Topic: Vanguard sump gasket blowing

[2nstoys]

Anyone got any secrets they are willing to give out for this problem. I have tried everything to keep these from sucking in or blowing out. I am about ready to weld the darn thing together. Dimpled the block and sump the last time and it held for 3 races. Gotta pull the engine and try something else.

[Cromwell C4]

How much crankshaft end play do you have? Double check and make sure block and pan surfaces are true. If all that is good then you have either a vibration problem or too much crank case pressure. Had a similar problem with a kohler v-twin once and it was a combination of too tight of end play and loose dowl pins in the block.

[more4les]

make sure you have all 3 dowel pins. I have tore down a few stockers that had some missing.

Lester

[Mike Gentry]

Dont use any kind of sealer or silicone ... Install the gasket dry. I always clean the bolt holes with brake clean and blow them out with air , then use red loctite. Ive never had one blow out using this method , but every time I use silicone it would spit them out the first race . But like Tyler said , be sure the crankcase is well vented !

[2nstoys]

Never seen one with 3 dowels. Took it apart and it was the o-ring this time. The new ones you get from Briggs are different than the originals. I went back to the original one and we'll see if it holds.

[JohnB]

Make sure the dowels fit tight in their holes. If they are loose, it let the cover move and will break the gasket. I found that on my SuperMod engine. Put two new dowels and no more problems. 

[George Herrin]

wE HAVE EXPERIANCED THIS WITH THE INDIAN AND JUST LATELY WITH JAKES CLONE.  THE FIX NEW DOWEL PINS SOLID IF POSSIBLE, CLEAN ALL THREADS BE IT BLOCK OR BOLT I USED NEW BOLTS. RED LOCK TIGHT AND TORQUE EVENLY SNEAK UP ON IT LIEK A BILLET  ROD AND DRY GASKETS

[BIG AL 202]

Do you have any problems with the red loctite and the aluinmum getting the bolts back out?

[carolinablue]

I had the same problems a couple af years ago tried everything added more dowels, made my own gaskets, put different sealers on, all to no avail. i run inteks but we also had the same problem with vannys. So on the intek & vannys i dont use a gasket at all i use hondabond its a grey sealer they have they use it on all there 2 strokes. On the intek i just take crank cam gear and sand it on a belt sander you dont need much until i have a little end play on the crank i also put stud's the block and use flange nuts and torque to spec and double nut never had any more problems. Now with a vanguard i sand the inside of the pan boss where the crank rides to get enough end play you sometime's have to also sand the cam boss as well  and i also stud the block and it works we have over 10 motors that were done that way and no more gasket problems.

[George Herrin]

Do you have any problems with the red loctite and the aluinmum getting the bolts back out?

no but i remove all with an impact too.

[sporty]

If you are using a 38 block, the pan bolt that screws into #2 cylinder bottoms out just before tightening to the pan.  Briggs puts a washer under the head of this bolt.  The bigger bore apparently made this hole a little shallower.

[2nstoys]

Dimpling the block cured the gasket problem. It was the wrong O-ring this time. Make sure when you order the new number from Briggs it is the correct one. None of the bolts were loose. Pumped out over a quart of oil and gave the crown one heck of scare thinking I was on fire. Played it up and finished on the white flag. All fixed for now. Great info. I use the blue loctite gel but next time I will try the red. And I will check that bolt for length. I do not remember a washer on it.

[GRUBDIGGER]

DEPENDING ON YEAR THEY USE 2 DIFFRANT O RINGS. A THIN ONE AND A FAT ONE. THEY DONT INTERCHANGE.

[sporty]

I don't know if they used the washer on all model 38s but, I've seen 3 new motors with the washer.  I also got a block from someone, no idea what year, that this bolt bottomed out without a washer.

Picture from a new model 38, 21HP.

[Westley Milburn #77W]

I just recently put my intek back together and already blew out my pan gasket...not bad but enough to make an oily mess. After tearin it back down tonight I learnt I used too much silicone this time and caused the gasket to squeeze out from btween the block and pan.