22RE Head gasket Failure, Perhaps this will shed some light on WHY
06-21-2012, 12:51 PM
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22RE Head gasket Failure, Perhaps this will shed some light on WHY
I'm in the process of replacing my head gasket on my 94 22RE Pickup due to overheating and a failed head gasket.
It bothered me that the headgasket that failed was put on about 35000 miles back when I rebuilt (shortblock and new head) a short while back. At that time I used a headgasket kit from Engnbldr and also replaced the head bolts. First of all, I have great respect for Ted at Engnbldr and he has great deals on parts and machine work and a knowledge base that can't be beat.
I purchased another Engnbldr head gasket kit and new head bolts for my current replacement. Took the head off (no small chore) and cleaned everything well and put down the new head gasket (it's a Felpro gasket). Put on the head and carefully torqued the head bolts.
After doing this I got to looking at the original Felpro headgasket that failed and could easily see why my truck overheated. I've seen debates about head gasket manufacturers but never saw any information as to why one may be better than the other. I think I now know why the Felpro gasket may be prone to failure.
On the used Felpro head gasket I noticed that some of the water jacket holes, especially the ones on the Exhaust side and near the area where the gasket failed were totally clogged, obviously causing overheating and subsequent expanding of the aluminum head, stretching of the head bolts, allowing water to enter the #4 cylinder.
Upon closer inspection of this faulty Felpro head gasket I could see that the original, elongated holes for the water jacket were much smaller than the openings in the head and block, creating an obvious restriction and collecting any rust, impurities etc.
To be fair, I suppose a regular flush of the water system and proper concentration of a good antifreeze might help prevent the rust buildup that closed off the small opening but with such a small opening and unnecessary restriction I'm not sure even this would help premature failure.
I also noticed that the punched, water jacket holes for #2 cylinder are even smaller.
WHY such small openings? Seems a MAJOR design flaw or perhaps it's a way to sell more head gaskets, who knows.
I just ordered an OEM head gasket per the many recommendations on this forum which I will compare to the Felpro when I get it this afternoon.
A quick glance at an OEM gasket in a kit in the parts store indicated that the holes are not much larger but I'll have to get one to be sure.
If the holes in the OEM head gasket are still much smaller than the openings, I'm tempted to make them slightly larger myself so the head actually gets the cooling that it needs. I know 22RE head gaskets are prone to failure in general, I wonder if this is the reason.
Any thoughts?
(The only reason I can think of to have some of these exhaust water jacket holes smaller than others is to balance the pressure, perhaps some get more flow due to where they are located in relation to the water pump etc.)
If this is so, why use the head gasket to restrict the flow, wouldn't it be better and make much more sense to make the ports in the head and block do this and not depend on a flimsy gasket to do the job?
Sorry I don't have any pictures to show all this but my camera is not working, I'll try to get some pics to show how ridiculously small the openings are in comparison to the openings in the head and block.
Anyone else see this when they replaced their head gasket on the 22RE?
It bothered me that the headgasket that failed was put on about 35000 miles back when I rebuilt (shortblock and new head) a short while back. At that time I used a headgasket kit from Engnbldr and also replaced the head bolts. First of all, I have great respect for Ted at Engnbldr and he has great deals on parts and machine work and a knowledge base that can't be beat.
I purchased another Engnbldr head gasket kit and new head bolts for my current replacement. Took the head off (no small chore) and cleaned everything well and put down the new head gasket (it's a Felpro gasket). Put on the head and carefully torqued the head bolts.
After doing this I got to looking at the original Felpro headgasket that failed and could easily see why my truck overheated. I've seen debates about head gasket manufacturers but never saw any information as to why one may be better than the other. I think I now know why the Felpro gasket may be prone to failure.
On the used Felpro head gasket I noticed that some of the water jacket holes, especially the ones on the Exhaust side and near the area where the gasket failed were totally clogged, obviously causing overheating and subsequent expanding of the aluminum head, stretching of the head bolts, allowing water to enter the #4 cylinder.
Upon closer inspection of this faulty Felpro head gasket I could see that the original, elongated holes for the water jacket were much smaller than the openings in the head and block, creating an obvious restriction and collecting any rust, impurities etc.
To be fair, I suppose a regular flush of the water system and proper concentration of a good antifreeze might help prevent the rust buildup that closed off the small opening but with such a small opening and unnecessary restriction I'm not sure even this would help premature failure.
I also noticed that the punched, water jacket holes for #2 cylinder are even smaller.
WHY such small openings? Seems a MAJOR design flaw or perhaps it's a way to sell more head gaskets, who knows.
I just ordered an OEM head gasket per the many recommendations on this forum which I will compare to the Felpro when I get it this afternoon.
A quick glance at an OEM gasket in a kit in the parts store indicated that the holes are not much larger but I'll have to get one to be sure.
If the holes in the OEM head gasket are still much smaller than the openings, I'm tempted to make them slightly larger myself so the head actually gets the cooling that it needs. I know 22RE head gaskets are prone to failure in general, I wonder if this is the reason.
Any thoughts?
