Back in February I had coolant/overheating issues, and ended up replacing the cooling system, having the heads machined at a local shop with a good reputation, and put it all back with a new gasket kit (Elring? I'll have to check).

Things have been good, engine wise, until a few days ago when I started to hear a "put put put" sound that got louder over the next day or so. I was expecting the exhaust manifold bolts to have come loose, or the gasket maybe, but all was well.

On closer inspection, it seems to be coming from the head gasket between the middle 2 cylinders on the passenger side.

At the time, I tourqued the new bolts as directed - i even bought a funky angle thingy to be exact about the 90 degrees then 90 degrees. The closed head bolts don't seem loose at all, but I would like to try and torque them down just in case they are the problem. Can I still do that with these weird stretch bolts?

If not, I guess I'm going back to head land. I'm thinking it's solely a gasket failure, and do not plan of machining everything again. There are no coolant or overheating issues now, so I feel safe. Sound about right to everyone? Any ideas what I can do to ensure I never, ever have to do it again this decade?

 

Could be the threads failed when torqueing the bolts. If they are loose you should suspect the threads have failed in the block

 

Abran is probably right. Actually, he's always right! If the threads failed, you have nothing to lose by trying to tighten them. They'll either tighten or... bad news. If bad news (threads stripped) you are no worse off than now.

​​​​​​I have reused head bolts and nothing bad happened (few weeks driving on them before I replaced with studs) so you should be able to tighten them though, technically, stretch boots are not reusable.

I disassembled a D2 engine from a donor I bought and three of the head bolts were NOT tight. They were almost hand loose. It had an exhaust leak in the head gasket (valley side, not at a loose bolt) but there were no water leaks at any of the loose bolts.

If your threads are stripped then I suppose you would tap that hole and drill out a slightly larger opening for a larger bolt in the head. I doubt a product like helicoil would hold a head bolt torque.

 

There is a product called time-sert that can work, but you run the risk of cracking the block/boring too much.

With that said I had a motor with a bad time-sert and I used a big-sert to fix it. My sister still drives the truck.

Also, this is the problem with 90 degree turns. The threads can let go and if you are not in tune with the tension you assume that it took the torque.

 

Bummer. Let us know what plays out

 

 

I always use the Victor Reinz kit and haven't had any problems with head gaskets since I started with them.

 

Block head face problem? Lucky 8 was running a sale on the head gasket upper gasket set. I think $68

 

Bummer after doing everything right.

Check your cylinder block for flatness using a certified straight edge and a 0.002" feeler gauge. Also check that the points where the head bolts enter the block aren't 'raised' from tightening. When using head bolts always smear some oil lube on the threads first, just a smear only on the threads, to lube their entry during final torquing down.

 

I’m starting to get a feeling you may be right. I was looking through my photos of the last head gasket change (March 2016, not quite as bad as I thought) and the gasket was 99% failed in the exact same place. No symptoms from that- it was overheating because of a leak on the other side into the coolant- but it was about to. It seems there is something about that spot. Here are some before pictures. The heads were machined and everything was clean when I put it together, but it didn’t check the block....