[TR] blown headgasket without milky coolant or oil?

[Tony Drews]

I've changed many a blown head gasket.  In my case, it was normally a 
milky oil deal.  Maybe one or two were blowing water out of the 
radiator instead of into the oil.  At any rate, sometimes you can 
tell where it blew upon careful inspection of both sides of the 
gasket, sometimes it's a pure mystery.  But, in every case replacing 
that sucker fixed me right up.  On the race car we got to where we 
could do it in well under 2 hours, probably closer to 1.5 
hours.  That was with two motivated guys wrenching and another track 
session coming up.

Tony Drews

At 09:04 PM 12/7/2011, Jeremiah Curry wrote:
>Thanks Randall and everyone else for the advice.
>
>I was able to use the prying method and get the head off.  Now I have the
>liners secured and covered.  My question is how do I tell if the old gasket
>was bad?  The cylinders and pistons are covered in a lot of carbon for an
>engine that has only driven about 700-1000 miles since the head was
>machined.  However it was running rich that whole time.  Or would driving
>with a blown gasket cause carbon buildup?  It looks as if the gasket might
>be a little darker between two of the gaskets, is that a sign of leakage
>there?
>
>Thanks,
>Jeremiah
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: triumphs-bounces at autox.team.net
>[mailto:triumphs-bounces at autox.team.net] On Behalf Of Randall
>Sent: Monday, December 05, 2011 8:18 PM
>Cc: triumphs at autox.team.net
>Subject: Re: [TR] blown headgasket without milky coolant or oil?
>
> > I got the manifolds and thermostat housing off.  I just took the head
> > nuts
> > off the studs.  Do I need to take the studs off too?
>
>No.  I almost never remove the studs unless there is a problem, and even
>then I remove the head first.
>
>To loosen the head, I find that it is usually sufficient to gently pry
>between the bottom of the water outlet and the water pump housing.  Once the
>front moves up a bit, wiggle it up and down while lifting on the rear, and
>it usually comes up.  Don't forget it has to come up square, otherwise it
>will bind on the studs.
>
>However, if the head is stuck like that, then IMO the liners will be stuck
>as well, and not likely to move.
>
>-- Randall
>
>
>triumphs at autox.team.net
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