Coolant leaking into cylinder #1

I've been trying to troubleshoot where my coolant is disappearing to and pressure tested system for an entire day but not visible leaks. Went to start it (without thinking) and briefly hydrolocked it. Pulled the glow plugs and turned it over and #1 shot water clear into the rafters of my garage. It runs now but, I still have a problem. Frank rebuilt the head for me about 3 years ago and I'm assuming that its a head gasket issue? I torqued the bolts in the correct sequence. Sooo, could I replace all the head bolts and try again or do you think the gasket is blown and the head needs to come off?

I would personally not do this.

Pre order your parts and follow the workshop instructions carefully. I get the logic your trying but coolant is entering the cylinder and it needs to be addressed and it can be other things that are not bolt torque related. Also since a slight hydrolock occurred you should inspect the head once removed. You may have a cracked coolant passage also but it’s highly unlikely.

My question is when you mentioned the bolt torque and sequence this was done once three years ago and not after you found the coolant in the cylinder right?

A breached headgasket leaking enough to fill the cylinder with water won't respond to tighter bolts.

May not be a head gasket breach... that's a lot of water.

If you hydrolocked it there's a good chance a rod is bent (water doesn't compress, rods do ).



Add it all up: head's gotta come off, piston protrusion needs to be checked, head and block need to be carefully inspected for cracks.

Good add on Vince! I forgot about piston protrusion measurements, this step needs to be done also!

well, pulling the head is about all you can do besides a PRESSURE TEST on the coolent system and the #1

Purge any coolant like you did out of the #1
pressureise #1 with 50PSI of air
rotate the crank a full turn slowly
If your air stops or slows leaking out as you get to the top, well bad news, your block is cracked and or has a hole from a blast of hot piss from a faulty injector.
If it does NOT slow or stop and remains the same then your looking at a head issue or gasket, less bad news lol


You wont have to do this if you pull the head though, just a quick way to tell if its worth pulling or not

If the engine runs, could I still have a bent rod? Would the starter have enough torque to bend a rod? I'll pull everything off and do it right. Coolant leak rate is about a quart to every 400 miles

Pull the head off, measure the piston potrusion (although a rod can still be tweaked and not reveal itself this way).

Sounds like the block was not prepped correctly the first time.

Yes the starter can tweak a rod. Between rotational inertia of the parts moving up until the lock and the torque of the starter, it can deal the damage.
Like oilhammer said, protrusion is a great tool but may not reveal a slight tweak- saw this on an ISX15 Cummins that lost the EGR cooler and locked. Protrusion measured fine, but it kept having contribution issues- a long process involving Cummins engineers later, a rod was slightly tweaked. Now, totally different engine with a totally different fueling and management system, but the principle applies.

I agree, the head needs to come off and be inspected. You can certainly start with Mongler's suggestion to try and check the block, but either way the head needs to come off.
Once off you need to carefully scrutinize the block, piston, head. Have Frank or another highly trusted machinist check the head for cracks and true.

Thank you for all the responses. I don't think pulling the head is something I want to go through again and am going to sell the car instead. Knowing what we know, what do you think I should ask for the car? 2003, 5spd, 316k, everything works (except leak into #1), pic in link below
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1phdKamAsRBYigqufe3ejzX60JbPAxJV5/view?usp=sharing

$1000 tops

I wouldn't pay more than $800 for a high mileage car with an engine that is an unknown factor. Others may pay more but that's where I'd be at for it

I found a charity that fixes up used cars and gives them to ppl in need. They seemed interested in taking this car as a donation to either fix or part out for some of their other projects. I think that would be a good way to end its long journey.

I've donated a few over the years, tax benefit used to be fairly liberal, not sure what you can deduct in 2019.

nitrocharger said:

I found a charity that fixes up used cars and gives them to ppl in need. They seemed interested in taking this car as a donation to either fix or part out for some of their other projects. I think that would be a good way to end its long journey.

Click to expand...

I like this idea! Very honorable and has potential to help out others.

Plus a tax Wright off may be beneficial, all around good choice considering the circumstances.

In the past I wrote off book value, but current tax law is Not friendly to helping charities.

Tax write off or no tax write off, it could potentially help someone. Besides, trying to get $500 for a car only to have the buyer come back a few months later because they "forgot" I told them about the internal leak issue....