firebladeJJ

iTrader: (1)

So as the title says the head gaskets are leaking on my lq9. The kicker is this motor has yet to be started at all. I put the coolant in a few days ago and intended to start it but couldnt get back to work on it till today. I notice wet spots all along the bottom of the heads and drips on the concrete. I havent even put oil in it yet so for the he'll of it I pull the oil plug and a small amout of coolant comes out. What gives? I'm pretty sure I put the gaskets on right. I use oem bolts and touqred them to spec. Thank you in advance.

darkirish63

iTrader: (5)

Something definitely not right there. Hate to tell you but they'll have to come off and be reinstalled IMHO.

firebladeJJ

iTrader: (1)

Yeah im gonna go and get some better quality parts I guess and pull the heads tomorrow. I was trying to just ues oem stuff but the car gods must have different plans for me.

dantheman1540

Did you reuse the old OEM bolts? Or did you purchase new ones?

firebladeJJ

iTrader: (1)

I got new ones for the build. Im at summit as I type this getting new gaskets and arp bolts.

dantheman1540

Oh how I miss living close to a summit.

firebladeJJ

iTrader: (1)

Its awesome and also bad for the check book

1FastBrick

iTrader: (17)

What's the story with the LQ9?

Where did the heads come from?

terravast4

iTrader: (25)

Some heads from a certain year require a specific head gasket because of an odd water passage. I can't remember the year right off hand. I know Scoggin dickey had images on their site to show the slight differences

firebladeJJ

iTrader: (1)

the motor was out of a 2005 or 6 2500 work truck, started life as a lq4 but was in cab fire. i pulled everything off and took it to the machine shop, had everything check to made sure was straight or machined to be straight and bored out .030. the heads (317) are the ones that came with the engine.

as of right now I have the heads off and i got some cometic gaskets and arp bolts. I chased all the bolt holes and I'm waiting on some water to evap. the gaskets I had on this morning were flat as a board, the cometic gaskets have little bumps and ridges around most of the passages. I ran a straight edge on all the surfaces and i dont see any light or low spots, I checked my dowel pins and they are clearing (it had crossed my mind that they may be too tall). before i pulled the heads i did look in the cylinders to see if the bores had coolant in them too but they were dry. it was just leaking down the bottom of the head but it only did it after i jacked the front of the truck up and let it sit over night like that. it had sit for about 4 days with coolant in it before it started leaking.