Ooops!

[Nonotagain]

Just to update, I got the deuce hauled in and on looking it appears that a ground wire on the starter came loose causing the engine to not turn over. Fixed the ground, started up. No torque. Blown rear head gasket.

I will replace the head gasket after finding out why the rear gasket gets blown out. May still need a new engine. We will see. That is much easier to find out now.

Didn't you pay someone to install the head gaskets and machine the heads flat?

If you found no torque on the gasket, it sounds as if someone forgot the retorque arfter start up. Were the head gaskets used the old or new style?

At your first chance to drop the oil pan and check bearing condition. No sense re-installing a gasket to find additional issues. Also have the head pressure tested.

 

[dabtl]

We are doing that. The gaskets are the new style. I rather suspect we will find some major problem with the block. But, quien sabe?

 

[Nonotagain]

We are doing that. The gaskets are the new style. I rather suspect we will find some major problem with the block. But, quien sabe?

Bill, there are only a couple of reasons that a head gasket will lose torque.

If the head bolts were reused, they could have stretched to the point that they are yielding.

Have the calibration of the torque wrench verified. I tossed out my old Sears Craftsman wrench after breaking two head bolts during installation. I brought my wrench to work to be tested and it was out by almost 20% in the upper torque range.

Torque wrenches are only good from the lower 10% of range to the upper 80% of range. If the shop used a wrench beyond that range, it wasn't accurate.

The threads in the block were dirty and gave a false torque when the gaskets were torqued. Chase the threads and verify if the torque is wet or dry, meaning oiled or cleaned of lubrication.

And lastly, the gaskets were supposed to be re-torqued and didn't receive the after run torque.