So it turns out that it may not be the head gasket that’s leaking but the to rear freeze out plugs on the right side are leaking. I tried knocking them in a little bit further but that only seems to have made it worse. So if I have to replace these to freeze out plugs can it be done in the car?
Rear or right rear? The former would be tough. The latter not so tough but annoying. How bad is it and have you tried barr’s leak/alumaseal first?
Passenger side
. I tried K seal and barrs leak the large tablets but i only put 4 tablets in Because I had already put in K seal. Im using Evans Waterless coolant. I would be willing to try the Aluma seal if you think I would have better results. Thank you for your reply
I have had good luck using the expandable rubber core plugs, for ones too hard to do in situ.
Thank you Paul, that may have to be The next alternative.
If you’ve already tried two brands I don’t think adding more is going to help anything. I can’t tell what the rear one looks like but it doesn’t look like much effort was made to properly bash in the one in the center. The dents don’t look convincing enough.
You could use those bolt in rubber ones, or with a a bit of disassembly you could do them properly, carbs, air cleaner and brake vacuum tank out to give you hammer swinging room. Which one to pick I’d base on how much had to be taken apart in order to get the old ones out.
Erica, I think his are the cup style, not the dishes style.
If leaking, even after stop leak, it’s a different ball of wax.
1 Like
Is it possible to bash them in too far? It is a series 2 block so there isnt a lip to stop it and i dont want ti push them into the block and lose it.
Ah, I retract my observation. Mine has a landing to bash hard against.
I Don’t understand why they changed that in the later block. Seems pretty stupid
Yes, their sealing relies on an interference fit along their length with the aperture in the block. By knocking them in further, you will start to push them into the water jacket, and begin to reduce their engagement length, therefore defeating their effectiveness.
If you’ve knocked them inward, made it worse, and added sealing products to the cooling system to no avail, it’s long past time to replace.
1 Like
Any hints On how to remove them without knocking them into the water jacket
I thought the usual method was to drill a small hole in the center and then use a slide hammer to pull the center outward, toward you.
Edit:
Here is a bunch of methods.
There is also a purpose built tool. Looks easy enough to duplicate if you can’t find one.
I’ve always used the method of knocking one side in, then the cup turns, and you can grab it with a vice grips.
1 Like
I ground a little slot with a Dremel cutting wheel and pried out with a flat screwdriver.
My only fear of using either a drill or dremmel is that little particles of metal to get into the water jacket. I don’t know if that’s a potential issue or not
They can be flushed out. The whack/tilt/grab method avoids that.
However, some of the cups are difficult to get to, w/o a lot of removal of manifolds.
That’s how I got the plugs out when the engine was out of the car. Is it possible instead of it rotating that the whole freeze plug just gets pushed in cause I had already pushed them in a little by trying to get them to tighten.
That’s a tough one: by pounding on one edge, the cup should begin to turn: if it goes in, you’ll have to painstakingly mangle it to get it out.
The slide hammer technique is difficult, even with all the manifolds off.
Here’s a good video.
Thanks for the video. With thee jag block is there a wall behind the opening to keep it from falling in so you cant grab it?