F20 coolant leak

doehmke

Member
Fired up one of my F20s after totally redoing the engine, to include having the head gone through and all new valves and surfaces ground, magnafluxed, etc. Also, the shop repaired a crack by one of the valves. Engine runs very nicely, but I watch coolant seeping out from under the manifold gasket's bottom edge, just to the left of the 2nd manifold stud from the front of the engine. It is very slow in forming individual drops, which drop one at a time down side of the block.

Don't have any coolant getting into either the crankcase the crankcase or manifold and carb from what I can tell.

Any thoughts on if this might be a manifold stud turned in too far and coolant from the water jacket is seeping out the bolt hole? Would high temp sealant on the stud threads possibly take care of this? Any other ideas short of pulling the head and having it rechecked or replaced?
 
IF IT IS IN FACT THE STUD LEAKING COOLANT, THE HOLES IN THE HEAD FOR THE MANIFOLD STUDS ARE A "WET HOLE", WHICH MEANS THERE IS COOLANT AT THE THREADS ALL THE TIME. YOU NEED TO USE A SEALER ON THE MANIFOLD STUD THREAD WHEN YOU INSTALL THEM.
 
I use alumaseal powder it works very well and quick...
I sealed up my heater core on my old Dodge Cummins 10 years ago still holding on leak...
My old B tracker was dripping water between the engine and clutch housing I figured it was a freeze plug leaking used alumaseal and fixed it right up that has been around 15 years back...
Yesterday I used on my H it had it was dripping antifreeze from the lower right side of radiator could have been a tube or the tank sealed it up in 10 minutes...You might give it a try before you start pulling studs you will only be out around $3.50 or so...
The best way to use it is run the engine with no radiator cap or with a very loose radiator cap till water is hot or circulating in other words till the thermostat opens...Then add alumaseal tighten radiator cap and run the engine till leak stops works pretty quick but run the engine at least 30 minutes to an hour that should be long enough to fix all the leaks or seeps in your cooling system...


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(quoted from post at 04:15:04 10/03/13)
The best way to use it is run the engine with no radiator cap or with a very loose radiator cap till water is hot or circulating in other words till the thermostat opens...Then add alumaseal tighten radiator cap and run the engine till leak stops works pretty quick but run the engine at least 30 minutes to an hour that should be long enough to fix all the leaks or seeps in your cooling system...

A couple problems with a F20.... First its not a pressurized system so loosening and tightening the radiator cap does nothing, they are thermosyphon, so no water pump to circulate it and no thermostat either. You could seal radiator leaks with the powder and guys do, but getting enough of it up into those stud threads may take awhile.... a very long while . Coat the stud threads with sealant and be done
 
Alumaseal is a good product but it's just a suggestion.
It saved me a tractor split on my B farmall sealing the water leak in back on engine. It is a 1941 and it does not have a water pump. For 3.50 and a bit of time it won't hurt your wallet to much to give it a shot...As I said just a suggestion...
 

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