Peak headache

Had a customer call couple wks ago said he has two peak gtx units over heating and that the local dist. where they were bought had been working on them sense the 4th of July and had not made any progress would I be willing to look at them and see what I could find. I said yes and to bring one at a time.
So after I got the first one and ran it. Like the customer said the over flow jug is over flowing in about 10 min. but the engine hasn't reached operating temp. First thought is Helicol hx is leaking. So we bypassed the Hx by connecting the coolant lines together and drained over flow down to proper level refilled engine coolant and ran unit again and about five min. later started getting bubbles in the over flow bottle. So I do a leak down test on a warm engine and it past the test. But i had been told that the Dist. had put a new radiator on a new HX and there was no change but they had talked to kohler and was told that the head gasket on #1 head was probably the problem because the #2 rarely had problems. Here's my issue one if you are going to take everything apart on the engine needed to get one head off why would you not change the other on, because if your luck is like mine is that rarely will bite you in the butt. Rarely leaves room for doubt so after a litle more testing i let the cylinder #2 sit with pressure on it for a longer period and there it was the sound of bubbles in the water jacket RARELY had struck when I removed the nuts on the head the bottom left was about 12 ft. lb. of torque instead of 25 ft. lb.
The extra head gasket cost $30.00 and maybe 1hr. labor. Still got to put it back together and test run will post the results later.
Just thought it was worth pointing out being cheap can cost you more than if you did it right the first time. hope this helps someone else that may be working on their on unit.

Just like the real problem with consumers is that they don't seek out cleaners who take the time to do all the steps,
so it is with cleaners who don't seek out suppliers who take the time to do all the steps.

I know a supplier in OH, an OO supplier, like you ACE, who does all his own work. He can tell you story after story just like yours.  But it all falls on deaf ears cuz he just got some real competition in the form of  'regular' supplier moving into his town. Now he's forced to go to an another source of income - restoring old cars - just because the cleaners in his area don't care to hear that "being cheap can cost you more than if you did it right the first time."

Hey, this thread would go real well at the end of the WANTED thread huh?  ... guys going cheap cuz they're just getting started.  We'll support the cheap guy and worry about the details later.

ACE Services wrote:Had a customer call couple wks ago said he has two peak gtx units over heating and that the local dist. where they were bought had been working on them sense the 4th of July and had not made any progress would I be willing to look at them and see what I could find. I said yes and to bring one at a time.
So after I got the first one and ran it. Like the customer said the over flow jug is over flowing in about 10 min. but the engine hasn't reached operating temp. First thought is Helicol hx is leaking. So we bypassed the Hx by connecting the coolant lines together and drained over flow down to proper level refilled engine coolant and ran unit again and about five min. later started getting bubbles in the over flow bottle. So I do a leak down test on a warm engine and it past the test. But i had been told that the Dist. had put a new radiator on a new HX and there was no change but they had talked to kohler and was told that the head gasket on #1 head was probably the problem because the #2 rarely had problems.  Here's my issue one if you are going to take everything apart on the engine needed to get one head off why would you not change the other on, because if your luck is like mine is that rarely will bite you in the butt. Rarely leaves room for doubt so after a litle more testing i let the cylinder #2 sit with pressure on it for a longer period and there it was the sound of bubbles in the water jacket RARELY had struck when I removed the nuts on the head the bottom left was about 12 ft. lb. of torque instead of 25 ft. lb.  
The extra head gasket cost $30.00 and maybe 1hr. labor. Still got to put it back together and test run will post the results later.
Just thought it was worth pointing out being cheap can cost you more than if you did it right the first time. hope this helps someone else that may be working on their on unit.

I have a friend that was having a problem with the heads every 2 o 3 months , I asked him if the mechanic was using the correct torque he did not know so I told him that next time the head will blow do not order another head just get a new gasket and use a torque on it that was 2 years ago still using the TM as today
many mechanics do not like to use the correct torque on the bolts most of them use their experience a bad choice

Why did he replace the head. I learned how to reface the head with a piece of safety glass and fine sandpaper a lot cheaper than a machinest even reseat the valves. I have the manual on the engine the head is torqued in two steps.

the mechanic was telling him to get new head when there was nothing wrong maybe you can make a video to show how to reface using the safety glass and sandpaper Thank you

Tech's that repair problems vs tech's that replace parts or kick the problem down the line are two completely different people.

Thanks Ace you're a dying breed. There should be more like you.

Flow up on the Peak
After Refacing the heads and replacing the head gaskets on BOTH sides replaced intake and exhaust gaskets properly torqued everything. Test ran unit at operating temp. for over 1 hr. today and everything is working properly.
As for the video I'll see what I can do.

Ok after retesting the peak in real world it over filled the over flow bottle again. But this time it was making water when it got hot, which meant the helical Hx is leaking. So we bypassed it and the customer is running the unit for a few days if no other problems then we will check about the Hx it's new put in someone else. Owner has called PC and sense I had called already and talked with chuck coffee and told the O/O to run the unit as I had said and the Hx would be warranted and repaired by Ace services