mikerophone
New Member
Hello 6ga,
TL;DR - Wondering if it's ok to pull the head to replace the head gasket with both manifolds on... Engine has 198k and is out of the car - would rather not replace gaskets on the manifolds, let alone break more exhaust manifold bolts. More detail below.
Novel Version: My lady overheated our '98 4 cyl (f23A) auto, getting white smoke out the exhaust and there is a bit of milky oil under the valve cover and upon draining the oil and coolant there's definitely some coolant in the oil, she did drive it home once it cooled down and I've pulled it in and out of the driveway several times since then. Did a compression and leak down test and there's low compression and air leaking between cylinders 2 and 3. Hoping it's just the gasket and that the block isn't cracked or head warped.
I picked up a cheap block with head attached and no obvious oil leaks (similar mileage) planned on swapping over my timing belt and water pump and manifolds but didn't notice that 3 of the exhaust manifold gaskets are broken off in the head! PB blaster'd for days/heated with a torch, used a center punch and left handed drill bits starting small and going up almost to the size of the bolt and still snapped an EZ out off in the head trying to get 2 of them out.
So I'm thinking I'll use my existing block and hope that it's not cracked and the head isn't warped. I'll check for warpage and cracks when I get it off, but ideally I'd rather not risk breaking another exhaust bolt so I'd like to get the head off still connected if that's kosher.
Anyone done it and recommend for or against? I am replacing the front and rear crank, balance shaft and oil pump seals, cam seal and the transmission input shaft output shafts seals and probably pull the oil pan and re-seal with UltraFlange and soak the injectors and plenum too...the timing belt/pump and tensioners are only 25k miles old.
Anything else I should do while I'm at it? I know ideally I'd do a full valve job and get the head decked - and I will if the head is warped, just wanted to get some opinions. Hoping to get a couple more years out of it with minimal cost if possible. Gaskets and seals are only ~$150 whereas a head re-work will triple that.
TL;DR - Wondering if it's ok to pull the head to replace the head gasket with both manifolds on... Engine has 198k and is out of the car - would rather not replace gaskets on the manifolds, let alone break more exhaust manifold bolts. More detail below.
Novel Version: My lady overheated our '98 4 cyl (f23A) auto, getting white smoke out the exhaust and there is a bit of milky oil under the valve cover and upon draining the oil and coolant there's definitely some coolant in the oil, she did drive it home once it cooled down and I've pulled it in and out of the driveway several times since then. Did a compression and leak down test and there's low compression and air leaking between cylinders 2 and 3. Hoping it's just the gasket and that the block isn't cracked or head warped.
I picked up a cheap block with head attached and no obvious oil leaks (similar mileage) planned on swapping over my timing belt and water pump and manifolds but didn't notice that 3 of the exhaust manifold gaskets are broken off in the head! PB blaster'd for days/heated with a torch, used a center punch and left handed drill bits starting small and going up almost to the size of the bolt and still snapped an EZ out off in the head trying to get 2 of them out.
So I'm thinking I'll use my existing block and hope that it's not cracked and the head isn't warped. I'll check for warpage and cracks when I get it off, but ideally I'd rather not risk breaking another exhaust bolt so I'd like to get the head off still connected if that's kosher.
Anyone done it and recommend for or against? I am replacing the front and rear crank, balance shaft and oil pump seals, cam seal and the transmission input shaft output shafts seals and probably pull the oil pan and re-seal with UltraFlange and soak the injectors and plenum too...the timing belt/pump and tensioners are only 25k miles old.
Anything else I should do while I'm at it? I know ideally I'd do a full valve job and get the head decked - and I will if the head is warped, just wanted to get some opinions. Hoping to get a couple more years out of it with minimal cost if possible. Gaskets and seals are only ~$150 whereas a head re-work will triple that.
