Quoting turbowop:
Jon asked you a legitimate question and you came back asking if he was serious. How do you expect people to respond when you ask for help and they try to deliver? Even when I suggested that you don't need an oilpan gasket in your other thread, since the FSM actually calls out to use RTV and people that have used the gaskets have had leak issues, you blew it off as though you knew more about it than me and the other guys making the same suggestion.
Maybe if you listened to people's advice and took their questions seriously, you wouldn't be in this boat. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dunno.gif
Quoting GSTwithPSI:
Quoting G:
Yo, you don't need an oil pan gasket.
It comes in the kit, so might as well use it. If nothing else, it makes the oil pan easier to remove in the future.
Quoting GSTwithPSI:
Quoting turbowop:
That gasket is also more prone to leak.
But less prone to oozing into the oil pan, flaking off, and clogging an oil passage or the sump. Regardless of what the Mitsu manual says or how carefully you apply it, IMO RTV isn't a good substitute for a real gasket when available. If your mating surfaces are clean, flat, and your gasket is torqued properly, it won't leak. I'd say no matter if a gasket or RTV is used, proper installation is the important part, and in my case that means a copper coated Fel-Pro gasket.
Really? I didn't think I blew you off, or know more than anyone? I simply don't agree with your opinion, or the procedure outlined in the FSM for the reasons I stated above. I didn't realize I offended you.
And be in what boat? I'm not really sure what you are trying to imply there. I don't take responses seriously when they are useless to me, and I often poke fun. If that's too brash, or you feel I'm not appreciative of the feedback I get here, then that's your opinion. FlyingEagle's post was more of what I expected to get in response to my question, and I thanked him for it.
I pulled the head off the car today and found the issue. It looks like somehow, the fire ring on cylinder 1 distorted after the head was torqued down. Because of the distortion, hot gases were building up in the small displaced area, and eventually burned past the fire ring's sealing surface and got to the composite material of the head gasket. I just so happens, that where this all happened was in very close proximity to a small water passage opening in the head.
Here's the small passage in the cylinder head where the gases were escaping into the cooling system. You can see the outline of where the fire ring was actually positioned, and how far off it was from where it should have been.
Before anyone brings it up again, neither the head or block are warped. I triple checked them both after I pulled the head today. Again, so there's no confusion, I checked for warpage using a machinist rule (not to be confused with a carpenters rule) and feeler gauges according the the FSM. So what caused this? Could the gasket have just been faulty? I immediately thought maybe I had over torqued the head stud on that corner, or torqued in the improper sequence. Here's the order I used:
I also torqued each ARP head stud in 3 steps, 30-60-90 ft-lbs using ARP molly lube. Then, I go back left to right and double check each row after I've torqued each stud in order. Am I missing something? I really don't think I over torqued any of the studs, and am wondering if that could even cause what you guys see in the pics. I have probably installed 10 Fel-Pro composite gaskets on 4G63 motors over time, and have never seen anything like this. Hell, I just put the exact same gasket on my 1G Eclipse a few months ago, and it's running great. Any ideas of what the cause could have been?
