Head Gasket Leak 6bta

[Justin Murphy]

I have a 370hp version of the 6bta, it has 130 hours, it was a factory rebuild installed a couple years ago. I recently had the head gasket replaced due to an overheat issue (raw water intake left closed). It got hot for just a minute and was shut down on alarm, but apparently that was enough to blow the gasket and bend the exhaust rod on number 4.

Head was decked and 7/1000 removed, magnafluxed for leaks and new valve seats installed. I was with the mechanic the whole time for disassembly and re-assembly. All new cummins head bolts were used and new gaskets as well of course. I’m pretty confident the work was done right, by the book and torqued in steps per the manual. I have only put an hour on the engine and haven’t ran it in several months. All my coolant from my reservoir is gone and in the bottom of the oil pan (have a manual drain I can open and at least a gallon of coolant has come out).

Obviously, the gasket is still leaking, wondering what my options are and if there are any known issues with head gaskets on this version? I am hoping to go and re-torque and find a couple head bolts loose, any chance that would solve my problem or do I need to pull the head again and go with a new gasket?

Another option would be to change to ARP studs, one at a time and then re-torque.

I want it right and reliable, any advice? Thanks!!

Topic

[Mike Mason]

Love the albin’s

[Justin Murphy]

Yeah it was a blessing I didn’t get down there and put more time on it, I found the leak by checking oil, reservoir allowed coolant to seep into crank at rest over a couple months.

[Brian Katz]

Wow. I’m going to add you to my lucky guy list. Very lucky she didn’t hydro lock. I don’t know how common it is to bend a connecting rod in an engine like these but I think you got off pretty easy.

Good luck with the rest of the repair.

[Justin Murphy]

Pics

[Justin Murphy]

Finally got the chance to pull the head again, got it checked and it’s good, machinist asked about exhaust manifold…..sure enough, he pressure tested it and found a leak! The coolant was running back into number six cylinder thus making its way into the crank.

[Justin Murphy]

Yes, they checked for cracks, all new seals installed, ground down 7/1000. I think it’s pretty hard to install gasket backwards because of the two dowels? Hoping no cracked block, can’t imagine that. Guess I’ll just pull it and go from there.

[Philip]

When the head was at the machine shop did they pressure test it? Wondering if you have a cracked head?

Another possibility is the head gasket was installed backwards. It’s easy to do and would possibly allow oil and coolant passages to mix.

Final option would be a cracked block someplace internally.

Let us know as you proceede and dompost pictures of the engine as it is now as well as disassembled, if you go that way along with stuff you find.

Phil

[Justin Murphy]

I was referring to item number 6 in my above post, the gasket for oil cooler (internal) but from what I understand oil can only get into coolant from this gasket due to pressure difference so no chance of coolant leaking into pan here? Thanks.

[Justin Murphy]

Yep, I recently figured out all the marine vs non marine gasket stuff, looks like they are all the same now and you can get the gasket in std, 10 over and 20 over. I assume I had the 10 over installed but haven’t pulled the head to check.

No oil in expansion tank, but I have only ran it once and now the coolant reservoir is completely empty and all the coolant was in oil pan. I feel like the install was done right and I know the head looked great from machine shop and my mechanic uses the same shop for everything. Is it possible I just got a bad gasket??

Any other place for coolant to seep into oil besides head on a 6bta? What about the plate behind the oil filter?

Any advice on what to do next? I plan on going and checking torque on all head bolts, maybe a couple just didn’t get tight enough. After that I all I know to do is pull head again and start over.

Thanks!!

[Anonymous]

The part number is 3283337 you were just missing a 3. Your engine calls for this part number with the serial number you provided.

Are there any other symptoms? Any oil in the expansion tank?

[Justin Murphy]

As a follow up, maybe someone could confirm the right gasket was used?

My serial number is 60260856, CPL is 8457. The part number that I found for .10 over is 328337, does this seem right? Not even sure that’s what he used, waiting to hear from him. My mechanic knows the 5.9 but don’t think he works much with the marine version, not sure if there is any difference with head gaskets here anyway?

[Author]

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