Running the car and trying to sort things out. I now have coolant leaking from intake manufold. I tightened nuts and leak got worse. I scraped both surfaces and put new gaskets. Why would it leak? Thank you
Hi Charles, many times the intake manifold mating surface become warped over time. Over tightening is a common problem. Where is is leaking from? It could also be perforated from corrosion. Remove it and check with a straight edge to insure that it is not warped. Cometic gaskets are great and have not had issues with they failing.
Regards,
Allen
Thank you Allan. It is leaking down the side of the block. I dont think it was warped but never know. Hate to take it all hack apart but seems there is no choice. Where can i get a cometic gasket? Can i use that brown gasket sealer to ensure seal or is that a no no?
Shouldn’t be an issue using sealant there so long as you don’t use too much. You don’t want silicone snakes in your cooling system. Or you can use the hardening Indian Head Shellac.
Terry’s sells Cometic gaskets for all purposes. They are the best and should seal without sealant so long as the mating surfaces are at least reasonably good. Corrosion around the water jackets is unfortunately not uncommon and your manifold flanges may need cleaning up. It’s not hard to do that but it must be done evenly across the whole manifold.
I will call Terrys. Thanks so much Erica for your reply.
Took off intake manifold and the gasket is destroyed and had to scrape it off. Just a paper gasket, what garbage car has only been run a couple of times since i put it on. Ordered a Cometic gasket as recommended.
You won’t regret the Cometic gasket.
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Put in Cometic gasket and ran engine, started to leak, turned off engine and retightened nuts, ran again leaked a little then stopped leaking. Does that sound normal? Thanks all.
Do pressure test it also.
I have had success using a sealant called Permatex “The right stuff” with every type of gasket (except head gaskets). I works very well and dries to the consistency of a rubber band!
Dennis 69 OTS
Ran it again, leaks when first starts then stops when hot… guess i have to pull apart again, dam
Well that sucks, how did the mating surfaces look to you when you pulled it apart? Was there significant pitting around the water jackets on the head or manifold? If so you can clean the area well and apply JB Weld with a putty knife then sand the excess with a solid flat sanding block and fine wet paper. On the head you’d obviously have to pull the studs to do this.
Did you clean it thoroughly? Did you happen to put a straightedge on it to test for trueness across the manifold? Is it possible there is a crack? Are you certain the leak is around the sealing flange?
Assuming all nuts are nice and tight and even, that gasket is about as good as it gets. It would have to be a crack or a dodgy mating surface.
The surface seems pretty good and the gasket seems very well made. I tightened the nuts and it seems to have stoppped leaking, maybe. It leaks when cold.
Well the parts do swell when hot but ultimately you don’t want it to leak ever. A couple or few rounds of retightening is not abnormal at all with these parts. Just don’t crack a flange by over torquing.
Thank you for your help. It is reassuring to know you guys are here .
Okay, new twist To the story. It appears to be coming from the head gasket not the intake manifold. I had removed a couple of the head nuts to put the wire conduit in and I’m wondering if that could have had any effect. I’m thinking maybe of retorting all of the head acorn nuts and seeing if that helps. I also had thoughts of putting bars leak or some other sort of sealant in there but I was trying to avoid that if possible.
You may need to do both, but I’d start with a full retorque on a cold head. Hopefully that solves it.
Thanks again y. What is tge best stop leak and do i just put it in the overfliw tank? I am using Evans waterless antifreeze. Is itt compatable with the barrs leak??
Sorry don’t know the compatibility answer. I’ve only used the stuff once and it was just Bar’s Leak off the shelf to stop a core plug seeping. It stopped fast enough.
as to Permatex…I have used Permatex Ultra Grey gasket maker, #82194…with success, it was recommended to me by an engine rebuilder. nice grey, not black, so a small bead that squeezes out looks better on aluminum exterior surfaces, apply, torque just enuf so it compresses, dries to rubbery rather quickly, in an hour final torque, …then 24 hrs for final cure. As with most, not for fuel, and care to not have excess on the inside edges. Nick
Charles at first start-up on cooler days in the 50’s or below I will often get a small dribble of coolant down the RH side of the block a few inches behind the distributor. It goes away as soon as I get a little heat in the engine. I assume I have a small leak at the head gasket. I checked the torque on all the acorn nuts and they were good. It has been doing this for 15+ years now. I have kept a close eye on that area to make sure it does not get any worse and often check for signs of oil in the radiator or coolant in the oil. So far so good without anything like Barsleak.
A few years ago I put a new wire conduit on my car but drilled off the brackets since I did not want to tempt fate by removing the acorn nuts to put the brackets under them. It sits pretty firmly in the head valley without them.
David
68 E-type FHC