[burntbunz]

Hey Guys,

So I think I missed an important part to assembling the 186 heads as I did not use any sealant on the head bolts . I have been noticing small droplets of what looks to be oil in the radiator but no coolant in the oil what so ever. The engine does not get more than a quarter way up the temp guage and I have only driven her about 10 miles when I noticed these droplets in the radiator.

I have to also adjust my valves on these heads and wanted to know if I could simply take one bolt at a time out using the torque sequence chart and put some thread sealant (Thinking Prematex thread sealant with teflon) and re-install-torque them, then cold adjust the valves, start the car letting the engine warm to re-torque the bolts after shutting off the engine. Re-fire once again and re-adjust my valves while the car is running and hot to .30/.30

I hope this solve what is causing this leakage as the engine was fine and never leaked before I pulled it apart for a valve job due to one exhaust valve not sealing correctly. I then need to get all the oil residue out of the cooling system. The engine and cooling system are stock.

More feedback the better. I know too I should have known better no excuse.

Thanks,

Steve

[Everett#2390]

This feat has been done before. I would drain coolant, drop the block drain plugs, loosen the intake bolts by one thread, remove a head bolt, coat, add a washer, reinstall, then torque the whiole head, do the other head, then tighten intake bolts.

The rest of your plan is fine.

[1968RallySport]

Originally Posted by burntbunz

Hey Guys,

So I think I missed an important part to assembling the 186 heads as I did not use any sealant on the head bolts . I have been noticing small droplets of what looks to be oil in the radiator but no coolant in the oil what so ever. The engine does not get more than a quarter way up the temp guage and I have only driven her about 10 miles when I noticed these droplets in the radiator.

I have to also adjust my valves on these heads and wanted to know if I could simply take one bolt at a time out using the torque sequence chart and put some thread sealant (Thinking Prematex thread sealant with teflon) and re-install-torque them, then cold adjust the valves, start the car letting the engine warm to re-torque the bolts after shutting off the engine. Re-fire once again and re-adjust my valves while the car is running and hot to .30/.30

I hope this solve what is causing this leakage as the engine was fine and never leaked before I pulled it apart for a valve job due to one exhaust valve not sealing correctly. I then need to get all the oil residue out of the cooling system. The engine and cooling system are stock.

More feedback the better. I know too I should have known better no excuse.

Thanks,

Steve

I would recommend this method to adjust your valves:
http://www.camaros.org/302valves.shtml

[novaderrik]

Originally Posted by 1968RallySport

I would recommend this method to adjust your valves:
http://www.camaros.org/302valves.shtml

i would recommend a color other than yellow to highlight quoted text...

[1968RallySport]

Originally Posted by novaderrik

i would recommend a color other than yellow to highlight quoted text...

I agree

[burntbunz]

Guys,

Point taken

As always, I appreciate everyone's comments.

Thanks,

Steve

[burntbunz]

Update!!!

So guess I did remember to seal the head bolts but when I saw what I thought was oil droplets in the radiator I questioned myself. However, I needed to adjust the valves anyway so really wasn't all that much time wasted and I found I learned something and wanted to post it for all that reads this.

If anyone needs to adjust the valves on 186 stock heads/cam that come on a 302 they should really follow the link given above at CRG. Just follow the steps and it works perfect. I found my damper measures 25.25 around cause it is kinda hard to measure on the car but using a fabric tape measure helps so you can measure each 90 degrees.

I hope I can still attach my next thread here rather then start a new one since it is kinda related. Sorry if it is in the wrong place.

Back to the main reason for this head bolt thread in the first place. The droplets I believe are from the orange GM Dex-Cool coolant that was in the car!! After reading a lot from this site it seems once air gets mixed with the dex coolant like it does on these cars it can jel up and create sludge OR what looks to be oil droplets in the radiator. My system is all stock including the radiator and not a modern closed system with a recovery tank like I believe now Dex-cool is made for.

I have flushed out the motor using the prestone super flush (Doesn't work) and ran many fill/drive/idle/drain/refill water cycles and I am getting all clean water draining out the radiator now and ready for the coolant (Zerex G-05 gold bottle) BUT I can't get the greasy/residue sludge coating that is stuck to the inside of the radiator etc... out of the system? Any advise? It is kinda hard to describe other than a slimy dark greasy oily residue. That make sense?

I have heard of using cascade dishwasher soap which sounds kinda funny and read an old thread by Dennis saying to stay away from any soap in the cooling system and like I said already super flush didn't work. There are no leaks and hate to take it to someone when I don't want too if I can do myself. The engine runs cool now just barely above the "C" and the heater works great. Should I just leave it and change the coolant once a year or should I be concerned.

By the way, this is an excellent site!!!

Happy New Year Everyone

[Everett#2390]

Believe it or not, Nissan has a coolant flush and it works very well.
Two step process, cleaner first, then a neutralizer second, drain, flush, then add coolant of choice.
Dex-cool works fine for a closed system, including the reservior, look at a late model, 4th Gen Camaro, or 98-20XX GM product.

[Gar's67]

Mr. Clean? About the 10th post in. Found when researching GM 3.1 and 3.8's that are prone to intake gasket failure...
http://www.chevytalk.org/fusionbb/sh...hp?tid/141960/

[KevinW]

Interesting! I just replaced the LIM/UIM gaskest on my Impala (dexcool was replaced a couple years ago with Prestone). But the Malibu is next up for the dexcool replace. I will look into the citrus mr.clean solution

[Fred Ficarra]

Maybe that dish washing soap isn't such a bad idea for what you want to do. The stuff is designed to cut grease with hot water, but most important it's designed to NOT foam up. If it did you'd be vacuuming soap suds from the kitchen floor for hours.
I had a room mate back in the 70's who used bottled "sink" style foamy soap when we ran out of dish washing soap. As soon as he turned on the machine, soap suds squirted out. It would have been funny if it wasn't funny.

[scblucam]

NOT foam up. If it did you'd be vacuuming soap suds from the kitchen floor for hours.
I had a room mate back in the 70's who used bottled "sink" style foamy soap when we ran out of dish washing soap. As soon as he turned on the machine, soap suds squirted out. It would have been funny if it wasn't funny.

Too funny, been there done that about 30 years ago.Turn on the dish washer, leave, come back to a wall of suds.

[69cama]

If you do forget to seal the headbolts after an engine build, which seems to happen to a lot of people. I always recomend that they remove the bolts in the proper torque sequence, apply sealer then retorque the bolts one at a time but add 3 pounds of additional torque to the original torque spec.

I believe this gives enough extra clamping pressure to a head gasket which has already been torqued down and in some cases even run. I have never had a problem with this procedure yet. Just my 2 cents.