Head Gasket Bolts

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Head Gasket Bolts
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Between your car's cylinder head and engine block sits the head gasket (HG). It performs a few critical jobs, including preventing coolant leaks and sealing off the combustion chambers. If this part fails, the resulting damage to your engine can be substantial. The problem is that a failure doesn't prevent you from driving your vehicle. Instead, the damage can gradually worsen until you're forced to either overhaul your engine or replace it entirely.

In this article, we'll explore some of the reasons head gaskets fail. I'll describe the warning signs you're likely to notice as well as your options when the component has blown.

Overheating

An overheating engine is one of the leading causes of a blown HG. When the engine overheats, the assembly undergoes a thermal expansion. So too, does the cylinder head. Because the head gasket lies between them, the thermal expansion can crush it. If the gasket is crushed, the seal that it maintains will be broken. That causes leaks in both the coolant level and compression.

If coolant leaks from the block and gains entry into the crankshaft, it can destroy the bearings. If compression leaks, you'll notice a reduction in your vehicle's performance and gas mileage, and experience occasional misfires. You'll be able to continue driving, but a blown (or crushed) head gasket will eventually need to be addressed.

Poor Installation

The ability of the HG to maintain a proper seal between the engine block and cylinder head is critical in order to prevent leaks. It's important to realize if the part is installed incorrectly, the seal will be ineffective. A mechanic might use the wrong head bolts, put them on incorrectly, or use torque wrenches that might be improperly calibrated.

Another installation problem is that the surface of the engine block may not be smoothed properly. That will prevent the head gasket from creating a thorough seal, which can lead to coolant and compression leaks.

Design Issues

Design issues are another cause of failure. A lot of cylinder heads are now constructed from aluminum in order to reduce their weight. Meanwhile, engine blocks are still constructed of cast iron. The problem here is that aluminum expands far more quickly than cast iron. In high-temperature conditions, the variance in expansion rates creates rubbing between the block and cylinder head. That rubbing creates stress on the head gasket and can eventually damage it.

There are other reasons head gaskets can fail, such as a detonation problem within the engine caused by a lean fuel mixture. Problems within a vehicle's cooling system, including the radiator, water pump, and even the EGR can also contribute. That said, overheating, poor installation, and stress from thermal expansion - especially with aluminum cylinder heads - tend to cause most failures. It's important that you have a mechanic address the problem as soon as possible to avoid expensive damage to your engine.

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Common Problems with the Northstar Engine

Common problems with the Northstar Engine usually relate to dealing with stripped head bolts. For example, if you own a Cadillac STS engine Deville 97 with a 32 valve 4.6L Northstar Engine with a blown engine, chances are good that by simply doing a pressure test and a spark plug test, you will discover that the head gasket has blown. After identifying what bank it is on, you have to work on getting it replaced. Simply fixing the gasket itself is not a realistic option because of the cracks. Unfortunately, repair, which is a replacement job, is neither cheap nor easy. It is nearly impossible to do it on your own with a simple set of hand tools, nor can you get your local mechanic to do it unless he or she has plenty of experience with this particular problem.

In retrospect, the problem of stripped head bolts emerged after 1996 and gradually disappeared after 1999. Although most automotive experts contend that by 2000 the problem was behind GM, some critics argue that it took GM another 10 years to fully resolve the problem.

What happened in 1997, 1998, and 1999 models is due to poor decision making on the part of GM. The run of GM problems with Northstar Engines began when they moved away from a green silica based coolant and moved to another coolant called Dex cool. This coolant simply could not do the job. The Northstar Engine problems are similar to the problems associated with the Quad 4. In both cases, the head bolts had a fine thread that easily stripped once the engine reached a certain level of inability to effectively dissipate heat. What stripped the head bolts was the chemical reaction between the steel bolts and the aluminum block. Basically, aluminum was too soft. Thus, it is not really due to defective bolts or to defective blocks, but the reaction of one to the other, specifically the reaction between steel bolts with aluminum blocks. Unless the coolant was perfectly maintained, the threads dissolved when the heat became too intense, resulting in the engine blowing up. Once GM reduced the block hardening process that they had previously used, the block and the bolts began to go to wrack and ruin, a chemical reaction similar to applying a flame to a block of cheese. Usually, this problem became typical when the Northstar Engine was closing in on the 100,000 mark. At this point, the Northstar Engine could not stay cool enough to prevent the threads from dissolving.

Resolving the problem was not simple. The entire engine had to be pulled, then drilled, then retapped, and then finally have timeserts installed. This not only took about 40 hours or more, but it cost car owners from $3,000 to $5,000. Moreover, unless the work was expertly done, results were often less than satisfactory. Considering that the models from 1997 to 1999 have a value of $6,000, the repairs came close to the cost of the entire car itself.

A better solution to fixing the Northstar Engine or buying a new engine is to get a used engine where the bolts have been beefed up. Once the bolts have been replaced with head studs, the Northstar Engine begins to work like a charm.

About the Author

So instead of hunting down an expert on Northstar Engine and instead of buying a new engine with the same defective bolt-gasket chemistry, it is much cheaper and less time consuming to get a used engine with reinforced bolts.

How to blow a head gasket?

If I were to release pressure on one of the head bolts would this succeed in blowing the gaket?

over heat the engine.. almost a garanteed head gasket problem after that..

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