[Vwdiesel] Smokey, bubley engine

[Erik Lane]

Make sure that you don't have *anything* in the bolt holes. Usual
cause of cracking block without too much torque is hydro-lock in the
bottom of the bolt hole. If that wasn't it then maybe you just had bad
luck and it was already about ready to crack there. I've had good luck
with the ones I've done, but that's not more than 10-15.

On Sun, Nov 1, 2009 at 8:23 PM, William J Toensing
<toensing at wildblue.net> wrote:
> Mark, you suggested loosen & re-torque to 90 # psi, nothing to loose. My question is, at what point will the bolts or studs brake, or the block crack or the threads strip? On my '81 Dasher diesel, I torqued the original head bolts to the factory/Bentley recommended 50 or 55 #psi, would have to look back in the bentley,but the right front bolt caused the block to crack. On my Model A Ford, several years ago, I was torquing to the recommended (50#psi, I think) & a couple of the studs broke. China or Taiwan sourced from Sacramento Vintage Ford. They replaced the broken studs but not the new gasket I had to buy. That is why I am afraid of over-torquing. From what I recall, on the Model A, it took progressively more strength to bring it up to 50 #psi & then it started getting easier. If that happens again, I will stop when that happens. I raise this question because I think allot of you are far more experienced than I, & would like comments on this as I haven't started trouble shooting my Mercedes SD 300 yet. I first plan to check the glow plugs & do a compression check but do suspect a blown head gasket as the prior owner said it "did over heat a little bit", & can see where re-torquing might correct this but I don't like dealing with broken head bolts or studs, especially when they break off in the block.
> Bill Toensing, Nevada City, CA
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