head gasket didn't seal!?!?!

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oilspot

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97' vortec 5.0
Initial problem... radiator boiling over.
Bubbles in the radiator (watching with the cap off) = head gasket time.


So that's what I did. And holy **** i was meticulous about it. For all the duct tape/ bailing wire crap I've gotten away with in my life, this one was gonna be by the book. Head was resurfaced and passed a vacuum test at the machine shop with flying colors.
Felpro head gaskets, new head studs torqued per specifications. All surfaces carefully cleaned and wiped down with acetone before laying new head gaskets in. Went ahead and replaced the water pump for piece of mind.

So I get all the little bugs worked out and take it on a test drive. Everythings fine on the drive. Get home, pop the hood and it's puking water outta the overflow jug. Walk away to resist urge to light the damn truck on fire and let it cool down. I come back out, take the cap of, get the truck running and slowly start adding water to chase out air bubbles. It run up to temp and once again, bubbles in the radiator.

So... I'm 99% the head gasket didn't seal and it puking combustion chamber gasses into the coolant system..... still.

Am I missing anything? Is there anything else it could be?
 

gric_az

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Do a leak down test before taking it apart? Bad thermostat? I can assume you torqued the bolts in sequence and increments up to the 65lbs? Well that's what my dad showed me back in the day. Being a 97 I believe those bolts are lubed then torqued then a certain degree past that. Correct me if I'm wrong
 

Erik the Awful

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Head was resurfaced and passed a vacuum test at the machine shop with flying colors.
Felpro head gaskets, new head studs torqued per specifications. All surfaces carefully cleaned and wiped down with acetone before laying new head gaskets in.
You switch between singular and plural there. Did you have BOTH heads inspected and resurfaced? Did you have them magnafluxed? I specified I wanted mine magnafluxed, and sure enough, they caught a crack that wasn't normally visible.
 

Madscientist

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Possibly a problem in the block. There is a test kit that will test for combustion gasses in the cooling system.
 

TechNova

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DId you follow the manufacturers spec on the studs? They are different than bolts.
 
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