January 11, 201115 yr I just bought a 81 gl wagon. bought it knowing it had a leak. i drained the milkshake out of the oil pan and filter and put new oil and filter and ran it with nothing in the rad. (it was 23 degrees out) it ran great! turned it off and started putting coolant in it. rad would not fill up, but the oil dip stick did... and i can hear water running near the right head when i was trying to fill it. sure enough water in the oil. is this just a head gasket leak? or worse?
January 11, 201115 yr only one way to find out is pull the heads out and check for the cracks in the heads and could be just gasket.. it could be anything but only one way to find out again.. pull the heads out
January 11, 201115 yr Author i thought as much. bought a head gasket set on rockauto. i really hope it fixes it
January 11, 201115 yr More than likely just popped out a core ("freeze") plug. Pull off the valve covers and take a look. Pretty easy fix.
January 11, 201115 yr Author More than likely just popped out a core ("freeze") plug. Pull off the valve covers and take a look. Pretty easy fix. and that would let water into the crank case?
January 11, 201115 yr Freeze plugs plug openings into the water jacket of the head. These ones are under the valve covers, so if they pop out the water flows straight into the valve cover area and drains into the oil pan.
January 11, 201115 yr Cold weather + water draining into the crankcase as quickly as you can put it into the radiator + flowing water noise under the valve cover = popped freeze plug(s).
January 11, 201115 yr Author thanks guys! i'll look at it when i get it to my shop. if your right i owe ya.
January 11, 201115 yr Author so i pulled the valve cover this morning. and poured water in to the rad. and guess where the water came out?! thats right, the back freeze plug! still have to pull the motor to get to it. but a lot cheaper fix
January 11, 201115 yr I did mine last spring (which is why I knew ), and was able to do it in the car without any problems.
January 12, 201115 yr Author I did mine last spring (which is why I knew ), and was able to do it in the car without any problems. really? its the far back on under the rocker arm assembly.
January 12, 201115 yr Remove the rocker assembly (no you won't disturb the head gaskets) - there are access holes in the frame rails to pull the bolts through. You can probably do it with it in the car. GD
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