Head gasket leaking???

When i put my pa head on i had leaks around the head bolts,nobody told me i needed sealant around them. Ended up pulling bolts and sealing around the top with yamabond.

If it keeps building pressure it would be a head gasket that got rolled.I had this happen on my dragon.I now use vasaline on the O-rings to hold them in place and it melts under low temps.When burping the system I make sure the front end is up in the air and than roll the sled up on the right side first after the thremostat opens 125 deg. and blib the throttle than switch to the left side so the resivor is the highest point and do the same. I also make sure my engine is full of antifreeze before putting in the thermostat less chance for air pockets . I hope this helps .The head works great did you also do the clutching?

06IQRMK said:

Ok, so for the second time this year Im heading out west. I have a PA head that I put on my sled last night. I ran this out west the first time this year and loved it. While installing the head last night, it seemed like the coolant bottle was getting overly pressurized... I can fill the bottle up to the cold full line, put the cap on and start it and it will take coolant (I do have the front of the sled up on a stand so that the thermostat is the highest point in the coolant system...) the coolant level goes way down, and the tank starts to pressurize. Then when i shut it off the coolant slowly fills the tank back up (I bled the air @ the thermostat). I also did install new orings and head gasket and o rings on the spark plug holes, BUT i didnt install the big outer gasket on the head cover. Dealer messed up my order and I figured worst case scenario at least it would be leaking externally if it did happen to leak.

Anyway. It seems like i have done this in the past and ran the sled while adding coolant, but i cant do that now. I have to add while motor is shut off, run, shut off, bleed air, add, run, shut off, bleed air... etc... Is that normal on these? have they changed the system, or am i looking for a head gasket, or other issue? Leaving in a week so i want to get this remedied ASAP so the sled is ready to go IF there is an issue. If this is the norm on these things I guess im set. Thanks in advance guys!

Click to expand...

The exact same thing happened to me yesterday.... I installed all new o- rings, seals,etc. Added coolant and started the sled to do the normal purge and my coolant bottle turned a oily color on the plastic bottle, I shut the sled off and redid everything late last night and now I'm in the process of adding coolant and purging so hopefully it's right. I will reply the results in a hour or so.... You might have to start over...

I don't think this is your problem, but make sure you orientate your thermostat in to the head exactly like this picture. The top on the thermostat needs to be aligned with the bolt holes or else the thermostat blocks the coolant flow...

Did your sled smoke more then normal when you started it? Mine did the first time and after I redid the head last night now it don't... It was a white water smoke....LOL Mine seems to be good now...

Skippy wins! Double check and you'll most likely find that your TS is turned sideways. I had no idea that this was important and ran it like that for about 1000 miles! It was never leaking internally it was over-pressurizing and coming out the overflow as it heated up. Never in an amount that you could identify. I thought it was leaking internally so I changed gaskets a few times trying to figure it why my coolant was disappearing. We also double checked all aspects of the head machining to insure accuracy. It's dead on. Just ran it 2" down and watched carefully. All is well.

It's also really important for you guys that are changing heads to make sure you really clean the coolant out of the head bolt holes. Any coolant in those holes completely changes the torque and pressure especially as the system heats up.

I don't know on your clutching setups but EVERYONE KNOW THESE FACTS:
This head adds significant HP and a faster rate of duration torque curve to your system. 4000-7400 is your significant power gain over stock. The small block polaris system wants to be loaded on upshift but once you get to 7800RPM it's nearly identical to stock but you a there a click sooner. This is exactly why a steeper helix angle and loaded weights like EPI belly busters or the MTX variable weights with a mid load are working best on the system. The EPI weights load the middle hard and actually balance the high end R's (slightly less actual tip weight by profile than stock) to make your setup more consistent in it's end weight pull so that you don't experience high heat fade. Pulling 8300 at no load and then 8000-8100 at load is not ideal and is a symptom of heat fade. (you dont get good belt life and you don't get maximum performance in deep snow with this setup)


IE: on the exact same clutch setup and vehicle a stock 10-60 series style weight will actually pull less and have a slower upshift through the power band than a belly buster style weight. Once you reach 7800 RPM that weight is actually equal to 1 gram heavier. In other words I pull 64 BB at a certain top end R and 63 standard 10-60 at that exact finish R but the sled is 3 sled lengths slower in a to b performance. That quickness is made up in the 4000-7800 range. This is why guys have better performance on this ramp angle style than the stock 10-60 polaris setup for this application.

so tuners: repeat after ME..BLA BLA BLA ....BLA BLA BLA
and only remember load em as hard as you can then taper it off at the end R"s...simple stuff and look for 8000R's with as little fade as possible. Your belts last longer and your sled runs better than you buddies!

Thermostat

I just put on a PA 13.6 head this last weekend for my upcoming trip west this weekend. I got it all back together but never paid that close of attention to how i located the thermostat when I put it back in. It seems to have bled fine. I filled the bottle full then started it and bled it at the thermostat and tipped it on each side a couple times and got all the coolant back in that I took out. I drove it for maybe 1/4 mile real easy at 5,000 rpm since I didn't have high enough octane fuel for back here in Iowa and both coolers got warm and the bottle is pretty much right where i had it when I started. I never noticed it over pressurizing the system. Should I be good to go or would I be better off to take the thermostat housing back off and check the location of the thermostat? It seems to be good but I don't want problems when I get out there. Does it really make that big of difference?

This thermostat location had me curious so I took the thermostat housing off and looked at how I had mine. It was right in line with the two bolts. The bypass hole is in a different spot than that photo though. On the picture the hole is what I would call 9:00 and mine is towards 11:00. Why would it make a difference on how it is put in?

When I put on my PA head the o-rings seemed to stay in the grooves quite well.