Head Gasket

[Vettefan87]

My head gasket finally went out. when i checked the oil it was way over full is this a head gasket or a intake manifold gasket? Now to my question how hard is this to do and what kind of tools do i need, and what kind of gasket should i put on so this doesnt happen for a while?


Thanks

 

[drags1998]

Go to G.M. to get the gasket!!!! This is not an EASY JOB!!!! You need a fair amount of tools, and depending on your skills, you can plan on spending 6-10Hrs. to do both heads. And trust me!!!!! you will want to do both while you have the top end apart!!!! Good Luck!!!

 

[Vettefan87]

Please help me

I drained the oil and it was really milky. It had about 10 US quarts of fluid. i put new castrol 10w40 in with a new filter, (when i shut it off there was just a little sound of what might be rod knock???) I changed the oil put fresh in, and now it sounds like low end noise. The car was not smoking, nor running rough until just before i noticed the problem. somebody please help me. This car only has 52,000 actual miles. What did i not do to cause this? I have ran castrol 10w40 synthetic since i bought it in september of last year.

 

[bradfordsvettes]

my guess would be an intake gasket you will see the failure if you are careful taking it apart. the corner it was leaking my have crud built up or be really clean see more intake gaskets for this than head gaskets . hopefully it did not damage anything but coolant is not a engines best friend good luck :cry steve

 

[taegdh]

I must agree with your initial estimation of a Head Gasket, but the low end noise is a dead ringer that the extra liquid in the crank case may have caused you to spin a bearing. See, anitfreeze doesn't have any lubricating qualities, and probably cleaned out ALL the oil and caused it to seize to the crank. Hence the deep "ka thunka" noise. Draining out more than you put in the crank case is never good.

Now you're in for some real work. Read your manuals! Get all the needed equipment to haul the engine out. I'll take bets you are on your way to a lower end rebuild, as well as new Head Gaskets. If you were ever thinking of making any performance improvements, now is the time to invest in them.

If you don't have one, get a digital camera, so you can document where every thing came from, and refer to it as you go to reassemble the block and head.

Lots of Luck, Taegdh

 

[taegdh]

PS to my previous: If you've switched to a synthetic oil on a 18 year old car, that may have contributed to it. Also, 87s had aluminum heads, a little bit of electrolysis up and down the bolt may have caused the head gasket to deteriorate.


Taegdh

 

[Vettefan87]

Why would switching to a synthetic based oil cause my head gasket to go bad? Yeah i am going to drop the oil pan and see what is going on.

Thanks

 

[jester]

This is not a trivial job but it can be done. I think the 6-10 hours is optimistic. I did mine over a period of about three weeks, working on it as I had time. I didn't keep track of the actual hours, but it was proabably more in the 15 to 20 range. I also replaced the plug wires and pulled the radiator to get the leaves out. It also takes awhile to clean everything up good before reassembly and don't forget the pictures. They are very helpful during reassembly.

While you're n there pull the radiator and clean the crud out from between.

Take your time and it should go OK.

 

[taegdh]

Because synthetic oils are based on esthyrs made in the lab and regular oils are a petroleum. On an older engine, it is best to keep to the one that it was broke in on. It is not so much contributing to the condition of your head gasket, but the bearing faces of your engine. Synthetic's are "looser" and easier displaced by water/antifreeze in the bearing races. Hence the sound you've got deep in the block.


The head gasket is more an electrolysis problem with the interaction between the iron of the block, steel of the bolt, and the aluminum head. This would cause a weakness in the head gasket, (similar to a sacrificial anode on a boat used in salt or brackish water.).


Another thought is the head. I once had a Buick with aluminum heads, and they would crack at the drop of a hat. (Got rid of that in six months and two complete sets of heads.) You might not believe it but I was young and stupid once. This is how I learned the fine art of "burping" a radiator.

 

[Vettefan87]

I plan on pulling the pan and seeing if the bearings are bad or not and if they are does the motor have to be pulled and rebuilt? and if it does what all is going to have to be rebuilt i called around and it was 1300 to replace the head and intake gaskets. 1600 plus misc. to pull motor and put just put it back in. and Kaley's wants 700 to rebuild it. 4300 to remanufacter it through jasper which includes installation. Does anyone know of a good rebuilder in the northern indiana area any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Utah]

Vettevan - from my other posts, you may have seen my head gasket blew last fall. When replacing the heads we cracked from the heat and had to be replaced as well. I drove it for a bit and as I assumed would happen, their was not a lot of compression so now i am in the middle of rebuilding the bottom end. Hope yours is not that bad, but something to consider while doing it to begin with.

UtAh

 

[rrubel]

Heck, you're not too far from Jasper Indiana, are you?

I'm doing a lot of this stuff right now on my car. Started out as an intake/cam change which expanded to a head/intake/cam/exhaust change, which suddenly became a block change as well when I found pieces of piston in the oil pan... Anyway, I was able to get a roller block from a 91 Vette, magnafluxed, and built up with quality components (mostly ARP and GM, plus TRW forged pistons) for $1500 to my door. The shop would have been happy to assemble heads and such as well; I happened to have gotten my own already. I think a total package from the place (essentially a couple guys making race motors) would have run me about $2500. I elected to do the replacement block instead of having mine rebuilt for a number of reasons, but it wound up being cheaper this way as well.
[RICHR]

 

[Vettefan87]

Does anyone know if i pull the pan how many bearings i can see, and how many bearings are there? And how many can i physically get out and look at it and see if they are bad.

Thanks

 

[bradfordsvettes]

the only bearings you will be able to inspect are the rods and mains , the caps would have to be pulled off for inspection the cam bearings would be a major ordeal steve