David W Rose
Junior Member
There have been some similar threads for my problem but I'm not sure if it's the same problem.
It all started after I'd driven about 10 miles. Steam came from under the hood, and I lost heat. The steam was coming from the passenger side. I had it towed home. It looked like a leak but it wasn't. After replacing the lower radiator hose, then the radiator, and the water pump and thermostat... I noticed there was lots of white exhaust. Damn, blown head gasket. I took it to a shop. They said because of the problem with HEMIs dropping valve seats when overheating, they would only replace the entire engine and do it for $12K. They put in Bar's Head Sealer as a temp fix and it seemed to work for a bit. A week later, it was overheating again. Every time the thermostat opened, a bit more than 1/2 gallon of fluid would push out (up into a spilless funnel). I used an endoscope through a spark plug hole in each cylinder and saw white flaky material on the #4 piston with what looked like white stalactites on the head. I pulled the passenger head and saw a split in the gasket. I replaced it and put the engine back together. I flushed the heater core, radiator, and engine until I got as much as the Bar's Leak out as possible. The antifreeze comes out looking fresh when I drain it now but still has a small amount of the crystals in it from the Bar's. I still have the problem with 1/2 gallon of fluid coming out and the engine temp climbing past 209 (where I shut it off). When it shuts off, the fluid is sucked back in. I've removed the set screw in the water pump to bleed the system, I've forced water though the upper and used a shop vac to recover it from the lower. I used a self-made adaptor to block the heater core line and path form upper to water pump impeller so the water would have to go through the block. Of course, if one side was blocked, the water could just go through the open side. I tried removing the passenger side block drain bolt but even with a breaker bar it wouldn't turn. Should I try adding a pipe to the bar or not risk snapping the bolt? Does the factory put the type of thread lock on these bolts that requires them to be heated to release? Water is coming out clear, oil looks good, there's no visible exhaust, and no bubbles coming from the radiator (just fluid). Maybe if I remove the water pump and try forcing water through each side of the engine to see what happens? Maybe I can clear a blockage if that's what's happening. It would be nice if were an air pocket that I could remove but so far, I haven't had any luck. Help? Tests or procedures to try at this point would be nice. I really don't want to tear down to the block but will if everything else fails.
It all started after I'd driven about 10 miles. Steam came from under the hood, and I lost heat. The steam was coming from the passenger side. I had it towed home. It looked like a leak but it wasn't. After replacing the lower radiator hose, then the radiator, and the water pump and thermostat... I noticed there was lots of white exhaust. Damn, blown head gasket. I took it to a shop. They said because of the problem with HEMIs dropping valve seats when overheating, they would only replace the entire engine and do it for $12K. They put in Bar's Head Sealer as a temp fix and it seemed to work for a bit. A week later, it was overheating again. Every time the thermostat opened, a bit more than 1/2 gallon of fluid would push out (up into a spilless funnel). I used an endoscope through a spark plug hole in each cylinder and saw white flaky material on the #4 piston with what looked like white stalactites on the head. I pulled the passenger head and saw a split in the gasket. I replaced it and put the engine back together. I flushed the heater core, radiator, and engine until I got as much as the Bar's Leak out as possible. The antifreeze comes out looking fresh when I drain it now but still has a small amount of the crystals in it from the Bar's. I still have the problem with 1/2 gallon of fluid coming out and the engine temp climbing past 209 (where I shut it off). When it shuts off, the fluid is sucked back in. I've removed the set screw in the water pump to bleed the system, I've forced water though the upper and used a shop vac to recover it from the lower. I used a self-made adaptor to block the heater core line and path form upper to water pump impeller so the water would have to go through the block. Of course, if one side was blocked, the water could just go through the open side. I tried removing the passenger side block drain bolt but even with a breaker bar it wouldn't turn. Should I try adding a pipe to the bar or not risk snapping the bolt? Does the factory put the type of thread lock on these bolts that requires them to be heated to release? Water is coming out clear, oil looks good, there's no visible exhaust, and no bubbles coming from the radiator (just fluid). Maybe if I remove the water pump and try forcing water through each side of the engine to see what happens? Maybe I can clear a blockage if that's what's happening. It would be nice if were an air pocket that I could remove but so far, I haven't had any luck. Help? Tests or procedures to try at this point would be nice. I really don't want to tear down to the block but will if everything else fails.