Pushing Coolant

[cman3000]

Well, when I first got my car, it was having overheating issues due to running lean. After I switched to over e85, I brought the car to DB to be tuned. The car was pushing coolant badly, so Alex(Iceminion) and I put a new headgasket in and brought it back. Car still pushed coolant, but not as much, and they were able to tune it up to 22psi.
Figuring it had a warped or cracked head, we took the head off last weekend and i brought it to John Gosh on Tuesday. He called me later that day and told me the head pressure tested fine and that it was not warped nearly enough to be casing a problem.
Needless to say, I am stumped. Cracked block? Is the head lifting under boost even though I have ARP's? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[MustGoFaster]

Check the block for flatness. It's not common, but I had one that warped .006". After that...

[95talonracer]

I have had this issue. Did you check the block with the machinast strait edge when the head was off and how well did you clean the surfaces? What gasket did you use and did you make sure ALL of the oil/coolant was cleaned off the surfaces that touch the gasket? How old are the head studs and how many times have you retorqued the ARP's?

[cman3000]

Have not checked the block yet, but the head is still off so i will do that. Everything was very clean when HG was installed. The studs have 4000 miles on the and i retorqued them once after we reinstalled the HG.

[scheides]

Ditch the headstuds, there's a thread on re-torquing head studs with a LOT of info on why arps suck balls. I ended up buying some L19's.

[Kracka]

Get a new set of ARP's; reusing them is a bad idea so forget what you've heard in the past about them being reusable.

[cman3000]

Really? I thought the ARP's were good up to 30 psi, how could the head be lifting at only 22 psi?

[scheides]

For as cheap as they are, I wouldn't risk it. For as expensive and highly acclaimed as the L19's are, I needed to be talked into them, but I have them and they do the job.

http://mitsustyle.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23186

Check the posts around and in regard to #17 and follow the link posted in that thread. It'll change your mind on re-using ARPs.

[Kracka]

Really? I thought the ARP's were good up to 30 psi, how could the head be lifting at only 22 psi?
They aren't reusable, thats the thing. ARP's are torque-to-yield bolts basically meaning they stretch under the torque to create a snug fit. Once the stretch, they don't go back so you shouldn't reuse them because of issues like this. It was commonly accepted for many years that ARP's are reusable but that is not the case. People are currently stating that these L19's are reusable, but that seems risky to me and generally history repeats itself so whats considered reusable now probably won't be in a few years after people learn the truth the hard way ;)

[FattyBoomBatty]

Good to know that a new set of headstuds will be needed when I re-do my valves.