Randeez 2012 Budget Yukon Denali Build (stick on hood scoops galore)

[pwtr02ss]

Hopefully the gaskets were the issue and you don't have to go another route

 

[randeez]

engine is back in, just slowly putting the rest of it together. ordered some new orings for the intake>heads. didnt notice anything wrong with mine but they were pretty well flattened out. so few days till that gets here anyway. should be able to put exhaust/hotside back on, put the front end back together over the next couple days. not much motivation

 

[randeez]

well i havent fired up latest head gasket replacement, i think im going to leave the headers off all together and see if that cyl pukes out abunch of water or what not, see if i still get bubbles at the fill cap. i mostly just need to connect fuel lines, put the coil packs/wires on and connect the harness and i should be able to fire it up (no trans still)

but I email thompson m/s last night, layed out everything ive tried to get this thing to keep temps ok, routing steam lines, coolant lines, different reservoir, swirl pot, swapping head gaskets a few times in and out of truck, heads resurfaced, embellished a little bit about trying different radiators etc etc etc.

called me this mornin and we had a nice chat. just pretty much laid out that ive gone over it two three four times, seemed unfathomable to me that the block could be hurt but thats all that is left to check. sent him the pics, talked about trying to confirm that the cyl had a problem and i even told him i dont know if thats for sure the problem. he kind of agreed that something catastrophic enough to break the cylinder wall would have almost definitely bent the rod, shattered the piston, or whatever. meaning he would go back to dart and see if theyd warranty it out as defective forging.

dart states 6 month warranty though - i told him i would have had to fire it up the first time and immediate pull it back out and send it to them without trying anything on my own to diagnose or fix the problem to be able to make a claim within that period.

i dont expect free ****, ever and i was kind of expecting a tough luck, kick rocks response. but he seemed genuine and wanted to see what they could do about it. ive got a bad habit of just dumping stuff off at a huge loss to get it out of my life and let it be someone elses headache. which admittedly im very close to that point, talking with them brought me back off the ledge so to speak

 

[Fless]

Here's hoping they make it right for you.

 

[iamdub]

If it still leaks and you suspect a flawed casting and Dart can't/won't help, would it be reasonably feasible for you get it checked locally? Maybe magnafluxed?

 

[randeez]

If it still leaks and you suspect a flawed casting and Dart can't/won't help, would it be reasonably feasible for you get it checked locally? Maybe magnafluxed?

this is sort of my conundrum... it would have to be completely torn down to magnaflux.

if it is cracked, ive got no block. it would be hack as hell to tear down, clean, and reassemble it in a block that has a cracked bore with used bearings and rings. and i would have just spent $1500+ to be in the same exact place.

i dont even know if you can clearance a stock block for a center counter weighted crank, run the bores on a stock block out to 4.125 would be dumb also, a sleeved block is more than another dart block, then rings, bearings, timing set, cam? lifters? adds up... i'd be over $4k prob.

i was halfway joking about filling this block with fill and running straight meth - i could spend 4k on a whole other short block not so nasty for yukon. and have a pretty serious power plant to put in a caged roller

also got engine in with pretty much bare minimum to run, but wont start without trans plugged in. only thing that the 4l80 sends to the ecm is vss and nss. i'll look into it tomorrow and see what i can do to jump them out

 

[ks03]

Does the cooling system hold pressure with the engine just sitting cold or does it have to be running?
Just thinking if you don’t have the intake on, you could pull plugs to see which squirts out when cranked, or maybe substitute magnafluxing the block with just pulling the pan off and look where coolant is coming from.

 

[randeez]

Does the cooling system hold pressure with the engine just sitting cold or does it have to be running?
Just thinking if you don’t have the intake on, you could pull plugs to see which squirts out when cranked, or maybe substitute magnafluxing the block with just pulling the pan off and look where coolant is coming from.

its not just blowing water into the cylinder, i think its a combo of heating/expansion while engine comes up to temp, pressure the bore sees when engine is running.
with it on the stand i put the head on, no rockers so valves were closed, filled the water jacket, and put about 100psi+ on the cylinder... heard some leakage through the rings into the crankcase but nothing from the water ports, no bubbles either.
ive tried putting 25-30psi on the water jacket before but it usually pops the fill cap and runs out the overflow tube...also the freeze plugs arent meant to hold much pressure i didnt want to blast it with more and disturb them.
never any water in the oil, the blemishes im seeing are up into the piston rings.

 

[randeez]

couldnt figure out how to jump out whatever the ecm wanted to see from the trans, but jumping it out the starter with the key on, it starts

as loud as i thought it was with the downpipe dumped its about twice as loud with nothing on the exhaust ports at all. it also shoots flames out on both sides, i didnt have it in me to leave it running long enough to let it get up to temp like that.

for the little bit of time i did let it run i saw no coolant coming out #8, or any of them for that matter. it did push a little out the overflow but im thinking that was just expanding as it heated up. water level didnt really drop noticeably.

i rigged up some fittings so i could pressurize the coolant system and not have the cap open (took the whole filler neck out), even put a gauge on a spare port. i put 30psi in it and dicked around cleaning up, didnt budge for about 20mins. going to check it again in the morning and pump it back up if needed before i leave for work.

if it does hold, i'll feel a little better and keep moving forward with putting it back together...if not hopefully i'll be able to find where its leaking

 

[randeez]

bored at work, little update.
pumped up pressure on water jacket, let it sit over night yesterday and it dropped from 30 down to 20psi by morning. i left it alone while i went to work, got home and it was still 20psi. crawled around looking in all the cylinders, looking for signs of it leaking, turned it over a few times with the starter hoping it would blow out somewhere, nada. pushed psi back up to about 40, and noticed it only leaking out of 2 spots.... the gauge that i put in and the blow tip i put on to put air in it . at 40psiwater blew out from the bottom of the water manifold, which im pretty sure had never happened before. it settled down to about 35psi and i letsit there while i messed around for an hour or so. left it over night and it was still about 30psi this morning.

sooo i guess im going to continue to put it back together, no word on trans yet so whatever i guess