Developed a water leak on a 5.9 engine with 15K on it. This is a remanufactured engine.
S&J in Spokane is the builder. They say the bolt holes are drilled through at the factory and the fix is to drain down to below the bolt hole, then seal with Teflon tape or silicon.
Not believing tape will handle the temp. Would think the bolt hole would need to be totally dry for a sealant to work.
Suggestions on materials and procedure. Thanks.

 

Should be able to wrap a bolt or stud with teflon tape (or pipe thread sealer) and take care of that leak without draining the coolant - just need to move quickly when installing the tape-wrapped stud/bolt. This was common with big block engines, which had the exhaust bolts running into the water jackets from the factory.

 

Thanks AD
I have some different types of pipe dope that I could use, like Rectorseal 5, which is a good all around sealant for threads. Using Tape: will it handle the head temps?
Thanks

 

Tape probably won't cut it. Use some good thread sealer that is rated for high temps.

 

Use some Leak Lock and never worry about it again... I used it to ensure I didn't have leaks when installing black iron pipe carrying natural gas.

http://www.highsidechem.com/leaklock.html

 

How is that stuff about coming apart again though?

 

It's tough stuff - almost like using a thread sealer and lock-tite all in one. It will come apart, but takes a fair deal of effort. For something less aggressive, I've used this:

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/PER...131002204755:s

It works nicely..

 

That's good to 300 degrees at any rate, No clue just how hot the exhaust bolts actually get..... I would not be surprised if it wasn't over that though.

 

Never had any issue using this stuff on exhaust header bolts in the past. A good check would be to use a laser temperature tester and point it to a header bolt while the engine is running to gain a temperature reading. Since coolant is running up to the backside of the bolt, I'd doubt it gets near 300 degrees.