Hi all, first post here. I have a 1965 Riviera GS with a 425 dual quad motor. It's a non AC car and the alternator is held on by a steel bracket on top that bolts to the block and an aluminum bracket on bottom that bolts to the head. I am working on cleaning up the engine bay and removed the alternator and brackets. When I took the rear bolt off the aluminum bracket, about 1 second of oil came out, followed by coolant. I notice the bolt has gasket sealant around the top of the threads. So obviously I've removed a head bolt here, and not an accessory bolt which is what I thought it was. My question is....now what do I do? Does this mean I have a cracked head? Leaking head gasket? Here are images of the before and after:
You're okay.... there are three head bolts that go into water passages, you found one of them. There are three rows of head bolts (bottom, middle, top). On the middle row, the three bolts in the center lead to water. Also, those two bolts that hold the alt bracket on are longer than the other 'middle row' bolts. Don't ever get those mixed up! And welcome to V8 Buick!:beer
Woo hoo! Ok, thank you very much. Is it ok to just put that bolt back in, fill up the coolant and go? Anything else I need to do or not do when re-assembling tomorrow? Thanks again. Also, what about the oil that came out before the water? Couldn't have been more than a couple ounces....maybe enough to fill up one of those little 5-hour energy bottles. Maybe it was just crud that was built up in the bolt hole Rusty_Bucket
What You need to do to stop the leaking is to send me your Dual Quad Set-up and air cleaner. That'll stop the leak. :laugh: :spank: Also Welcome to the Board. And beware of People like ME. PONCH
You need to clean the head bolt and put a little RTV sealer on the threads and retorque it. A good practice with Nailheads if you remove headbolts is to put them in order. I punch holes in a piece of cardboard and keep them in the holes. AC engines use a longer bolt through the bottom bracket. There are several places in a Nailhead where bolts strike water.
I like the teflon thread sealer (in a tube, not tape) as a bolt sealer. RTV will work too, just don't apply too much. I'd guess the oil simply seeped into the bolt hole over the years.
