Rocker failure

[Crofter]

Keep the oil to it often. Is there being any washdown of the valve stems? Maybe you need to put some steam cylinder oil in the coolant too!

[Crofter]

Well people have been saying for a long time that they are running their cars on water! maybe thumper has pulled it off.

In this case I am sure you are better off with the non oil holed valve guides. Hope the stopleak does the trick but the steam coming in spurts makes me worry that it is compression forces driving the water. In that case it would not even have to be bypassing the gasket anywhere to get into the stud bores.

[mbryner]

So before my big end bearing failure, I would notice a little water around the rocker arms and valve guides but I could never find where it was coming from.  And there was a little "chocolate milk" mixed in the coolant when I drained it.  The coolant overflow tank always had water.

So hearing your leak description makes me think these are prone to headgasket leak.  Maybe check the head bolts torque often?

[mobile_bob]

you definitely don't want antifreeze to come into contact with brg shells, it has a tendency to cause them to flake out
and go away quick.

as for sealing the studs, get a stick of that ace hardware pipe dope, we talk about here frequently
it can be used on wet threads no problem, seals excellent and is good for water, antifreeze, oil, gasoline, diesel, nat gas, propane, hyd
etc. actually i have never seen it not work with anything i come across.

if i had a listeroid the head studs would certainly be installed with that dope as a sealant, as would any other leak prone stud or bolt.

quick and easy to use, and cheap as dirt

fwiw

bob g

[mbryner]

Good tip. Thanks.  It didn't have anything to do with my big end failure I think b/c no water in crankcase.  Easy fix,
thanks.

[mobile_bob]

some brg babbit composition takes a ridiculously small amount of antifreeze to attack and delaminate the layers
leading to early failure.

detroit diesel had some issues with that happening, it took very little antifreeze for the brgs to start to flake
and come apart. certainly far less than it took to make things milky.

just fwiw, something to protect against on your way back together

bob g

[bschwartz]

"............ the aftermarket head gasket is the way to go but it involves setting the piston clearance ........."

Why does the piston clearance need to be changed to use the aftermarket head gasket? 

Your description sure makes me believe the head gasket is the culprit.  I had a similar sounding leak up at the rockers, and the HG was at fault. 

[Tom T]

Jen if your coolant pump is electric you can put a capacitor on it and make a self holding circuit then very the size of the cap to get the hold time you need but you know this right? Tom T

[Tom Reed]

If anyone is interested I flipped the rocker shaft around to point the grease holes down and added a zirk fitting. The rockers were fitted with brass bushings.

[Lloyd]

Jens,

How about a time delay relay on the circ-pump? Power the pump from the grid and the relay from the st head...that way you can choose how long the pump runs so your head doesn't boil. 

lloyd

[Lloyd]

How about a time delay relay on the circ-pump? Power the pump from the grid and the relay from the st head...that way you can choose how long the pump runs so your head doesn't boil. 

BTW Lloyd, I did not see a reply from you re my question to you on belts (industrial vs automotive)

I'll look for it again...I think one of the white papers I posted on the gates belt/drive engineering has the info...but I'll have to find it.

You can get a time delay relay for about $25.00,  1 min, 4 min up to 1 hour.

Lloyd

[Lloyd]

Jens,

Here's a starter by belt designation APPLICATIONS:

J's -Light weight,electric motors,Air
compressors,ice cream machines,
excercise equipment.
K's -Auto serpentine,available in all
lengths and custom cut-widths.
L's -Gas Compressors, Diesel Engines
Agriculture equip.
M's -Heavy equip.& compressors.

I'll look for the rest, I went through this when I was in search of a belt for my Perky/cat\Volvo. The industrial drive shops wouldn't even sell me a belt when, I told them my apllication...they said the shock load of the combustion cycle was to much for an industrial, and the I needed a K, L,or M series, as it turns out my dirve pulley is a K series...so that is what I went with...Was a big learning curve, and a lot of wasted time and worry.

Lloyd

[Lloyd]

Hi Jens,

Yes the L series is a "Heavy Industry" drive, not an industrial, The difference is in the cording used...so they are either shock tolerant (combustion stroke) or are designed for high HP elec/air/hydro drive...no combustion. There is also a clutchable drive belt.

Time delays are either activated on energize or de-energize...In your case the relay would be on de-energize, the coil would be energized by the thumper, and the the circ. by the grid (pass through). No logic required, it's all in the relay.

Lloyd

[RogerAS]

You can get a time delay relay for about $25.00,  1 min, 4 min up to 1 hour.

Don't you need some logic around the relay though ?  I was under the impression that these relays time out after a given time past initial activation but what we have here is a situation where the relay must stay on for a undetermined duration and then, after the engine has shut off, start the timer.
Not only does there need to be some logic that does the delayed shut off (which I concede may be available off the shelf) but also the relay has to be activated when the engine starts up (this can not happen manually because I would forget it most of the time).
I guess I never completely wrapped my mind around the issues so something may indeed be available off the shelf but as I said, it seems to get complicated quickly.

Jens,

Look into 555 timer chips. These can be set up to do some amazing timing tasks.

I've built a bunch of simple timers using these cheap little chips. I may have a design laying about I can post here.

R

[Lloyd]

Jens,

How long will thumper sit after it shuts down before the next restart? If it's more then 4-5 hrs and the engine room is cold you may run into a problem where the block starts to sweat from the 24/7 circulation...I've seen this happen on marine engines that are hooked into the a hydronic loop that doesn't stop circulating the block coolant( if you have enough btus to waste and it can maintain the block temp above the condensation point it may not be an issue...but that big piece of iron is a large heat sink that will suck a lot of btu's).


If you use a time delay on de-energize power the coil  of the relay from the gen output, then power the circ pump from the grid. When thumper shuts down the relay will start the count down for what ever time delay you choose to allow the grid to run the circ pump...so your head doesn't boil.

It's very simple with no reason to wrap/rap your head a round it.

Lloyd