(The only reason I can think of to have some of these exhaust water jacket holes smaller than others is to balance the pressure, perhaps some get more flow due to where they are located in relation to the water pump etc.)
If this is so, why use the head gasket to restrict the flow, wouldn't it be better and make much more sense to make the ports in the head and block do this and not depend on a flimsy gasket to do the job?
Sorry I don't have any pictures to show all this but my camera is not working, I'll try to get some pics to show how ridiculously small the openings are in comparison to the openings in the head and block.
Anyone else see this when they replaced their head gasket on the 22RE?
06-21-2012, 01:28 PM
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I just had a head gasket blow after 5,000 miles on a rebuild I did. I must admit it was a thicker than normal gasket to make up for my below spec head. A local (trusted) auto machine shop recommended it and said they never had problems with it. It went fine for a while but at 4,700 miles I decided to advance my timing (never will again). I'm not sure if it's the gaskets fault or the extra pressure I put on it but a blown head gasket after 5,000 miles is not something that makes a guy happy. As far as the felpro gasket, that's what I just put on with my new head (street rv with 268 cam from Tod/Ted). I never looked at my gaskets that closely to notice the hole size. I hope someone else with some more in depth knowledge chimes in because this post has me very curious about my gasket kit selection.
06-21-2012, 03:03 PM
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OEM head gasket still pretty restricted in the same areas.
I just picked up the OEM head gasket and I can see several distinct differences from the Felpro. At first glance I can see that the OEM has a general appearance of being made with a bit more precision. The holes through the black gasket material are centered within the openings of the shiny metal openings. There is copper, rather than steel around each bolt hole.
As for the water jacket punched, elongated holes, they do not appear to be much if any larger in size on the OEM but seem to be located better and have nice, clean cuts at each hole. I'm still surprised that the punched holes through the black gasket material are a lot smaller than the holes in the metal portion. Not sure why they don't punch the black gasket material a little larger, it still seems like a bottleneck in the water flow to me.
I did a little experiment on the failed gasket and tried using a dremil side cutting tool to hog out the opening a bit more. While this did work, it was difficult to do this with any real precision and I think it would be fairly easy to mess something up in doing this.
An Exact-o knife would cut with better precision but could take a good long time to do all of the holes. I don't think I'll touch my OEM gasket and just put it in the way it is ... and hope.
I hate to pull the head off to replace the Felpro (It may work just as well as OEM), I just got it all torqued down but since I don't have all the Intake manifold bolts in yet and haven't touched the Exhaust manifold yet it's not a bad time to go ahead and take out the Felpro and put in the new OEM gasket. (I'll sleep better).
__________________________________________________ _____________________
One thing that I can't stress enough is that the cause of my overheating was due to restricted water flow through the head. Since it appears that no matter what gasket you use (although I'll go with OEM from here on), the gasket WILL tend to restrict the flow of water to some degree. Any rust or impurities will collect at these restrictions (like clogged arteries) so being neglectful of your antifreeze mixture or using hard water is likely to cause you major headaches down the road.
I never really worried about antifreeze unless it was going to be freezing out but I can now see that running water only can and likely will allow rust to form within the block. Use the proper mix of antifreeze all year long and flush your system once in a while and you may keep this from happening to you.
__________________________________________________ _____________________
Best of luck to you all!
As for the water jacket punched, elongated holes, they do not appear to be much if any larger in size on the OEM but seem to be located better and have nice, clean cuts at each hole. I'm still surprised that the punched holes through the black gasket material are a lot smaller than the holes in the metal portion. Not sure why they don't punch the black gasket material a little larger, it still seems like a bottleneck in the water flow to me.
I did a little experiment on the failed gasket and tried using a dremil side cutting tool to hog out the opening a bit more. While this did work, it was difficult to do this with any real precision and I think it would be fairly easy to mess something up in doing this.
An Exact-o knife would cut with better precision but could take a good long time to do all of the holes. I don't think I'll touch my OEM gasket and just put it in the way it is ... and hope.
I hate to pull the head off to replace the Felpro (It may work just as well as OEM), I just got it all torqued down but since I don't have all the Intake manifold bolts in yet and haven't touched the Exhaust manifold yet it's not a bad time to go ahead and take out the Felpro and put in the new OEM gasket. (I'll sleep better).
__________________________________________________ _____________________
One thing that I can't stress enough is that the cause of my overheating was due to restricted water flow through the head. Since it appears that no matter what gasket you use (although I'll go with OEM from here on), the gasket WILL tend to restrict the flow of water to some degree. Any rust or impurities will collect at these restrictions (like clogged arteries) so being neglectful of your antifreeze mixture or using hard water is likely to cause you major headaches down the road.
I never really worried about antifreeze unless it was going to be freezing out but I can now see that running water only can and likely will allow rust to form within the block. Use the proper mix of antifreeze all year long and flush your system once in a while and you may keep this from happening to you.
__________________________________________________ _____________________
Best of luck to you all!
