I have a holley street dominator on world sr torquer heads, and collant leaked from the manifold, so I replaced the gaskets. An hour later I started her up and she ran perfectly, then I got BUBBLING coolant from my manifold. I turned the car off and the coolant disappeared. No smoke from exhaust as before with the leak, but now I have bubbling coolant. What the heck is going on?

 

more info...both leak and bubble have come from pass side, no prob from drivers side. Put teflon thread sealent on bolts, rtv on gaskets

 

Did you put the gaskets on upside down?

the stock gaskets i believe have a coolant resistor on the driver side back coolant passage, and none on the passanger side, not much but its a thought. Although i put 350 felpro gaskets that had no resistors and had no problems, I'm not actually sure why theyre there. If its to build pressure then theres little point. system builds pressure anyway. Just a thought.

And im assuming you tightened all bolts to torque and order.
where exactly is it leaking? was there any coolant in the oil/lifter valley?

 

Yeah both sides have the little plate there on the rear passage, and the first time I took the manifold off there was coolant in the lifter valley, but I have yet to take the manifold off again. I talked to a local engine builder and all he could say was to wait a full 24 hours for the rtv to dry, but i dont see how that would make such a drastic difference. I am however going to take the manifold off again, and do it over again except to wait the 24 hours this time. I tightened the bolts down to torque and in the correct order. I put thread sealent on the bolts, did everything exactly the way its supposed to be done. This is why I'm so dumbfounded.

 

You sealed around the coolant passages with a thin layer of RTV?

 

yup, sure did. I only waited about an hour though before i started the car, and it took about 2 minutes of running before this happened. Could it be just that i didnt let it sit long enough?

 

Waiting longer would be a good idea, but I've started the car up that soon and had no problems.

 

Which is why I'm confused. There isnt a rear coolant passage on the manifold at all, but there is on the heads. I have had no problems with the drivers side either, only the passenger side. I don't know why that would be, or how to keep it from happening again.

 

Have you looked at your oil yet?

Room temp vulcanizing silicone sealant takes 3-15 minutes (IIRC) to skin in ideal temps and humidities. You may have not waited long enoug for it to set-up enough to hold. I typically wait overnight if I can.

 

yeah im just gonna repalce the gaskets again let it sit overnight and cross my fingers

 

you didnt use heavy abrasives cleaning it off right?

again im assuming its a stock or stockish aluminum intake. that can wear a "concave" spot in it so it wont seal properly. if none of your other ideas work or better yet, checking the head and intake with a straight edge couldnt hurt.