This was going to be a "I hate Cometic thread," till I pulled the head off anyway. Ive got about 50 miles into the break in and now this....
Sorry for the crappy pics guys, my cameras battery died so I couldnt try to retake them.
Straight on through the #2 cylinder, it actually spiderwebs right a the machined part in the middle too. Patriot warranties the head for 90 days, I got it about 10 months ago so Im SOL. They said I could ship it back to them and if they could fix it they would but it will be on my own dime. I think this may be my last attempt with a Jbody, Im ready to give up....
14.261@ 95.45
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Soooooooo, what caused the head to crack? Detonation? Was it over torqued? Or did it just crack by itself? What do you think happened?
"Go Before Show Yo."
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Not really sure what caused the crack, it happened when I was cruising on the highway, maybe 3psi boost. The head was torqued to specs per GM and Golden Eagles specs.
14.261@ 95.45
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Wierd,
Well, I wouldnt give up. Get a head from a wrecker get it pressure tested and plained, throw it on for now until you can do something else.
If it didnt damage your pistons or cylinders, I wouldnt just give up. You still have alot of great parts. If your not reving to the sky, the stock valve train should be fine.
"Go Before Show Yo."
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Wow man that really sucks! I hope everything works out for ya...
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That sucks a bunch man
. I hope its a factory fluke
you used cometic? Junk dude, junk...... they work great on 2.4's and 2200... but for some reason they dont liie to seal correctly on ecotecs. I know some people have had luck with them, and I know some people who had them fail. It could have been part of the problem.
I recommend a stock head gasket ( 2 layer mls, what I am using at 17 psi) OR go with an LSJ head gasket (3 layer mls)
LE61T PTE6262 Powered 
Sucks dude, but it definitely looks like that head was overtorqued or severely overheated. You don't get a crack like that all the way through the combustion chamber any other way really, not without sending a piston through it anway....
Arrival Blue 04 LS Sport
Eco
Turbo
Megasquirt
'Nuff said
sucks man
, but it would be a shame if you gave up ! I'm sure there are many here like me who follow your progress with your car !!
14.425 @ 97.833 mph stock + GMPP s/c on drag radials.
Are you sure you primed the cooling system properly before you started the motor up for the first time?
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I have to say it does resemble the result of incorrect TQ or out of sequence TQ procedure, not to say that is the case by any means but a defective head gasket can also cause the the head to crack if it did not compress evenly during TQing (not likely). Don't give up though it could be a fluke thing. As far as the ECO is concerned with the coolant issue is that it has been my experience that the ECO seems to self purge pretty well had there been a bubble or something. The 2200s however didn't self purge very well and the correct cooling system purge fixed it real quick. Don't give up my friend this is the realm of aftermarket and performance stuff unfortunently breaks because we push the limits, lol!
ASE Master Certified Automotive Technician
that sucks bro def not cool especialy since the patriot isn't too cheap
don't give up !
^^^ thats Patriots piece of @!#$ valve train for you.
the original posters problem... I would be surprised if its patriots fault seeing as they start with a stock GM head and go form there.
it don't see why people are buying these performance heads for a insane amount of cash, just go to a local machine shop and get them to do it and buy SI valves and whatever brand springs and go from there. My machine shop only charged 700 bucks in machine work to my whole motor, this included 2.3 pump swap, p&p head, mill it, bore it and all that good stuff.
Darkstars wrote:^^^ thats Patriots piece of @!#$ valve train for you.
the original posters problem... I would be surprised if its patriots fault seeing as they start with a stock GM head and go form there.
dont you have a stage 2 from them?
set the example, never let the example set you.
Darkstars wrote:^^^ thats Patriots piece of @!#$ valve train for you.
the original posters problem... I would be surprised if its patriots fault seeing as they start with a stock GM head and go form there.
Completely unfair statement.
If Patriot's valvetrains are bad then how come none of the Ecotec guys or LN2 guys running their heads are having issues?
How come there's only a few heads they've had issues with then?
That damage on the OP's head is definately NOT the fault of Patriot. I'm with Scarab that it was over tightened somewhere, somehow. That or it was a casting flaw from GM.
I used to race cars, now I race myself.
5K PB: 24:50
10K PB: 54:26
You guys need to hang out on the LSx websites to hear all the good stuff they have to say about these heads.
is that sarcasm or are you being serious
What are ARP mains torqued to? My Golden Eagle head studs were torqued in GMs sequence first to 25 then to 50 then backed out 1/2 turn (did this part 3 times) then finally to 70.
14.261@ 95.45
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Team Vision Racing (aka hypsy) wrote:Darkstars wrote:^^^ thats Patriots piece of @!#$ valve train for you.
the original posters problem... I would be surprised if its patriots fault seeing as they start with a stock GM head and go form there.
Completely unfair statement.
If Patriot's valvetrains are bad then how come none of the Ecotec guys or LN2 guys running their heads are having issues?
How come there's only a few heads they've had issues with then?
That damage on the OP's head is definately NOT the fault of Patriot. I'm with Scarab that it was over tightened somewhere, somehow. That or it was a casting flaw from GM.
Well, a similarly unfair statement is bringing the LN2 head into the valvetrain argument... unless they actually started putting a built valve train in there since i've been on hiatus, because the last time I checked they use the OEM valves/springs/keepers/etc...
However, I've seen the eco Patriot head revved well in excess of 7500 rpm with no problems... and really that whole debate is completely off topic seeing as the head is CRACKED which is not something patriot could have done anything about unless it was cracked while they had it. I wonder if perhaps the headgasket didn't have something to do with it if it wasn't overtorqued... i would imagine that the gasket would have to have a very obvious flaw to cause a crack like that though.
Arrival Blue 04 LS Sport
Eco
Turbo
Megasquirt
'Nuff said
o4blackfire wrote:What are ARP mains torqued to? My Golden Eagle head studs were torqued in GMs sequence first to 25 then to 50 then backed out 1/2 turn (did this part 3 times) then finally to 70.
Are those bolts or studs? My ARP LN2 mains were torqued to 65 ft-lbs determined by measuring bolt stretch.
fortune cookie say:
better a delay than a disaster.
