WilliamWallaceGS
Active Member
- Joined
- August 22, 2012
- Messages
- 66
- Reaction score
- 5
- City, State
- Hampton Roads, VA
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 1994 Ford Ranger
UPDATE: 8/8/13
For anyone who doesn't care to read everything, one of my heads in fact came back with a crack. One machine shop did not catch it, and the current machine shop missed it the first time. I had to ask again for them to look at the oil port during the test, because it was overlooked. One of my heads passed fine, even up to around 50 psi. The other one started bubbling around 20-30 psi. So there you have it, if you ever have anyone pressure test these heads, you have to point out that oil port specifically, since it seems like an easily overlooked area.
Hello everyone,
I recently had a thread open about some noisy lifters I had gotten during my engine rebuild. You can read the thread here: http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=369534
Here are the stats if you don't feel like glancing at my other thread:
Rebuild 1994 4.0 shortblock, melling HV oil pump, 410 cam, 95 TM heads
During all of that troubleshooting, I noticed I was getting oil in my radiator. I thought I might have screwed up some gasket installation, so I was VERY careful the second go around after replacing my lifters again to make sure everything was perfect.
So I still have oil in my coolant, not a whole lot, but it'll accumulate a nice brown film after about 2 days of driving. Did a compression test, got 215-220 PSI on all 6 cylinders. Checked the plugs and all, no signs of burning coolant, everything inside of the CC looks great. Did a cooling system pressure test, and the system will slowly depressurize with no external leaks. I cracked my drain plug after the pressure test, and sure enough there were water droplets down there. It's not enough water to turn the oil into a nasty chocolate milkshake, my water level doesn't decrease by much, whatever leak I have is pretty small, but who knows when it could get worse.
I put an oil separator in line with my PCV to intake manifold after the rebuild, and that thing has been nasty ever since the rebuild. The inside of that thing looks nasty as crap, because the moisture from the coolant in the oil is getting caught by my separator and mixing with the oil vapors and creating a chunky brown mess.
So after all of that info, here's my question. How likely is it that I have a cracked head right out of the box? I put brand new Engine Quest 95TM heads on, and had a machine shop do a valve job and all. I'm not sure if they did a pressure test or magnaflux though since they were brand new castings. I know there's a thread around here where someone had the same thing happen with his EQ heads, but I think that was a few years ago. I'm pretty sure the block is good, I'd assume the machine shop would test that too (didn't specifically address this), but even if they didn't, before I did the rebuild my cooling system was clean as could be, so the block shouldn't be a problem.
This is a complete bummer. I thought I was out of the woods after I solved my lifter issue, now it looks like she's coming back a part. I've got a pretty hectic work schedule for the next month, so now I have to figure out when I'm going to tear back into this thing.
For anyone who doesn't care to read everything, one of my heads in fact came back with a crack. One machine shop did not catch it, and the current machine shop missed it the first time. I had to ask again for them to look at the oil port during the test, because it was overlooked. One of my heads passed fine, even up to around 50 psi. The other one started bubbling around 20-30 psi. So there you have it, if you ever have anyone pressure test these heads, you have to point out that oil port specifically, since it seems like an easily overlooked area.
Hello everyone,
I recently had a thread open about some noisy lifters I had gotten during my engine rebuild. You can read the thread here: http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=369534
Here are the stats if you don't feel like glancing at my other thread:
Rebuild 1994 4.0 shortblock, melling HV oil pump, 410 cam, 95 TM heads
During all of that troubleshooting, I noticed I was getting oil in my radiator. I thought I might have screwed up some gasket installation, so I was VERY careful the second go around after replacing my lifters again to make sure everything was perfect.
So I still have oil in my coolant, not a whole lot, but it'll accumulate a nice brown film after about 2 days of driving. Did a compression test, got 215-220 PSI on all 6 cylinders. Checked the plugs and all, no signs of burning coolant, everything inside of the CC looks great. Did a cooling system pressure test, and the system will slowly depressurize with no external leaks. I cracked my drain plug after the pressure test, and sure enough there were water droplets down there. It's not enough water to turn the oil into a nasty chocolate milkshake, my water level doesn't decrease by much, whatever leak I have is pretty small, but who knows when it could get worse.
I put an oil separator in line with my PCV to intake manifold after the rebuild, and that thing has been nasty ever since the rebuild. The inside of that thing looks nasty as crap, because the moisture from the coolant in the oil is getting caught by my separator and mixing with the oil vapors and creating a chunky brown mess.
So after all of that info, here's my question. How likely is it that I have a cracked head right out of the box? I put brand new Engine Quest 95TM heads on, and had a machine shop do a valve job and all. I'm not sure if they did a pressure test or magnaflux though since they were brand new castings. I know there's a thread around here where someone had the same thing happen with his EQ heads, but I think that was a few years ago. I'm pretty sure the block is good, I'd assume the machine shop would test that too (didn't specifically address this), but even if they didn't, before I did the rebuild my cooling system was clean as could be, so the block shouldn't be a problem.
This is a complete bummer. I thought I was out of the woods after I solved my lifter issue, now it looks like she's coming back a part. I've got a pretty hectic work schedule for the next month, so now I have to figure out when I'm going to tear back into this thing.