heads machined too much?

[third_shift|studios]

i have coolant leaking from a head.
2 months ago i had the heads machined b/c the engine overheated
Is it possible that the heads are machined too much and the gasket is not able to take up the slack.

all work done by pros not by me.

[BIG D's SS]

Heads being shaved too much should only cause it to spark knock with too high of compression. I wouldn't think that they wouldn't seal unless they screwed them up.:think:

[Sarge]

Dip...what in the hell are you doing in the tech section asking dumbass questions?
What do the people that machined your damn heads have to say?
Jeezzzus...You got coolant in your oil? You "overheated your engine"...and they machined the heads? None of this makes any fucking sense.....did you only "authorize" the minimum? Did you burn your engine up? Get on here and tell us more than this dip.

[Ed Blown Vert]

From where on the head?

[Blitzed]

:think:

[third_shift|studios]

Sorry it took so long to get back here.

2 months ago:

My engine overheated b/c a friend of mine and i tried to replace some lifters and didn't torque the heads correctly thus making coolant spew everywhere. [no flaming, i know...bad lesson to learn]

Sent the car to the pros where they removed both heads and inspected. no coolant/water/oil combos at all.

heads needed to be machined, so i authorized whatever was necessary to make the car fully functional. They never pulled the engine-they didn't think it was necessary. All went back together, car ran fine.

Yesterday:

took the car to GM for a pulley that was chirping and they said coolant was leaking onto it causing it to make the noise. They said that the leak was coming from the head. I was pissed as all hell so i took it to the shop that did the head work and me and the guy lifted the car and inspected.

there is no crack at all but there is a super-thin hairline seperation between teh head/block (on the bottom in the center of the passenger side head) which is letting just a sliver of coolant out. GM blew it out of proportion b/c they saw the old coolant that had fuzed to the engine.

The shop says if anything the block warped jsut a bit from the overheat and that's whats causing the leak. They said there is nothing major to worry about. The shop says they are gonna torque my heads to 95 lbs to make up for anything, but they said my original shave job was well beneath the limit [i forget the numbers, something with a 6 and an 8 and i think the max is 20? i'm so not technical here, i know]

that's all i got so far...but the thing that pissed me off is when GM said the coolant is leaking on the tensioner pulley causing the chirp...once i got under the car, i was ready to slap-kick the guy for saying that b/c ther is NO WAY that coolant could jump from the center of the head to the front of the block.

[third_shift|studios]

ok, so i took it to the shop who did the head work on it [i guess you could say...they gave me head? :lmao:] anyway, according to Zboner and the shop, ARP head bolts are fairly notorious for stretching after sometime, so the shop just re-torqued them. This makes a lot of sense, b/c the heads went back on in the summer, it's now winter and that sucker has been through some serious heat cycles, so i'm assuming that physics is to blame here: metal shrank in the cold.

can any techy guy here confirm my "shrinkage?"

[Hi-Po]

SARGE_Dip...what in the hell are you doing in the tech section asking dumbass questions?
What do the people that machined your damn heads have to say?
Jeezzzus...You got coolant in your oil? You "overheated your engine"...and they machined the heads? None of this makes any fucking sense.....did you only "authorize" the minimum? Did you burn your engine up? Get on here and tell us more than this dip.-SARGE-

Damn man, take it easy.... for one this is not the "tech" section, its INTERNAL ENGINE. I think you thinking of the other ls1 site. AND this guy in obviously not techically advanced and trying his best to complete his problem.

[Hi-Po]

:)

[Z06-Dave]

If you used ARP bolts and your heads are machined as far as you say, then I would bet that the threads bottomed out and the bolts cannot be tightened any further. Use a thicker gasket.

[TWISTEDTA]

Heads being shaved too much should only cause it to spark knock with too high of compression. I wouldn't think that they wouldn't seal unless they screwed them up.:think:

Psh yea right, tell that to the guy from around my area that bought heads that were shaved to much & two starts Later -CAAH BOOOMMM!!

[TWISTEDTA]

Dip...what in the hell are you doing in the tech section asking dumbass questions?
What do the people that machined your damn heads have to say?
Jeezzzus...You got coolant in your oil? You "overheated your engine"...and they machined the heads? None of this makes any ####### sense.....did you only "authorize" the minimum? Did you burn your engine up? Get on here and tell us more than this dip.

holly a$$! Wake up in the wrong side of the bed?? Go rub some Vagasile on your self and chill out.

[310stanger]

the head being machined can only be a factor in a leaky cyl head/gasket if they head wasnt machined flat and true. the heads may have no been torqued correctly, they may have cracks. its possible your cylinder decks are not flat and true. as far as arp head bolts stretching, actual head bolts should stretch a lil but not enough to lose clamping force, not if they have the correct amount of threads and were torqued correctly. are head studs not available on ls1s yet? i have arp studs on mine and they dont stretch at all. you can also reuse them over and over again.

[Hi-Po]

holly a$$! Wake up in the wrong side of the bed?? Go rub some Vagasile on your self and chill out.

Funny i thought the same. Only i was thinking some summer's eve might cure this problem.:rant: