head gasket - Ford Forums - Mustang Forum, Ford Trucks, Ford Focus and Ford Cars

347 · 03-13-2004, 16:51

As I have a few signs that my head gasket/s are leaking, what are brand/type of gasket should I use for my 347?

EDXR8 · 03-13-2004, 19:01

The standard Felpro 8548pt2 head gaskets are a very strong gasket but at around 50th thinkness they drop the compression slightly. I have just got a set of ACL race series BD870GTR and they seem really nice and are thinner at 38th if you want all the compression you can get.

Racer · 03-13-2004, 21:24

Blown head gasket? You have come to the right place!

Exactly how is it leaking. Can you describe it in detail?

Are you by chance using Felpro 1011-1's?

347 · 03-14-2004, 01:29

Ok the first signs were after driving 20mins left tail pipe with small amounts of steam coming from it ,sort of sweat smelling,with engine off.
A drive from nth sydney to shellhabour and back used about 1 litre of water with no visible leaks from any hoses at any time.
I have removed 1 plug so far which is grey in colour. I will try and get the rest out tommorow.
I pressure tested the radiator tonight(16psi)with very slight leaks from top and bottom hose........maybe I am jumping to conclusions but I dont believe it could leak that much water from a very slight drip from the hoses.
I am going to get some of the dye that you can put in your water to test it for leakage.
As for gaskets I am unsure of the part number.

Racer · 03-14-2004, 03:57

You've found some leaks, so hopefully that is the problem..

347 · 03-14-2004, 23:58

Its official its a blown head gasket or (god forbid) cracked head.......no water in the oil just coolant dripping from my tail pipe after I started it.......Racer do these symptons sound familier to you?

Racer · 03-15-2004, 01:28

I've never had a blown head gasket, but had problems with the heads "lifting" which is something different (it causes the cooling system to over pressurise and blow out the overflow)

Water out of the tail pipe isn't something i would usually be concerned about, unless it is happening after the car has been driven for a good long drive, which gives the condensation in the exhaust time to dry out.

I presume that the engine is otherwise running ok, its just losing water. I've never seen water out of the exhaust caused by a blown HG, unless its fully blown, in which case the car would be undrivable. That's not to say it cant happen, its just that ive never seen it before. Even if a ported exhaust port had a pinhole in it, i doubt there would be enough volume of coolant for it to make it out of the exhaust in liquid form.

Are you at full operating temperature (including the exhaust) when the water thing happens?

If you are still concerned, try some bars leaks and see if it improves. Have a radiator pressure test done.

XR8 Lamah · 03-15-2004, 01:44

Crap ! fingers crossed its the gasket