intake stud water leak

[michaelj]

Gents, my front-most stud is dripping a wee bit of antifreeze after an engine rebuild. I thought I remember reading somewhere that some of these studs penetrate the water jacket. Do you know which ones? I cannot find it in the manual. I was going to rip them all out and replace them but sometimes when you try to do "the right thing" you are rewarded with a major project like breaking them off. I would rather just go after the penetrators.

I have no leaks on the exhaust studs. Do any of them penetrate as well?

Also, my new freeze plugs all leaked. Gave em a few more whacks and three sealed up. The back one is still weeping a bit. I haven't done a lot of engines but I usually use brass plugs, these were steel. ANy comparative experiences out there? And do you put any kind of sealant on them? I did not.

thanks!

Mike

[jlw35]

I had a large leak on the aft most portion of the intake manifold. Removed it and replaced the gasket, all better.
The ports for the coolant (as I remember) are at the front and rear of the manifold.

[vandor]

I would clean off the area and the look to see exactly where the leak is coming from. I have never seen a leak from that stud.
I am not sure if they go all the way into the cooling gallery, but I am thinking not. There are 3 ports to get water to the manifold, at the front, middle, and rear. I think it is more likely that the gasket is not sealing properly.

On the exhaust side the #2 and #4 studs thread into the oil return gallery.

[michaelj]

Im going to pull the exhaust for sure when I get the header, and I am replacing all those bolts with studs so I can deal with anything over there easy enough. The intake is a little more work but no biggie. I guess I can check the depth of the bolt holes and see if any are connected. Guess I better order a new gasket just in case. Thanks gents. Mike

[michaelj]

The antifreeze leak at the first intake stud was indeed from the gasket. It doesn't appear like those studs are penetrated into the water jacket. Caveat, I did not pull them out to check. I just tightened up on the manifold and the leak went away.

However, the top bolts on the exhaust header are definitely penetrated into the oil circuit so I put some thread sealant on there and those are now gone as well.


Mike