Richard, I don't think the gaskets will seal themselves. Replacing the gaskets isn't enough, you have to very thoroughly clean the surfaces when you replace them and be sure that the surfaces aren't too irregular (smooth as possible). I spent several hours on the last head gasket job I did just cleaning out the grooves that the o-rings set in on the tops and bottoms of the pistons. Also it is possible that one of the o-rings got snagged upon putting the head back on and is now partially out of the groove, allowing the coolant to enter the combustion chamber. The other possibility is that your head has a crack in it that is allowing coolant to leak into the exhaust port from the waterjacket (as you shut off the engine it actually gets hotter. This could allow a small crack to expand and then the coolant system pressure could be forcing it out through the crack). Either way it sounds like a head removal and pressure testing are in order. Sorry to be the one to break this to you, but I just don't see a happy explanation for your problem. |
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