Small coolant leak from head bolt pic attached...

[fj404life]

Hey Guys...I have a small coolant leak coming from my front drivers side head bolt. The one circled in red.

Do I...

1. ignore it and drive. It does not leak much at all.
2. pull that bolt and put some sealant on it (FSM shows that one needs it I think) and re-torque and hope it works
3. pull whole head
4. add some "stop leak"

 

[fjjonnie]

don't add stop leak. I just had to recore my radiator from using stop leak in an older motor, the stuff plugged some of the tubes and was running hot. I'd probably pull the bolt and seal it if it calls for sealant. Not too sure if you need to loosen all bolts do to the necessary tightening sequence.

 

[apeterson]

personally... I would tighten the bolt... but I am a knob... so dont just take my word for it

 

[justbecause]

you cant remove just a single bolt
there are very specific in the service manual for correctly removing the head and if you unbolt it incorrectly you can cause damage to the head.

question: why did you remove your water pump?

pulling the head is not a BAD job its just specific and it needs two people those suckers are heavy and can be pretty well 'connected' to the block even without bolts there are proper places and nitches for putting a pull bar to try and lift up on it to break the seal, a head job + gasket is not an expensive or hard job and i believe your best bet. im a single mechanic on my best days b/c of lack of tools i have a buddy and we got it pulled off w/little effort.

the effort to do the job correctly is not worth the problems that A) ignoring it could cause or B) doing it incorrectly will result in.


and i dont care what billy mays said you can not stop a leak from the outside.

+ pulling the head lets you inspect the engine giving you a much better idea of what you are working w/and is a good time to do other simple stuff.

 

[apeterson]

you cant remove just a single bolt

BS.... I have removed those first 2 about a million times on my truck to serve change and do s*** to the air cleaner... never had a problem

 

[fj404life]

BS.... I have removed those first 2 about a million times on my truck to serve change and do s*** to the air cleaner... never had a problem

Thats what I like to hear!
Far as why I removed the wp...the pic was taken a few weeks back when I re-did the cooling system. New rad, wp, thermo, hoses, cap, heaters cleaned out etc.

after pic...

So it would be cool to pull the 2 head bolts holding the air cleaner bracket. Then I can blast and paint that stuff. And get some sealant on that front one thats leaking. Can I for sure do this without forking up my headgasket?

 

[justbecause]

BS.... I have removed those first 2 about a million times on my truck to serve change and do s*** to the air cleaner... never had a problem

oh ok i didnt realize you were one of the authors of the service manual... my mistake


or have you had to remove those bolt 2 million times trying to track down what you ed up by screwing up the torq specs on the head bolts

 

[apeterson]

oh ok i didnt realize you were one of the authors of the service manual... my mistake


or have you had to remove those bolt 2 million times trying to track down what you ed up by screwing up the torq specs on the head bolts

maybe you should flip to the section where it advised you on removing the air filter housing...... or would you advise me to put a new head gasket on each time I wanted to remove that housing...


bottom line is as long as you engine is cool and you carfully remove those two bolts and carfully install them you will have no problems.......

 

[I Tried]

I would also have no problem removing that head bolt and putting sealant on it. Look at it this way you have really nothing to loose it will take 5 minutes to do. If it leaks then you pull the head. 5 min fix or hours and some $ in gaskets, coolant and oil.

I know what I would do.

 

[justbecause]

do what you want
id rather just take it off once, do what ever else needed to be done and not have to worry about it in the future. constant removal and reinstallation of the air filter housing is not something i do. so ill just leave my .02 and go about thread surfing.

-unsubscribed-

 

[Trevor]

X3 (or whatever the count is) on removing the head SCREW and just adding sealant. Not a big deal.

 

[Poser]

I swear, it's like I'm fixing trucks with a bunch of short-bus kids or somethin'. You nerve-wrackin' sons-a-bitches.




OP-


Is the bolt loose?

I have seen the left-front bolt rust and fail, creating a no-clamp load on the head gasket which then pukes out coolant from that area.

 

[amaurer]

Pull the bolt and seal it. Don't worry about the head, every sequence starts with removing a single bolt anyway.

 

[apeterson]

for a man that don’t go heal... you sure run your mouth recklessly!!

 

[I Tried]

What you just say?

 

[Shawn Russell]

You have nothing to loose by just pulling the one bolt and inspect it. If it looks good, I would add some sealer and replace.

Worst case, it will still leak and then you will have to pull the entire head, and replace the head gasket.

Shawn

 

[Fast Eddy]

you cant remove just a single bolt
there are very specific in the service manual for correctly removing the head and if you unbolt it incorrectly you can cause damage to the head.

That's pretty funny.

 

[Poser]

for a man that don’t go heal... you sure run your mouth recklessly!!

I don't go heal?

 

[fieldsken1]

ok children cant we all just get along or do i need to seperate you

 

[fj404life]

OP-


Is the bolt loose?

I have seen the left-front bolt rust and fail, creating a no-clamp load on the head gasket which then pukes out coolant from that area.

Bolts tight...thats interesting. It bubbles out a "pinhole" size area under the washer.
May just keep an eye on it...usually dont even catch it leaking.