Coolant in cylinders
 

We pulled the heads on my 67 Nova SS with a 327 and found coolant in the cylinders. Both headgaskets were toast on my new 700 mile motor. Any ideas as to why this would happen?

What was the condition of the coolant?....Joe

If you did not drain the coolant from the block, then just pulling the heads will allow residual coolant to flow into the cylinders.

If it was clean looking, that may have been what happened. Impossible to say without looking.

What were the symptoms?

"Both headgaskets were toast on my new 700 mile motor".


Interesting ... I have heard of using bread when attempting to remove a pilot bushing but have never heard of anyone using toast for head gaskets. Me thinks that might be the problem :dunno:

If you had steam coming out of the exhaust then you had bad head gaskets or a crack somewhere. If you didn't then it probably just ran out of the block and into the cylinders when you removed the heads.

The coolant was clean...a straight 50/50 mix. The motor actually hydraulic'd trying to start it. Very weird that both head gaskets went. One was severely compromised. I will try and post some pics.

Gonna need a lot of pictures.

Any mods to the block or heads or intake?

Couple of photos

It appears the use of sealant on the head bolt threads was way overdone and migrated between the gasket and block/head, preventing the gasket from sealing flat and tight. May not be the cause of the gasket burning out between the cylinders, but it should still be avoided when reassembled.
Could be the gasket itself was inferior for the task. What compression is it built to ?
The scoring in #4 needs to be addressed as well. Possibly the missing piece of the fire ring wedged between the piston and cylinder wall..

Sorry to see these issues you're dealing with.

Sorry to see all of this. Like Mitch mentioned, the #4 cylinder will need to be addressed. I'll also add, the rods will need to be checked for twist. Sadly, it's a rebuild all over again.

Tim