06-21-2012, 05:03 PM
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Thanks for the info man. I don't think I will have any issues as far as rust since I flush my radiator and coolant often. And I run 70/30 mix with the 30 being distilled water. When I first got my pickup the water was very dirty and the pipes were all caked in rustiness. Now I have a new head with all the pipes cleaned (Brake cleaner). My block still had a tiny bit last time I had the head off but it's not nearly as bad as it was.
Cool write up though. I figured most gaskets were the same. Sounds like after another 3 or 400,000 (when I rebuild again) I'll keep that in mind.
Cool write up though. I figured most gaskets were the same. Sounds like after another 3 or 400,000 (when I rebuild again) I'll keep that in mind.
06-22-2012, 07:16 AM
#5
__________________________________________________ _____________________
One thing that I can't stress enough is that the cause of my overheating was due to restricted water flow through the head. Since it appears that no matter what gasket you use (although I'll go with OEM from here on), the gasket WILL tend to restrict the flow of water to some degree. Any rust or impurities will collect at these restrictions (like clogged arteries) so being neglectful of your antifreeze mixture or using hard water is likely to cause you major headaches down the road.
I never really worried about antifreeze unless it was going to be freezing out but I can now see that running water only can and likely will allow rust to form within the block. Use the proper mix of antifreeze all year long and flush your system once in a while and you may keep this from happening to you.
__________________________________________________ _____________________
One thing that I can't stress enough is that the cause of my overheating was due to restricted water flow through the head. Since it appears that no matter what gasket you use (although I'll go with OEM from here on), the gasket WILL tend to restrict the flow of water to some degree. Any rust or impurities will collect at these restrictions (like clogged arteries) so being neglectful of your antifreeze mixture or using hard water is likely to cause you major headaches down the road.
I never really worried about antifreeze unless it was going to be freezing out but I can now see that running water only can and likely will allow rust to form within the block. Use the proper mix of antifreeze all year long and flush your system once in a while and you may keep this from happening to you.
__________________________________________________ _____________________
3 words...Supplemental Coolant Additive.
Trying to blame this on anything other than your misfortunate oversight concerning choice of a proper engine coolant(which is pretty much what you've tried to do until your last few sentences here) is...well...I won't say what I really think it is. I'll just use one of these instead...
Last edited by MudHippy; 06-22-2012 at 07:27 AM.
06-22-2012, 01:27 PM
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True
Trying to blame this on anything other than your misfortunate oversight concerning choice of a proper engine coolant(which is pretty much what you've tried to do until your last few sentences here) is...well..
Glad I included the last few sentences then because I don't feel I'm one to try and blame others for my shortcomings. I accept responsibility for the fact that by allowing the coolant to become diluted I started a chain of events that lead to this premature failure. ("running water only" was a poor choice of words, it always appeared to contain antifreeze/ coolant but I sure as heck didn't check the specific gravity often enough and should have paid much closer attention to it).
This has been a process of discovery for me, hopefully something here can help others avoid problems. While only an expert in fluid dynamics could truly determine if the size or inaccurate placement of the water jacket holes has any correlation to the fairly common occurrence of 22RE head gasket failures, it seems to me a question worth asking.
Observing that it doesn't take a great deal of contamination to clog one or more of those water jacket holes in the head gasket is all the more reason to be flushing my radiator on a periodic basis and maintaining the recommended coolant mixture from here on.
Just goes to show ya, keeping a well oiled machine just ain't enough.
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06-22-2012, 05:40 PM
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I also just did the head gasket and timing chain &guides . I will also have to agree to not dilute my coolant so much .As for the rust and sediment buildup relation to just water I can see wher that will cause some issues , mine also had this buildup . just installed the fel pro also ? I'll cross my fingers
06-26-2012, 08:28 PM
#9
did you take the head to a good machine shop and have it decked?
If not, your headgasket is going to blow again. 22re heads tend to warp and lift away from the gasket face when overheated. Also, since you ran just water, you may want to do a leakdown test to verify that there arent any corroded holes/cracks in the head.
the jankiest thing I ever saw at a shop was a guy stacking 3 head gaskets to "fix" the warp in the head. Good thing it wasn't my car.
If not, your headgasket is going to blow again. 22re heads tend to warp and lift away from the gasket face when overheated. Also, since you ran just water, you may want to do a leakdown test to verify that there arent any corroded holes/cracks in the head.
the jankiest thing I ever saw at a shop was a guy stacking 3 head gaskets to "fix" the warp in the head. Good thing it wasn't my car.
06-27-2012, 09:50 AM
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Stacked 3 gaskets as a fix??? Wow. I thought head gasket I was given was odd. It was thicker than the stock one to make up for my head being too thin. But 3 seperate gaskets? All I can say is wow.
06-27-2012, 10:26 AM
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FYI, coolant holes in the gaskets are small in order to ensure more even coolant and temperature distribution from front-to-back. Opening the holes will increase coolant flow around the front cylinders and decrease it around the rears. All the engines I have ever worked on are the same way.
08-06-2012, 09:02 AM
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FYI, coolant holes in the gaskets are small in order to ensure more even coolant and temperature distribution from front-to-back. Opening the holes will increase coolant flow around the front cylinders and decrease it around the rears. All the engines I have ever worked on are the same way.
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