Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2017 12:45 pm Post subject: antifreeze pooling in sparkplug wells
This issue is happening on a CJ3A but since it is a L4 I thought I could post it here and get some answers.
The antifreeze seems to pool in all the plug wells but mostly on #4. I have pulled all plugs and with a light see no antifreeze in the combustion chambers on all plug holes. The valve is dry. Not even damp. Fire end of plug is dry.
I have a heater valve on the back of the head but it is not leaking, and if it was I can see no way for antifreeze to get to #1 -#3 cylinders from it without leaving some trace.
Also, this issue seems to happen only in the winter while in storage.
The engine starts fine and runs smooth with no smoke at all. No blue and no white. I just started it in a shed and would have noticed it for sure.
No oil in coolant and no coolant in oil.
Original head and engine. Can the head just be porous from age. Cracked??
Head gasket?? _________________ Gary Keating
1949 C3A, 1952 M38,
1954 M170, 1957 Cj3B
Gary,
I would start with the thermostat housing. On oil saturated cast iron it is not uncommon for the very slick anti-freeze to not leave any trace of it's travel path. I have had this happen over the last 47 years on many of my flathead engines. My Dodge M37 230 flathead 6 was doing the same thing last winter. Lower surface of the thermostat housing was heavily corroded and the gasket couldn't seal well. First three plug wells always full of anti-freeze yet no path showing. In your case the same with the heater port on the head. Only takes a few minutes to pull the valve, clean both sides of the threads and seal the threads with a good quality sealer like Tite-Seal Medium. Don't overlook the head studs that are rooted in the water jackets. They may need resealing as well. _________________ Wes K
45 MB, 51 M38, 54 M37, 66 M101A1, 60 CJ5, 76 DJ5D, 47Bantam T3-C & 5? M100
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum