Step by step head removal

[steelynirvana]

Pretty sure I blew a head gasket this morning, overheated on interstate, didnt catch it til motor died due to temp guage not working. After 20m tried to start but it was just spinning freely tried to hit once or twice. Didnt milkshake the oil. Thsts all i know as my boss pulled up to take me onto work. Has anyone done a step by step thread on this yet? I think i can do it myself, getting pass. exhaust manifold looks like its going to be a painm Any tips or tricks anyone has to share would be apreciated. Its a 93 5 speed with a 91 or 92 engine ( can tell by belt tensioner)

 

[vq5speed]

The exhaust manifolds looks tight but surprisingly once you get the wrench down there it has lots of room to work. You can even get a ratchet with a socket on most of the bolts. Removing the intake manifold is pretty straight forward what has to come off. When you do get to the heads on the passenger side the HVAC box will give you trouble on that far corner bolt you won't have much room to get a socket with an extension. I actually cut out notch in mine so I can get my ratchet in there. Just remember to seal that up after. I guess you can remove the box.

 

[steelynirvana]

I went and tried to start it yesterday. Had to feather the gas but once it fired and i gave it a couple of revs it stayed idling by itself. Could smell that it was running rich though i never saw any white or black smoke out of tailpipe though she was sputtering. It also was pushing preasure back through the over flow tank (water in tank was bubbling back and yes, engine was cold and ran for only a minute or two). Would it be safe to say i likely just popped the gasket (s)? Just trying to get an idea of what to expect money wise when i do get it torn down

 

[vq5speed]

Since your doing this fix your self and it is only the gasket that blew then whatever it cost for the gasket kit around $100.00. But if you find that you cracked the head then the cost will obviously be more for a cylinder head. Most people will try to find one used head first from a junk yard that would be the cheapest.
A used head with core exchange will run about $40.00. If go to a yard where you can find your own parts you will need to pull it off the engine yourself. So you be taking apart 2 engines..

 

[natenkiki2004]

To me, that sounds like compression leaking into the coolant chambers in the head. It might not be running rich but rather just not igniting due to low compression? The computer can compensate for a lot but a loss of compression or head gasket failure isn't one of those things.

I'd worry about more than just the head gasket though. Overheating to the point where the engine dies could be a job that requires new heads or at the very least machining to bring them back into spec so they're flat. New gaskets would just waste your time and $$ if the heads are warped. If it got really bad, you might be looking at cylinder/piston scoring. Everything's engineered for tolerances in metal expansion but when you take the engine past it's normal operating range, tolerances become less and less, then there's problems.

The good news is, you can take it all apart and see what you've got before you buy gaskets and anything else. Don't hurry the job because you expect the worst, be sure to bag and label everything so that if it does look good, you don't forget how things go back together while you're waiting for gaskets, bolts and anything else you need.

 

[steelynirvana]

Still bubbling back through reservoir

So i ended up getting 2 new heads as they were both cracked and got junkyard heads checked by machine shop. Got it fired back up tonight and after about 5 minutes it started doing the exact same thing, over flowing through reservoir tank. Upper hose got warm but i still could colapse it. Temp guage said normal (i replaced both sensors so i know there good. Water out of resevior was warm to touch as was water out of petcock. Couldn't see any water circulating with radiator cap off. Im leaning towards stopped up radiator but want to hear what some opinions before I drop $100 on a new one

 

[vq5speed]

I would try a New radiator cap. Maybe your old cap is not holding back the pressure when the hot water begins to build pressure. Also if you filled your radiator up full and filled your overflow full when cold some water will flow out once the water get hot. If you look there is a Cold level line on the overflow tank not to fill past when cold or it will overflow out when water gets hot. I think this is what is happening.