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Changing head gaskets

Incidentally I owe a huge thanks for the heads up on Advance Auto. I got the order cancelled before it shipped from Rockauto and ordered the same parts/brand from Advance Auto. It was 178 from rock, 104 from Advance. Big savings there.

Must have gone up some..but your welcome, your be happy with those im sure:salute: my biggest suggestion is to make sure you use plenty of rtv on the lower intake and make sure to tq the lower intake and heads at same time.there is a sequence to it and soak, soak soak t&e exhaust bolts
 



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^--- this man knows his stuff. If you dont believe me, just spend some time reading his build threads.

Generally speaking, none of us would steer you wrong. We have all been there and done the head gasket job, and if you haven't yet, just wait you will.
 






Bump... Just verifying, the head bolts are not reusable correct? What about the lower intake bolts?

Thanks
 






Bump... Just verifying, the head bolts are not reusable correct? What about the lower intake bolts?

Thanks

Head bolts, crank pulley bolt and rod bolts are all TTY and cant be reused
 






Thanks!

Pain in the butt, I'm in the middle of a Chevy LS2 rebuild on my work bench waiting for parts and then last week my explorer turns into a james bond smoke screen machine and it's my DD so I tore into it this weeknd so now on the left side of my garage I've got chevy parts all laid out and labeled and on the right side of my garage I've got Ford parts getting laid out and labeled! LOL Good times!!!

Chevy fun...

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yes, everything will get cleaned up... Actually a lot of it is getting hot tanked before reassembly.

IMAG0553_zpsytfux0za.jpg


And then I've got this going on in the middle of my garage and to the other side... LOL

IMG-20141206-WA0002_zpsfqprit1w.jpg


IMAG0562_zps8bfa12gh.jpg


IMAG0563_zpsjox9lxrj.jpg
 






Test those heads if you didnt plan on it..ps I always recommend using feel fro superduty head gaskets, they have SD on end of part number
 






Taking them by my uncles shop today after work to let him check them out. He's a 35+ year mechanic with a very very very good reputation here in Vegas. It's actually insane that in a city this size his name is so well known, and it's for a good reputation, not a bad one... LOL

It had been puffing a bit of smoke on startup for quite a while, like well over a year. Sometimes white (coolant), sometimes blue (oil). Sometimes minor sometimes BAD!!! Coolant always disappeared though and I had to top it off about once a week on average. Would foul a plug about every 4-5 months too. Well last week that occasional minor puff turned into about 10 seconds of HOLY CRAP blue smoke screen on every startup and then a minor but noticable continuation of smoke. Enough that I tore into it obviously. This time though, it didn't foul the same plug, normally it was the far back on the passenger side under the heater box that fouled, this time it was the front pass side that corresponded with the obvious cylinder/head in the pictures above. Interesting though that the piston on the cylinder it typically fouled... Left cylinder in the piston picture... Notice the clean edge on the bottom area of the piston? I believe a clean edge like that is a sign of a little bit of blow by on the rings usually.

Hoping the head is my culprit though honestly... Nothing glaringly wrong with it but the intake valve on the one cylinder is noticably wetter then the others and the exhaust. Thinking maybe leaking valve seal. Not seeing any crack but may have it magnafluxed... Not sure, gonna see what my uncle thinks about it first.
 






Taking them by my uncles shop today after work to let him check them out. He's a 35+ year mechanic with a very very very good reputation here in Vegas. It's actually insane that in a city this size his name is so well known, and it's for a good reputation, not a bad one... LOL

It had been puffing a bit of smoke on startup for quite a while, like well over a year. Sometimes white (coolant), sometimes blue (oil). Sometimes minor sometimes BAD!!! Coolant always disappeared though and I had to top it off about once a week on average. Would foul a plug about every 4-5 months too. Well last week that occasional minor puff turned into about 10 seconds of HOLY CRAP blue smoke screen on every startup and then a minor but noticable continuation of smoke. Enough that I tore into it obviously. This time though, it didn't foul the same plug, normally it was the far back on the passenger side under the heater box that fouled, this time it was the front pass side that corresponded with the obvious cylinder/head in the pictures above. Interesting though that the piston on the cylinder it typically fouled... Left cylinder in the piston picture... Notice the clean edge on the bottom area of the piston? I believe a clean edge like that is a sign of a little bit of blow by on the rings usually.

Hoping the head is my culprit though honestly... Nothing glaringly wrong with it but the intake valve on the one cylinder is noticably wetter then the others and the exhaust. Thinking maybe leaking valve seal. Not seeing any crack but may have it magnafluxed... Not sure, gonna see what my uncle thinks about it first.

Your need them magnafluxed..you wont be able to see the crack more than likely. .
 






