What to do with a blown 360?

[mopar_1974]

Greetings All!

Been quite a while since I've posted but had a quick question for you. A month or so ago I believe I blew the head gasket out of the 360 in my truck. (smoke, coolant through exhaust). I was planning on pulling the engine out and going through it this winter but I don't have the tools and I'm not sure I'm ready to spend the money to get what I need. Normally it would be fine to let it sit through the winter but with a blown head gasket would I be risking further damage/rust to the engine? Thanks for the help guys.

 

[rumblefish360]

If it was just a head gasket, I would just redo the gasket and let her rip.
Of course you'll need intake gaskets....
Check you oil and see if it turned into a milk shake. (Coolent in the oil.)
If so, you'll have to clean it all up and run through a few oil changes to clear it out. Remove the rockers and clean them
Up.

Do you know why it blew?

 

[mopar_1974]

hey rumblefish! Ha I haven't been actively on here for a few years but I still remember you being a pretty active member here. This engine was the old engine out of 7172dusters car. It probably only had maybe 1-200 miles on it since I've gotten it from him. It was a long process putting in and to be honest I would like to have it dyno tuned before it went back in. The only thing I can think of that would have went wrong is maybe I had the timing too far advanced? It never really pinged but once in a while at low rpms it would have a hiccup for a quick second then keep running again. I know it was build pretty stout so I feel I should put both head gaskets in to make sure they match. The funny thing is I was just cruising at around 20-30mph at maybe 2.5k and then it made a bang, and started pouring out smoke and quit. It did start back up but was spitting coolant through the exhaust and ran like crap. Shut it off right away again. Didn't hear anything that would suggest any bottom end problems.

 

[65Val]

If it was just a head gasket, I would just redo the gasket and let her rip.
Of course you'll need intake gaskets....
Check you oil and see if it turned into a milk shake. (Coolent in the oil.)
If so, you'll have to clean it all up and run through a few oil changes to clear it out. Remove the rockers and clean them
Up.

Do you know why it blew?

x2

 

[nm9stheham]

Liquid coolant in the exhaust usually means coolant in the cylinders and down one or more bores. That could be held against the cylinder walls and will etch the bores at the very least.

 

[pomonamissel]

i did not have any issues as you , but found the alot of the smog era heads have a cracking issue on one side of the la motors , think maybe to do with flame hardened exhaust seats from the factory , two or four bbl motors 318 360 , so check the heads too .

 

[magnumdart]

Maybe reading the plugs will help you identify which cylinders are affected. Then you will know where to look for any damage to the gaskets or head.

 

[moper]

At minimum I'd pull the head on the side that let go. It might be a moot point. Sounds worse than a blown head gasket to me.

 

[Dartnut]

At minimum I'd pull the head on the side that let go. It might be a moot point. Sounds worse than a blown head gasket to me.

I agree.
Head gaskets don't let go with a BANG!
Might have to do an autopsy to find out the real cause........

 

[rumblefish360]

At minimum I'd pull the head on the side that let go. It might be a moot point. Sounds worse than a blown head gasket to me.

Probably but we'll see soon I hope.
But if all checks out well.....