Dan,
One other thing that will put coolant drops in that location is a leaky
thermostat cover. Once the engine warms up and gets up a little cooling
system pressure, they can leak at the bolt holes(which pass into the water
channel of the head) and from the gasket surface itself. The droplets end
up in the places you are seeing them. I find this is more often the case
than a leaky head gasket. For the thermo-cover bolts, I glop PermaTex #2 on
the threads. For the cover itself, make sure that it is smooth and flat,
and that it isn't a newer aftermarket replacement. They don't clear the
block and will need some filing to get a good fit that will compress the
gasket all the way down to a good seal.
Regards,
Glen Byrns
> Hi all
> On a hunch, took my torque wrench to the outer row of head nuts, I did get
> a
> heck of a "creak" and maybe 1/4 turn out of the right front (over the
> generator, which is where I see most of this seepage). Did get also the
> second
> to the last to do about the same, and I see these off drops on the side of
> the
> block in this area too, I assume they are from the block to head joint
> also,
> as these drops are over the freeze plugs. Decided to pull the valve cover
> and
> retorque them all, had a few of these (I think 2 also) that tightened up
> some.
> So wondering if this will solve the big issue of the head gasket external
> coolant leak, time will tell.
> Off work next 2 days, first big attempt to start occurs hopefully
> tomorrow.
> Dan
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