Hello Everyone:
Here's my latest fun Alpine V problem. A couple of weeks ago I noticed I
was loosing coolant, but couldn't figure out where. Checked the
radiator, hoses, heater core, etc., all showing no leaks at all. A
couple of nights ago, in the dark, I ran the motor and directed a
flashlight around the engine compartment and found the culprit. A spray
of coolant (kind of like you see in pictures of a fuel injector at
work) is misting out of the very back of the head area (facing the
firewall), either from the head gasket or slightly above it. I can't
tell exactly as the view is blocked by that small "boss" of metal that
is on the left side of the very rear of the head, if you're looking down
on the motor.
As far as I can tell, either the head has loosened up a bit (it's about
a year and 10,000 miles since the engine rebuild), the head gasket has
developed a hairline crack, or the head itself has developed a crack
from a rear water passage or something. When the motor was rebuilt, the
head did have some welding work to repair corrosion. I wonder if the
welding might not have been up to standards.
In any event, I've got to get this solved so I'm going to re-torque the
head in the morning, as was suggested to me, to see if the head has
indeed loosened. Good luck to me as this is the first time I've
attempted this operation on the car. I'm going to read through the shop
manual tonight to see how to do it. Are there any tricks involved or
anything I should be cautious about?
I've been told that if the re-torque doesn't do the job, to try some
cooling system stop leak, in the form of a powder which I've seen sold
at parts stores for this purpose. The idea here is to fill in any small
gaps that might have opened due to further corrosion of the head. If I
do this and it works now, I wonder if this would be a fairly permanent
fix as I'd hate to have things break loose again half way to Montana and
SUNI III this summer. Has anyone had any luck with something like this?
As a point of reference, the car still runs very well and smoothly, does
not overheat, and accelerates sharply since my last valve re-adjustment.
However, I'm wondering if maybe the fact that I've had to re-adjust my
valves several times since the rebuild could be a reflection of the head
loosening up over the months.
As usual, your ideas and suggestions will be appreciated.
Steve Sage
1967 Series V
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