Bummer! Let us know how it goes.

No dyno run, gents. We just could not get the car to stop burning coolant. We got done reassembling at 2:30 this morning, and I spent the next three hours driving it around the area streets and highways. By 5:30, I came to the conclusion that the coolant is still burning off, because we cannot get the level to remain constant in the overflow bottle. I am mentally exhausted with this thing, and we still don't know what is going on.

There is a very real possibility, as Doug mentioned, that the aluminum LIM gaskets will not work in my application, simply because of the milling work that was done to the heads and LIM. Perhaps the plastic gaskets were flexible enough to account for any slop in the setup, but the aluminum ones are too rigid to take up any slack in the alignment of the heads and LIM. Either that, or one of the head gaskets I just installed in November is blown :(. Like Doug said, there was a misfire on cylinder #1, and the #1 spark plug seems like it is much cleaner than the others (i.e., coolant being burnt off in the cylinder). My first instinct is to revert to an older gasket design with a plastic carrier that can flex a little more, but I'm just not sure. I'm going to drive the car around for another hour and verify that coolant loss is still occurring, but after that I'm just not sure. Is a coolant system pressure test in order, or some tracer dye like Doug suggested?

Thanks for all the help, especially to Bill Buttermore for brainstorming over the phone. I'll get this sucker dyno tuned eventually, but we just have to figure out what'* going on with the coolant. If you have a suggestion, please post it here.

It'* a pressure test that you need to aim for. If it holds, then you know it'* merely air in the system and if not...

Uh..you should see coolant in #1 according to your suspicions

Did you make sure to bleed the coolant system thoroughly before you went out?
And with that coolant elbo, I've had mine leak around the entrance to the LIM and when I went to replace it, there were no cracks.. It was just leaking past it.
And I'd agree w/ the compression test.

Hehehehe...... this is funny...... I feel relief and disappointment all in one.


My wife and I went on a long drive today, roughly 150 miles round trip down the Iowa side of the Mississippi and back up the Illinois side. I topped off the coolant reservoir before we left, and didn't check it until we got back. Lo and behold, the car burned ZERO coolant the whole time! I'm very excited that our emergency tear-down and rebuild last night seems to have stopped the coolant leak, but that also means that I missed my dyno appointment for no reason . If I would have started out for Ohio and checked the level after an hour of driving, I would have seen that everything was okay and been able to continue the trip as planned. Hopefully I didn't **** off Todd and the rest of the Intense gang by cancelling on such a short notice. However, I feel I made the right decision based on my information earlier this morning.

I guess I'll just have to reschedule my appointment in a few weeks. Don't despair.... we will find out the horsepower and torque capabilities of my setup!

EDIT: By the way, we are still using the aluminum LIM gaskets. We thought they were problematic, but we decided to give them another chance. Looks like they're doing their job just fine now.

It'* the old line: "you thought you made a mistake, but you were wrong!"

Good news, I'd say!

It has been my experience with both the L36 and L67 Series II engines, that it can take some time and effort to get the cooling system bled of all air. I hope that was all you were dealing with all along, one cleaner plug notwithstanding.

to hell and back....

glad to hear that you got it all figured out

Could be, but I think the rate at which we were loosing coolant indicated more than an air bubble in the system. Before we tore it down and reassembled on Thursday night, I had gone through an entire reservoir of coolant, and it was still eating more of it after I refilled. Now, since we did the emergency surgery, it stopped filling in air after the level had dropped a few centimeters below the 'cold' line on the overflow bottle. I still need to check the #1 plug, but I'm betting it will look dirtier than it did the other night.

Long story short, I'm 99.9% sure we had a leak before. It was using too much coolant to attribute to air in the system. I'm so glad we got it fixed, though!

Gives me enough time to figure out the 2.5" fake dual exhaust setup. May be going on his car April 1st. Hard to say for certain, but I look forward to getting some real dyno numbers back. I believe the car has some nuts for a 231CI V6(or V5 at times I guess)

Hey Ben,

I just finished helping Bob Dillis install new LIM gaskets, sleeved upper, and an rd EGR pipe in his '97 L36.

When we filled with coolant, we started at the thermostat housing until the coolant reached the lip of the thermostat seal. We were going to install the thermostat at that time, since the engine was apparently full, but decided to leave it open while we filled the radiator. As we filled at the radiator, we heard and saw many "plup plup" air bubbles disturbing the surface of the coolant in the intake manifold. We thought the coolant would overflow, but it just kept puking air for more than a gallon of fill. Apparently when you fill at the rad, a lot of air is pushed up through the water pump and lower hose. Finally, the level did start to rise in the manifold as the coolant in the rad got high enough. We then installed the drilled stat positioning one of the two 3/32" holes at the 12 O'Clock position. We filled to the overflow hole in the rad neck maybe five or six times, allowing several minutes each time for the top hose to fill until the level in the rad remained steady. Overflow tank was filled to about an inch over "full hot."

We then fired it up and took it for a test drive. When we returned, the stat had opened and we opened and closed the bleeder three times. No air, just coolant each tiime. Closed it up and shut if off.

Next morning, the overflow tank was almost empty, maybe a little more than an inch of coolant in the bottom.

I'm not saying you didn't have a coolant leak. You were there, not me. But I just wanted to describe how careful we were to eliminate air and STILL lost nearly a whole bottle overnight due to displacement. These engines can trap a LOT of air! I can't imagine if the stat had no bleed holes and were installed, and a fellow tried to fill at the rad! The thing would have air in it forever.

Anyway, I'm really glad you got yours sealed up! I'm especially glad the new aluminum gaskets are apparently holding. I was really disappointed when I thought they were going to be a problem.

Also, you might be pleased to know, your old Dorman rd pipe is now riding around in style in Bob'* 40th Anniversary SLE!