ok, I'm screwed

[BruteForce]

I finally got my Challenger together, and drove it a whole 10 feet before the engined died. Blew the fuel pump fuse. It's supposed to be 5A, but I misread the big 5 on the package to be amps, instead it was 5 fuses. The fuses are 3A. Not a biggie, but...

I noticed antifreeze dripping out of a seam in the exhaust at the low point. Uh-oh. This engine was run on the dyno before putting it in, I wonder if the dyno guy would have noticed water in the exhaust. So, is there anything simple it could be? Or do I have to pull the heads?

 

[71chally416]

Well it's hard to determine from here but I'd suspect one of the exhaust bolts that goes into the water jacket before anything else. They should have silicone on them and be tight. No silicone and a lock-type split washer and you'll have a leak for sure on any bolt into the water jacket.

[BruteForce]

I put the header bolts on with hi-temp anti-sieze compound. Which which of them go into the water jacket? If it leaks, would it leak into the exhaust?

[71chally416]

So you're saying it's leaking into the exhaust? Do you have ported heads?   

[Chryco Psycho]

start with the simple styuff , on a big block all of the studs go into the water jacket
 on a small block only the 2 end studs hit the water jacket
 are youi sure the AF is coming out of the pipe or just running down the outside of it ?

[BruteForce]

It's running down the inside of the pipes. The finger-wipe test on the outside is dry.

Do the bolts run through both the exhaust port and the water jacket? Is it possible my bolts are too short? They have 1" of thread minus 1/2" for header flange and gasket, leaving 1/2" of bite into the head.

Yes, they've been ported. It's a small block 340, too.

[dodge freak 2]

Really its best to run studs in the end holes. get like 1 1/2 inch studs (4 of them) and put thread sealer on the ends that go in to the heads and put them in until they bottom out. Should be able to do all 4 without removing the headers--the back will not be easy but can be done. Use the old 2 nuts on the stud trick..take two nuts and snug them up and use a wench or socket head to install the studs..once the stud bottoms use an open end wench on the nut closes to the head and tighten the stud until the nut breaks free of the another nut. (hope that makes any sense)

I like using some stop leak stuff on rebuild motors...some people  hate it and it does get you rad a bit messy but the factory uses it and leaks stink.

Now if its leaking in the center pipes--you are screwed..the heads could have been ported too far and broke in to a water jacket...unlikely if a machinist did the porting. 

[Chryco Psycho]

if hardened seat were installed you could have a leak from behind a seat , if the water is inside the port & defiantly not on the outside I think you have a head problem though
 Try to fix the studs or bolts first though , no point jumping into the hard stuff until you are positive it is not a simple fix

[BruteForce]

The peculiar thing is I unbolted the header collector and swung the exhaust out of the way. The headers were dry on the inside, but the collector gaskets were wet and both pipes aft had standing water in them. (I have an X-pipe configuation.) So I can't tell if water is coming down both headers or just one, and then backing up a bit in the other pipe.

I'm going to unbolt the headers next and see if the gaskets are wet.

[71chally416]

It'll smoke like a biatch if you're leaking antifreeze into the exhaust and the exhaust will knock you out when you smell it. If it's just water in the pipes (and you have antifreeze in the motor) it's just water vapor which is a byproduct of combustion. Small blocks produce ALOT of it. 

[BruteForce]

I didn't notice any smoking, but I ran it for less than a minute. It's definitely AF in the pipes. It's green and smells like AF.

I pulled the headers off. A couple of the exhaust ports had a black greasy very smelly tar in them, the others were dry. Feeling around the port didn't indicate a break. I'm wondering if that tar was just some oil that had accumulated in the cylinders while the engine was sitting around.

[BruteForce]

Perhaps I'm an idiot .

After

Small blocks produce ALOT of it.

I went down and drained what's left of the water into a cup (left), and a bit of the radiator fluid (right) for comparison. I spent much time sniffing them, but my nose isn't that good, so I enlisted my ever-understanding wife. She couldn't give a clear answer, either.

I can't find an obvious source of a leak, and the wetness is only past the collector, on both sides, with dry headers, is a clue. I have a 3" exhaust, so the gasses at idle will move slowly through it. The pipes are cold, and the water vapor in the exhaust would condense out and run downhill to the low point.

At this point, I'm going to put it back together, get new fuses, and try running it till it warms up properly and see what happens.

[Chryco Psycho]

my guess is condensation but it could have been hot enough at the head to evaporate the anti freeze but not at the flange so you could still have an issue

[BruteForce]

I agree. But the only way to find out for sure is to either pull the heads or try warming the engine up. I'm going to try the latter. I'm not quite ready to face tearing the engine down.

[dodj]

Small blocks produce ALOT of it. 

My 440 spits out alot of water out the exhaust but it is brown (rusty exh pipes). Maybe with your new exhaust it stays pretty clean looking. I agree with chally416 - antifreeze leaking into your engine would produce loads of white smoke.