Tigers List Archive

This read-only message was archived from a public mail list.
Mail From: James Barrett <(email redacted)>

Folks,
Sorry to bomb the list. I have a 66 Alpine with a
2.8 L Caprii V6 in addition to my Tiger II. The Alpine has been off the
road for a few months while I was doing rust repair on it.
The Alkpine is what i normally drive if I am working on the Tiger.
Well, I decided my Tiger needed the garage more than the Alpine.

I started the Alpine it up, with some difficulty,and noticed that
the drivers
side exhaust was putting out a lot of steam/water vapor. Crap, I thought.
The block/head is cracked, bad head gasket, bad intake gasket, or some
other problem. I ran it until it warmed up in the garage and it was still
steaming. After it cooled, I pulled the plugs on the driver's side. There
was some
carbon, but the center cermatic was clean as was the side electrode. The
plug from the middle cylinder was the cleanest. The center cermatic was clean
as far down as it goes into the plug. Since water injection tends to clean
things I suspected the center cylinder might have a water leak.

Using compression tester's hose (without the valve) I pressurized the
cylinders one at a time to see if I had bubbles comming out the radiator
filler. Of course I had to crank the motor to close the valves, else I
had air massive leaks out the carb or the exhaust. Was able to pressureize
the cylinders to 112 pounds (air compressure limit) and only heard a small leak
of air into the crank case around the rings. No indication of any bubbles
at the radiator filler with the cap off. No indication of a leak from one
cylinder
to the other either. Used a 3" section of 5/8 hose to stick near a spark
plug hole
with the other end near my ear. The dipstick did not have the classic
"cream" from oil/water mix on it. The radiator and overflow can were not low.
Did have a little cream on the inside of the valve cover breather that has a
hose to the
air cleaner. Saw a drop of water when I pulled the breather.

Started the thing up again and no indication of the steam problem from
either tail pipe.

It is very humid here in Florida and the Alpine had been setting
outside for
several months happly rusting before it entered the garage for body work. My
wife
also likes to run the lawn sprinkler to keep the grass nice and green. The
sprinkler water from our well is very corrosive. Real nice on Alpines and
Tigers 8-(.

I rebuilt the V6 several years ago, including new oversized pistons.

Any expert out there have any ideas on how to decide if there is a
water leak
into a motor?







James Barrett Tiger II 351C and others

This read-only message was archived from a public mail list.
Mail From: "Paul J. Burr" <(email redacted)>

James:

How about the freeze plugs? I once sold a nice '63 falcon furtura
convertable after it did what you described. I assumed the head had cracked
and it was a goner. Turns out, the inline six had freeze plugs hidden by the
exhaust manifold. The guy I sold it to didn't offer to sell it back. >sigh<
Maybe you have a simmilar situation on your hands.

Paul

on 2/3/02 3:30 PM, James Barrett at (email redacted) wrote:

> Folks,
> Sorry to bomb the list. I have a 66 Alpine with a
> 2.8 L Caprii V6 in addition to my Tiger II. The Alpine has been off the
> road for a few months while I was doing rust repair on it.
> The Alkpine is what i normally drive if I am working on the Tiger.
> Well, I decided my Tiger needed the garage more than the Alpine.
>
> I started the Alpine it up, with some difficulty,and noticed that
> the drivers
> side exhaust was putting out a lot of steam/water vapor. Crap, I thought.
> The block/head is cracked, bad head gasket, bad intake gasket, or some
> other problem. I ran it until it warmed up in the garage and it was still
> steaming. After it cooled, I pulled the plugs on the driver's side. There
> was some
> carbon, but the center cermatic was clean as was the side electrode. The
> plug from the middle cylinder was the cleanest. The center cermatic was clean
> as far down as it goes into the plug. Since water injection tends to clean
> things I suspected the center cylinder might have a water leak.
>
> Using compression tester's hose (without the valve) I pressurized the
> cylinders one at a time to see if I had bubbles comming out the radiator
> filler. Of course I had to crank the motor to close the valves, else I
> had air massive leaks out the carb or the exhaust. Was able to pressureize
> the cylinders to 112 pounds (air compressure limit) and only heard a small
> leak
> of air into the crank case around the rings. No indication of any bubbles
> at the radiator filler with the cap off. No indication of a leak from one
> cylinder
> to the other either. Used a 3" section of 5/8 hose to stick near a spark
> plug hole
> with the other end near my ear. The dipstick did not have the classic
> "cream" from oil/water mix on it. The radiator and overflow can were not low.
> Did have a little cream on the inside of the valve cover breather that has a
> hose to the
> air cleaner. Saw a drop of water when I pulled the breather.
>
> Started the thing up again and no indication of the steam problem from
> either tail pipe.
>
> It is very humid here in Florida and the Alpine had been setting
> outside for
> several months happly rusting before it entered the garage for body work. My
> wife
> also likes to run the lawn sprinkler to keep the grass nice and green. The
> sprinkler water from our well is very corrosive. Real nice on Alpines and
> Tigers 8-(.
>
> I rebuilt the V6 several years ago, including new oversized pistons.
>
> Any expert out there have any ideas on how to decide if there is a
> water leak
> into a motor?
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> James Barrett Tiger II 351C and others

This read-only message was archived from a public mail list.
Mail From: (email redacted)

Snap-On and several automotive suppliers have a kit that can be used to test
radiator coolant for contamination from exhaust gasses. I suggest you use
this to check, beats cracking the engine open.

Dr. Moonstone