Head gasket replacement checklist

[Matahoe]

Is that a bare head?

Nope. It Includes all valve hardware. It's delivery only.

Finished dropping off head at engine shop. It's $25 to test. $100 for exhange.

 

[retiredsparky]

Is it possible that you have Castech heads? They crack from bad design--reinforcing ribs left out which allows the head bolts to compress the head too much. One sign of this compression is a clean spot around the head bolt and slow leakage of coolant over several months usually. They are not repairable. The problem is inside the casting.

 

[Matahoe]

I don't have Castech heads. No logo underneath the roller rockers.

 

[Matahoe]

Apparently it doesn't matter. My local machine shop said it almost always happens over time to one of the heads.

 

[Matahoe]

Ahead of schedule, shoulda planned on throwing a cam in it

I thought about it but it's much more labor intensive than i realized. You need to remove the AC condenser and radiator for one. Then comes the dreaded stuck harmonic balancer, then water pump, timing set.... list goes on. For the money swapping in a 6.0 would make more sense.

 

[Matahoe]

Just an update. It has been a while to complete this project. Taking my time I guess. About 3-6 hours every weekend.

As it turns out most of the time I have spent making orders and waiting for shipments to come in. I have had to replace all 16 lifters, 5 push rods and 5 rocker arms, clean and sand both exhaust manifolds, clean and degrease everything, heads and remove and install all valves, have heads machined to .006 thousandths. Clean, pressure wash and do all that. Cleaning engine block deck took a long time using a razor blade, carb cleaner and wire brush. Also had to check all clearance measurements and replace oil dipstick tube.

I only have the rocker arm covers and intake left...plus all the little stuff. Shouldn't be more than a day or so left.

 

[CountryBoy19]

Good to see progress, I'm excited for you!

 

[Matahoe]

Good to see progress, I'm excited for you!

Yeah, I am excited too. Wanna start this up SO bad. Just having the heads off and removing the broken off exhaust manifold studs seems all worth it. Plus the fact it is going to run a whole lot better....AND get better mileage to boot.

It's supposed to be done today but I got all the way to putting on the alternator and found out that I threw away the alternator bracket bolts with the old head bolts. Heading on over to the hardware store.

I am going to change the oil and put back in the old coolant (filtered somewhat) so I can flush it again tomorrow. Here is what it looks like thusfar.

Your eyes aren't deceiving you. The alternator, water pump, hoses, throttle body and sight shield are newer. last owner a few years ago replaced water pump and I replaced the alternator 2 years ago. The whole engine was also lightly pressure washed just before replacing the intake manifold gasket 2 years ago.

 

[Matahoe]

Well today was the day. Crossed my fingers

Make sure oil and filter was changed. Check. No gas leaks..Check. Battery connected. Check. Coolant...etc.

Ignition sequence in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1....

Wah.. wah.. waaaah!

Nooooo! It ran rough as ever with flashing CEL on ! Not now girl... What the heck did I not do right? It seemed like it was only firing on half the cylinders. Had to make a one mile trip to drop daughter off at dance class running rough as ever sitting in traffic with CEL..taking 30 seconds to pull out of an intersection going dog slower than a ww1 tank.

Got back home...scanned for codes. Got cylinder2, 4, 6 misfire and a whole bunch of coil codes. Well as it turned out the problem was staring at me right in the face. I forgot to connect the right bank coil packs to the harness connector! Shoot.. I connected it up prayed to the auto gods... I then cleared the codes and started it back up with crossed fingers. Vroom!! Yeah...sounds great...no more rough idle. Definitely seems like more power at higher rpms. There doesn't seem to be any fluid leaks anywhere and the exhaust is not leaking anymore. After about 4 weeks of taking my time i can finally call this project complete. Thanks everyone for the moral support and help!

 

[Tonyrodz]

Well today was the day. Crossed my fingers

Make sure oil and filter was changed. Check. No gas leaks..Check. Battery connected. Check. Coolant...etc.

Ignition sequence in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1....

Wah.. wah.. waaaah!

Nooooo! It ran rough as ever with flashing CEL on ! Not now girl... What the heck did I not do right? It seemed like it was only firing on half the cylinders. Had to make a one mile trip to drop daughter off at dance class running rough as ever sitting in traffic with CEL..taking 30 seconds to pull out of an intersection going dog slower than a ww1 tank.

Got back home...scanned for codes. Got cylinder2, 4, 6 misfire and a whole bunch of coil codes. Well as it turned out I forgot to connect the right bank coil packs to the harness connector. I connected it up...then cleared the codes and started it back up. Been running fine ever since...no CEL. Actually it runs great! No more rough idle and it seems like more power at higher rpms. There doesn't seem to be any fluid leaks anywhere and the exhaust is not leaking anymore. After about 4 weeks of taking my time i can finally call this project complete. Thanks everyone for the moral support and help!

Great job.