Sounds good, never dealt with a cracked head before so wasn't entirely sure if it's the type of deal where you see an obvious smoking gun type CRACK or something so minor that magnaflux is the only way to truely spot the issue. I've got a guy about 4 blocks from my house that does magnaflux jobs in his garage. He's the tech inspector for a BIG time offroad race series. I'd kill to have the shop setup at my house that he has at his that's for sure! LOL
 






Sounds good, never dealt with a cracked head before so wasn't entirely sure if it's the type of deal where you see an obvious smoking gun type CRACK or something so minor that magnaflux is the only way to truely spot the issue. I've got a guy about 4 blocks from my house that does magnaflux jobs in his garage. He's the tech inspector for a BIG time offroad race series. I'd kill to have the shop setup at my house that he has at his that's for sure! LOL

I had one that took three times to find..had to heat it, pressurized and then magnaflux...it was a crack in the oil passage to rockers and was cracked into the middle intake runner/water jacket:mad:
 






What a pain!!!

So... LOL... It's sounding like cracked heads aren't something new or rare!!!
 












Head bolts, crank pulley bolt and rod bolts are all TTY and cant be reused

I hate to hijack but crank pulley bolt is torque to yield? The one holding the harmonic balancer on? I re-used it and was going to pop it off and loctite it. Bad idea?
 






I hate to hijack but crank pulley bolt is torque to yield? The one holding the harmonic balancer on? I re-used it and was going to pop it off and loctite it. Bad idea?

Yep..ive personally seen one fail..it was after I used it 3 or 4 times..we also had one fail on [MENTION=138312]Xeek[/MENTION] motor.people reuse them and rod bolts all the time but they are TTY, hell ive reused them just ONCE and that motor is still together. .but head bolts are a no go at all..ALWAYS replace them..
 






Any reason to upgrade to like an ARP head bolt or something if available on a stock engine? The LS2 I'm currently also rebuilding, I upgraded to the ARP head bolts eventhough the engine is 100% stock with just a PCM tune only cause the OE head bolts look like complete crap quality wise!!! They look like something that's galvanized and used on chain link fencing with equally rough cut threads like hardware you see on chain link fences. Everything else on that LS is top notch but they used really bad looking head bolts.

The Expo stuff though I pulled out last night looked very nice in comparison and I saw no reason to upgrade to something like an ARP. Thoughts?


BTW... How the heck do you torque that back lower one on the passenger side that's pretty much blocked by the heater box? Please tell me I don't have to take that thing out!!! I couldn't get my ratchet in there and ended up using a bare torx bit that I was able to put a box end wrench on to loosen. My torque wrench isn't going to fit in there though....
 






What a pain!!!

So... LOL... It's sounding like cracked heads aren't something new or rare!!!

Oooo no not at all..even ford knew about it..you have the worse heads ford ever made (90tm) they crack normally from just removing them...ford tried to fix them with 93 tm but still had issues. Then came a complete revisions in 95 tm..the problem wasnt pretty much fixed till 97-98tm heads, even those are know to crack sometimes.
 






LOL, if the fresh 302 long block that I have ready to replace the 289 in my '67 mustang was a complete motor rather then a long block... I'd really be seriously considering just doing a V8 swap right now!
 






Any reason to upgrade to like an ARP head bolt or something if available on a stock engine? The LS2 I'm currently also rebuilding, I upgraded to the ARP head bolts eventhough the engine is 100% stock with just a PCM tune only cause the OE head bolts look like complete crap quality wise!!! They look like something that's galvanized and used on chain link fencing with equally rough cut threads like hardware you see on chain link fences. Everything else on that LS is top notch but they used really bad looking head bolts.

The Expo stuff though I pulled out last night looked very nice in comparison and I saw no reason to upgrade to something like an ARP. Thoughts?


BTW... How the heck do you torque that back lower one on the passenger side that's pretty much blocked by the heater box? Please tell me I don't have to take that thing out!!! I couldn't get my ratchet in there and ended up using a bare torx bit that I was able to put a box end wrench on to loosen. My torque wrench isn't going to fit in there though....
arp doesnt make a kit.you can individually order the parts or order two kits for a different motor.no benefits on a stock motor..good aftermarket 93 tm, felpro SD gaskets and new bolts should do it..use tons of rtv on corners of lower intake and tighten the lower down with the heads..meaning left head, right head , lower intake....until you get all bolts done like that order. .

Back bolt is a pia..my bar just fits on it with small extension. .
 






LOL, if the fresh 302 long block that I have ready to replace the 289 in my '67 mustang was a complete motor rather then a long block... I'd really be seriously considering just doing a V8 swap right now!

V8 swaps arnt that easy either but in long run they are probably better..with good heads and proper care the v6 ohv is a beast though, just about bullet proof besides heads..
 



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Yep..ive personally seen one fail..it was after I used it 3 or 4 times..we also had one fail on [MENTION=138312]Xeek[/MENTION] motor.people reuse them and rod bolts all the time but they are TTY, hell ive reused them just ONCE and that motor is still together. .but head bolts are a no go at all..ALWAYS replace them..

Damn, the factory service manual didn't mention anything about that, that I saw anyway. I popped a rod cap off to see what the bearings looked like since I had the oil pan off. Re-used the nuts. I don't want to tear it apart again just for that. I torqued them down to the higher end of spec. I don't mind replacing the harmonic balancer bolt, that one's easy. I'll re-use the one for now, since I'll be back in the front of the engine for a fan clutch and pulleys in the near future.

Think I'll be alright?
 






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