Anyone care to teach me how to change a headgasket?

[Stanley]

Sounding more like something other than the headgasket. If it wasn't run enough to open the thermostat that might keep the oil/water gunk out of the radiator. No white smoke could mean you have a good headgasket that's keeping a corroded or cracked water or oil passage in the block or head from leaking into the cylinders. Maybe it's a good thing you're doing it yourself because if you need a new block for example a shop would charge a bunch to find that out and you'd still need a new motor.

[EuroDat]

I think I would have done a little more diagnostic work before starting to dismantle anything. It could be something other than a head gasket.

You can do things like; pressurising the radiator and checking the oil level if it rises (you would have to connect the radiator again), a compression test or even re-torque the head and check if the water loss in the radiator slows. You can do all these things before removing the head and it also gives you more confidence working on the motor.

Most of us, including myself, are telling you how to do it, but forgetting to ask why your doing it.

Its not your daily driver, so relax take your time. Its better to take a lot longer and do it right than a botched job costing a fortune to reverse the damage.

Chas

[Zed Head]

Carrying on with the theme that you will try to fix it alone if nobody offers to help, you should probably drain the oil/water blend and replace it with oil, then spin the engine without starting to push the oil/water blend out of the various places it's ended up. The stuff on the cam indicates that you've blended the water into the oil and spread it through the engine. It might not be that harmful to let it sit in there but it needs to come out anyway and might prevent some rust where you don't want it. The quantity of water in the bottom of the pan will be a clue about how bad things are. I blew a head gasket or cracked a head (never took it apart) on a Ford Escort and quarts of water came out before the oil did.

On the timing cover leak - it would be unusual but if your timing cover was damaged it might be possible to connect the oil and water passages. The oil pump and water pump both push their fluids from the cover to the block. I've heard of corrosion through the cover's water passages causing leaks.

Edited November 16, 2013 by Zed Head

[dpascual1986]

Carrying on with the theme that you will try to fix it alone if nobody offers to help, you should probably drain the oil/water blend and replace it with oil, then spin the engine without starting to push the oil/water blend out of the various places it's ended up. The stuff on the cam indicates that you've blended the water into the oil and spread it through the engine. It might not be that harmful to let it sit in there but it needs to come out anyway and might prevent some rust where you don't want it. The quantity of water in the bottom of the pan will be a clue about how bad things are. I blew a head gasket or cracked a head (never took it apart) on a Ford Escort and quarts of water came out before the oil did.

On the timing cover leak - it would be unusual but if your timing cover was damaged it might be possible to connect the oil and water passages. The oil pump and water pump both push their fluids from the cover to the block. I've heard of corrosion through the cover's water passages causing leaks.

Its already in pieces and to put it back together would mean I'd have to use my new gasket kit. I propose to continue with removing the head, get it machined, then see if that solves it. If not then I would have only used up a gasket kit, which at this point, I would also have to use if I decided to turn back.

Few issues... that bolt/nut? On the cam gear is tough to remove, its tight enough to turn the crank when I try to break it loose with a breaker bar, counter clockwise. Torque is not an issue, I can find a lot of ways to increase the amount of force I use to remove that nut/bolt? I just need to know that that's what I need to be doing.

[siteunseen]

There's two square spots, about as big as a Lego on my cam I can put a large Crescent wrench on. Between #4 & #5.

Lobes 4 & 5, from the front.

[alternativez]

I admire your spirit. I know you're pretty tied up; maybe spare a few to put up some pics? Wish we'd had the internet when I was young. Woulda saved me a lot of trouble. Good luck!

[240260280z]

Few issues... that bolt/nut? On the cam gear is tough to remove, its tight enough to turn the crank when I try to break it loose with a breaker bar, counter clockwise. Torque is not an issue, I can find a lot of ways to increase the amount of force I use to remove that nut/bolt? I just need to know that that's what I need to be doing.

Step 40 in that big list of steps I put together... read it 4 times from top to bottom.

[dpascual1986]

Step 40 in that big list of steps I put together... read it 4 times from top to bottom.

Hey blue, thanks. I was just testing if I could loosen it last night. Everything else was easy, just tricky to find ways to fit my wrenches to remove the manifolds without messing with my carbs. I will get something to hold it down and put it in gear. So counterclockwise must be the right way.

[240260280z]

Yup CCW to loosen; it is a regular bolt.

[dpascual1986]

I admire your spirit. I know you're pretty tied up; maybe spare a few to put up some pics? Wish we'd had the internet when I was young. Woulda saved me a lot of trouble. Good luck!

sooo... dont you guys guys give up on me yet. I messed up today. I bought a oil pan thing to drain all the oil as suggested...

this one from harbor freight

Waste Oil Storage Container

as i removed the drain plug, it fell into the drain hole of my my newly bought oil container, effectively plugging it. I must have had about a gallon of that milk on my floor so I spent an entire afternoon scrubbing my garage. boo :mad:

in other news, here is the fluid that I removed.

if you can read it closely, the water jug is 1 gallon, and the poison is 1.33 gallonss, both full of milky oil, fully mixed, not a suspension. If I had to guess, there was about 3 gallons of oil/coolant in the pan.

thoughts, comments? violent reactions?

[Zed Head]

That's a lot of stuff in the crankcase. I'm no expert but it seems like a lot of fluid for just a head gasket problem. If you really have no other signs of head gasket damage, the timing cover might be worth examining closely. The oil leak might be a sign that the cover is loose or the gasket isn't sealing. I don't know well enough how it seals so can't say how likely it is that you could have a connection between cooling and lubrication systems.

Consider whether or not your head needs work, like a valve job. Maybe the head is worth removing anyway. You have a dilemma.

[EuroDat]

Thats a lot of ahh "fluid" out of the crankcase and its been in a while with the engine running to mix it like that. I agree with Zed Head sounds like you could find more problems than just a heat gasket. I would dismantle the timing cover for sure.

Is a good job you are doing it yourself. Once a garage starts on a job like this is can cost heaps to get it finished.

Goodluck.

Chas