Starting to pull intake to check gaskets first .even though they are only about 6 to 7 months old but then again thats the last thing that was touched.

 

Well got the manifold off and didnt see any tears or seperations of the rubber to plastic gasket,only strange thing is how much thicker the rubber ridge is on the new ford gaskets compared to the felpro ones that came off,If you run your nail across the felpro gasket the rubber is about as thick as the plastic plus the ford ones have a much tighter loop around the coolant passages its also a double loop not single like the felpro.Are those really one time use gaskets ? what if I installed the ford ones with no dab of permatex at the ends reconnect the hoses to close the cooling system and pressure test ,if all is ok remove manifold permatex the corners reinstall and torque or will that mess up all 4 gaskets? also didnt see any pits or scratches on manifold looks clean.

 

Well, I have not seen the gaskets myself. So i cannot comment on them.

You did not see any damage to the gasket, therefore it was good. That means to me there is still a leak. The only place i can think of is the head gasket.
I don't know how difficult it would be to temporarily seal the coolant ports on the heads. If you think you can do that you could repeat your pressure testing of the cooling system and hear the waterfall again. That should convince you of the necessity to take the heads off.

I would not reuse a gasket this deep down in the engine.

 

I guess I should have wrote that on the old gaskets the top 75% still had a lip on the rubber and the lower 25% the rubber was squeezed flat against the plastic especially around the coolant passages ,the top section still looks somewhat new where the bottom section is so flat it looks like it been on there 80k and seems like it might not be sealing.The gasket reuse question was only on the new gaskets ,install for 10min pressure test than take back off,thanks

 

o.k. got it.

Is there any connection between the coolant passages and the oil passages at that gasket?
I studied the pictures in the Haynes manual but they weren't clear to me.

I woud not re-use a gasket after it has been torqued down once, not this deep in the engine.

So at this point (assuming the coolant can get to oil right here) I would reassamble the engine with proper torque and torque sequence (Haynes manual). Before resslambly I would make sure the threads are clean so the torque delivers pressure to the gasket instead of coping with friction in the threads.

I hope this does it for you and you find time to celebrate New Year and New Gasket!

 

Is there any connection between the coolant passages and the oil passages at that gasket? There dosent seem to be just 2 coolant passages per head along with the intake ports and each one is circled in rubber gasket, on the old felpros if coolant was to leak past the rubber gasket it would go right into the valley. actually on the left head there was a small deposit of corrosion right under the rubber gasket at the coolant passage .gasket looked a little funny but not to bad,hopefully that is it or like you said pulling the heads is next plus out 45 bucks for more intake gaskets.So hopeing its the intake gaskets cause Iam back to work monday so progress will be slow due to lack of time.If i do have to ****** the heads it will probably be 2 weeks to get done unless I farm it out but Iam cheap so we will see.The wife has not started complaining yet but shes driving my old jeep with 230k on that straight 6 motor which has never been apart .did I say home much i love that jeep motor its a tank just keeps going. once again thanks for the help I will keep you posted if the intake gaskets worked might be a few days though. oh have you heard of putting pipe dope or antiseize on the intake hold down bolts or just wire wheel and install dry?

 

For reassembly I would go straight by book (Haynes Manual). I don't have it in front of me.

 

Well by no means out of the woods yet but its looking better, took BLUEWINDS advice and made up some block off plates and rubber gasket for the coolant passages on both heads ( manifold is still off of course), blocked off coolant hoses and tube and filled with water with no leaks after 2hrs sitting .before it would leak just sitting there .was able to get about 6psi on rigged coolant tester and no leaks so far.I need to locate a coolant tester adapter so I can pump up to the 16 psi the cap calls for, maybe parts store rental? Still have a little spot of electrolysis on intake a coolant passage where seal goes dug and cleaned out the small area will probably jb weld and file flat.jeeze serviced the cooling system twice in 80k and still have some electrolysis ,service your cooling systems people!.Just love aluminum heads on steel blocks.keep your fingers and toes crossed for me will update in another day or two as time permits really busey at work.

 

last update, 90% back together will finish up tomorrow with air cleaner ,cowl ,wipers etc.Installed manifold pressure checked and no leaks ,installed injectors primed system no leaks on a roll so far so will call it a combo of intake gaskets and pitting on the gasket surfaces on intake was the problem.