Hi, I have a 89 Chevy C2500 w/350 engine that I replaced the
head gaskets on a few weeks ago. Today I have a lot of bubbles
in the anti-freeze. Crap. When I replaced the head gaskets a
few weeks ago the problem was between 4 and 6 cyl. where the
head gasket just let go after several years. No problem, I
thought, so I replaced all the gaskets, cleaned and inspected
everything while doing it. The engine has 150,000 easy, well
maintained miles, never hauled anything heavy. Everything
looked great inside.

I am a custom gunsmith by trade and assembled everything
meticulously. The head and block seemed very flat and an
indicator only showed about .001" low between the 4 and 6
cylinders, and it is not leaking there now anyway. The engine
didn't leak anti-freeze before replacing the head gaskets and I
only have 200 - 300 miles on it since. I do know that I got the
heads on without damaging the gaskets as I was extremely careful
when I did it. There was no dirt either. Now it is leaking
compression into the anti-freeze and the radiator shows quite a
few bubbles, more than just a tiny leak in there somewhere.

I used a gasket set from NAPA and am now wondering if these
gaskets are of poorer quality than they used to be? What are
the best gaskets to use these days? I don't want to have to do
this again! I used the NAPA HS7733PT-15 head gasket set which I
believe is a Fel-Pro set.

Have these Fel-Pro sets been okay lately? What would you use?

Thanks!

Rick

How do you know for sure you have a gasket leak? Have you pressure tested
the system or done a head gasket leak test. Any coolant loss, any plug
discoloration?
"Rick McDowell" <compspec (AT) iowatelecom (DOT) net> wrote




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I noticed that the engine had a slight stutter and a slight drop
in power, sort of like a plug wire off. I looked in the
radiator and saw a lot of bubbles dancing around in there. I
also had a bit of anti-freeze being pushed out of the radiator
cap like the cooling system pressure was way up, but not over
heating. The plugs looked great, none were showing any problems
at all, so it doesn't appear to be burning any coolant. Sunday
we played around with it trying to decide if it really was a
head gasket or not. We still have a few tests to do, ones like
you suggested.

I noticed that the coolant will 'cycle' up and down with the cap
off and idling. It will push anti-freeze up to the top of the
radiator neck, then in a few seconds it will disappear out of
sight, at least six or more inches down in the radiator. I have
been topping the radiator off and trying to get all the air out.
I will watch it for a day or so and see how it turns out. The
thermostat and water pump seem to work just fine.

Rick



"Shep" <djsljsrn (AT) capital (DOT) net> wrote;