Inliners International Forums General Discussion Engines manifold h2o leak ??

I,m looking back into this now since I have to drain the cooling system for a hose leak,,I have a clifford intake with the water passage on the bottom, during other tinkering I took off the water heat, and when I went to put it back, I had a brownish thick fuel like stuff come out of the passage,,manifold crack?? can fuel saturate through the alum?? I heated the engine up and put compressed (90psi) air to the passage, held pressure,,I next hooked up a vacume guage to it,, nothing,, has anybody else had this issue, I contacted Clifford in case they had multiple issues, they told me no, and to put bars leak in the system,,(yeah right), they are expensive manifolds to scrap,,I've looked inside for cracks, I see some weird casting marks, but no tell tail cracks,,I used to see a red paint like stuff to cover lifter valleys, if I filled the passage and drained might that seal?? I think the paint smoothed the cast for oil movement,,

Was there any brownish gunk floating around in the cooling system? If so, you may have oil in the coolant, most likely from a cracked head or block, or a bad head gasket.

No,, cooling system is clean, this water passage is self contained when not hooked up, there is no connection to block or crankcase for transfer,

Your first post sounded like you had it hooked up to water, but that's not the case??
Was it hooked up to anything?
Has there been any other leaks, spills, etc... since installing the intake that may have found there way into the passage??

yes the water heat was hooked up but never had any issues like that,,the cooling system was clean, the intake doesn't connect any oil passages or water jackets through the block, the head gasket could completly fail and nothing can get to the water passage on the intake,, the only thing that could trade is water and fuel, when it was hooked up, it could of leaked fuel into the antifreeze or blown antifreeze into the intake which ever was stronger,,

The coolant that you are running through the intake comes from the engine, and is therefore circulated throughout the rest of the engine, correct?

yes

Ok, so like I was saying, if you had found crud in the coolant, it could have found its way to the intake.
Since you report that the coolant is clean, then a leak of some kind into the coolant isn't likely.
If the manifold passes a pressure test, then I doubt there is a problem with the intake.

I don't know the history of this issue, or how long its been apart, was the intake new or used when you got it, etc... but if it is running fine, the plugs look good, and you're not "using" coolant, chances are that its just some light duty crud that has settled into the intake. Possibly its just some rusty film? If that passage has a couple steel plugs in it from when it was made (to plug the sand core supports for example), then maybe they are rusting, and because it was sitting awhile, perhaps it has tainted the water that was sitting in there? Just a thought. I guess I'm out of ideas at this point...

I bought the intake new,,, and the car really doesn't sit, I drive it often, last night I pulled the rear plug again, it has been about 3 weeks since last, the liquid actually drains out, enough to cover the inside of a paint can lid,, it is definitly fuel, it lights on fire,,there are two stamp size plugs down in the runner of ech side that is a different alum finish than the cast, they are probally leaking, I guess it's time to swap manifolds, maybe do away with the water heating,,

Well, it sounds like you have it solved then. Just stopping the use of water heat won't stop the intake from leaking though. You'll need to fix the intake or replace it, otherwise you'll get a pool of fuel in there that could become a fire hazard.

Finger do you think those could be taken out and the holes Tapped
for a Pipe plug. and fix that issue?

Hey, Larry,,,the things are the size of a postage stamp, and they are located down the runner about two inches and above the water jacket from below,,I'm not even sure how Clifford gets them in ??,
it definitly looks different, the runner/manifold is the normal cast looking texture, and these stamp things are smooth and shiny, with little dimples like a waffle pattern,???

well There is another way to get to them. IF?????????you wanted to drill through the top of the runner and install pipe plugs?
Or take a hand grinder and ruff up the surface and put epoxy over those plugs.

If it was me I'd drill the intake and install the pipe plugs.
just my2cents

Fingersix,
Try sealing the inside of the manifols with a fuel tank sealer kit. I've tried them all and the best (by a bunch) is sold bye the folks who make the P O R (paint over rust) Products. Just type in P O R and you'll get to their web sight.

Great idea, thanks,,now a dilemma, try that on the Clifford or continue to set up the offy I got,,??? mmmmm