMs through the course), and once it was done the car wanted to almost die, and was smoking. Found out it was burning coolant, and a lot of it. After a minute or two of smoking, it stopped, so I ran the car again. Again, perfect run, car felt great, but afterwards it was smoking, even more this time. so I pulled around to my truck, let it sit at idle, and it was burning coolant just sitting there, and getting very hot (gauge read almost 250 degrees F with electric fans on). After about 15 or 20 minutes, I tried to start it again and it would not even turn over. Friend of mine said hydro-lock due to the coolant in the cylinder. I checked the radiator and it was very cold. Found out I burned almost a whole gallon of coolant.

I got it home, took the head off, and the head gasket (Cosworth) looked to be in great shape, no signs of damage. In fact, no signs of damage anywhere. I have no idea what it could be!!

I attached some pictures. Cylinder 4 was the only cylinder seeing coolant, and cylinder 1 was a bit oily. Have any thoughts on this?? I have a competition event in less than 3 weeks, so I want to get this sorted ASAP...

Setup:
Everything brand new, head and block fully cleaned/decked
CP Pistons, 90mm
Darton iron sleeves
Cosworth HG
ARP studs throughout
BC springs, valves, retainers
Tomei solid head setup with 270 cams
GT2871R on 15psi
Nistune tuning
anything else you need to know, just ask....

http://i.imgur.com/W6TX2F8.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/bcuaCPr.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/28KoFGz.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/eVMI093.jpg

[cotbu]

I see what looks to be detonation cyl1 & 2, but you need to remove the gasket and look at the block side. Rock the Pistons back and forth see if there's excessive play.

From a Highly Tuned Note 4.5!!!

[jr_ss]

Agreed with the latter statement. Gasket needs to be removed so we can see the deck. Better quality pictures would help. Some pictures of cyl 4 head would be good too. I'd say with temps at 250* you popped the head-gasket. These motors don't like over 220-230 generally speaking, before a head gasket pops. Granted, if you have an upgraded gasket/studs, it could let go else where.

[EnnEssEnnKAT]

I had done a new head gasket on my motor and after I installed it and ran it, there was the biggest white cloud of smoke and I was like damn my new HG is junk! Or I did it wrong! Turns out, there was just pools of coolant in the exhaust that eventually were steamed out...

unfortunately, your case doesn't sound exactly the same and it's almost as if the HG install had something done wrong. I only milled my head and chanced it with the block, (that can't warp, right?) but it turned out OK afterwards. Good luck.

[yitzac1990]

Yeah these pics were before i removed the gasket, but the block looked all good as well. I will provide higher quality pics when i get home from being on travel. It only reached 250* when i had it parked and idling at the end. And thats because there was a gallon of coolant missing. During my drift runs, temps were actually normal.

[yitzac1990]

so I was pretty busy yesterday, didnt really get a chance to look anything over. Visually, the head and block/cylinder walls look to be in great condition, with no cracks that I can see. However, I did notice that the sleeves are now sitting slightly lower than the deck of the block. I found this out by running my finger nail from the top of the sleeve, out towards the block deck, and my nail caught the edge. Not sure if this is the actual cause of what happened, or if this had happened over the break in period. I know the Cosworth head gasket has like extra thickness right around the bore of the cylinder, but im thinking I should get the block decked again just to be sure, yeah?

Ill also ask about doing a pressure test on the head at the machine shop.

Anything else recommended be done??

[cotbu]

Get new pictures please, I'm not sure if it's detonation or water/oil droplets I'm seeing. It's on the head too, cly 1&2 drivers side.


From a Highly Tuned Note 4.5!!!

[jr_ss]

If your sleeves have dropped in the cylinder, that motor is as good as trash.

Pictures!

[Mikester]

Did you have the front cover milled even with the deck? There is a small difference there; so with an MLS gasket that doesn't 'crush' the same as OEM, there will never be a perfect seal in front of the #1 cylinder. You obviously have much bigger problems than this... but something to consider. Good luck to you my friend. Anxious to see the outcome here.

Glenn- miss you brother!

Mike

[yitzac1990]

When I took the head to the shop to have redone, the guy that was looking at it did say it looked like detonation, but it had been that way since before the initial rebuild. He also said it looked like a head gasket failure in a couple areas. He said sometimes the HG can fail but not really be noticeable when looking at the gasket. Either way, once I rebuild it this time, its going straight to the tuner and having a proper break in and dyno tune ASAP.

I dropped the block off to be re-decked (no charge by the shop who did it initially), im just hoping that the sleeves are fully "seated" right now, being slightly lower than the deck. I guess time will tell again on that part.

Yes I had the front cover decked with the block, and I gave it to the machine shop again to mill it even. Ive decided im going with the Mazworx gasket...one because its being used on their 1400 hp drag SR, and two because its hard enough to find a 90mm gasket.

Another thing I noticed, is that the tops of the pistons were slightly above the tops of the sleeves. guessing this is because they dropped a little, but I am having the pistons shaved down slightly (about 0.005") to make up for this. Another reason i'm going with the Mazworx gasket, is because its slightly thicker than the Cosworth, 1.5 mm vs 1.1 mm. I just hope after all this it turns out okay and I can finally get back to drifting :-/

Also, sorry for the lack of pictures...I have been super busy lately and been rushing to get this motor to the machine shops ASAP. Have a competition in 2 weeks, and i'm not sure if I will make it or not at this time...

[yitzac1990]

Well today i got the head back from the machine shop. Reworked, fixed, cleaned, decked, and pressure tested. They said it tested good and had no cracks or anything, so thats good! Should hopefully have the block back tomorrow or Wednesday, and will update.

Unfortunately Mazworx is out of their 90mm head gasket, so i have to wait 2 weeks for that :(