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It was bound to happen: head gasket time

ccarley

ccarley

1/2 ton status
Joined
Aug 29, 2010
Posts
543
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Location
Rohnert Park, CA
I was getting on the freeway to get my daughter this evening... and I get a whiff of coolant, look in the mirror, and see white smoke coming out of my tailpipe. I pull over, and it's running bad and smoking worse.

It was bound to happen someday, right? 180,000 miles, and I know that it probably wasn't treated well in it's past. I've been good to it at least... oh yeah, the heater core is leaking for sure now as well.

Looks like I've got my hands full this weekend!
 
Darn it, my wife is pretty opposed to the idea. She says I need a "newer" truck!

But heck, if I do this work myself, I'm looking at a $50 gasket kit, and a $16 head bolt kit, plus fluids. Oh yeah, the heater core is like $30 or so. Of course, last month I spent about a car payment on it... and it just keeps adding up. I think I need a power steering pump as well.

I still think it's worth keeping :)
 
Looks like it could be a fun truck. How bad is rust or body damage on your current truck? From cali im gessing rust isnt much of an issue. Head gasket isn't the end of the world. That 78 is getting up there in years too. So anything can happen with that as well. 2 grand isn't too bad for it to be another fun truck to play with. Lol on the wife comment fordum.
 
The current vehicle is in great shape otherwise; minor rust spots on the body, and the interior is nice. Body is pretty straight too.

I didn't get as far as I wanted to today, but I got as far as I thought I would. Long lunch, people stopping by... There is a rust on the exhaust manifold bolts. I don't want to wreck them. And oh yeah, I need a power steering pulley puller; that whole alternator bracket just won't come off without removing the pump, which looks like that will require removing the pulley.

My buddy suggested that he take the heads to his buddy at a local machine shop. Sounds like a good idea; I won't stress as much about getting it together this weekend if I don't have the heads. And, what if I put it all back together to find something else wrong with the heads? Better to send them in to be inspected!
 
Yep, you will not get that bracket off without taking the pulley off. I think you can get a puller at a lot of the chain parts houses for a small deposit.

Its just a split sleeve that slides over the nose of the pulley, with a screw that pushes on the shaft.
Then, to put it back on, you just use a bolt with a nut and washer,
 
ccarley said:
The current vehicle is in great shape otherwise; minor rust spots on the body, and the interior is nice. Body is pretty straight too.

I didn't get as far as I wanted to today, but I got as far as I thought I would. Long lunch, people stopping by... There is a rust on the exhaust manifold bolts. I don't want to wreck them. And oh yeah, I need a power steering pulley puller; that whole alternator bracket just won't come off without removing the pump, which looks like that will require removing the pulley.

My buddy suggested that he take the heads to his buddy at a local machine shop. Sounds like a good idea; I won't stress as much about getting it together this weekend if I don't have the heads. And, what if I put it all back together to find something else wrong with the heads? Better to send them in to be inspected!
Click to expand...

I was going to suggest the same thing. I lay odds that your heater core has been leaking for a bit and the cooling system became low on coolant then the engine overheated and either blew a head gasket or even worse (and real probable) cracked a head. With 180K on the engine I would have the heads rebuilt assuming they aren't cracked then you will get the remaining life out of the engine without having to worry about the heads needing any further work down the road.
 
I'd rebuild the engine... cheaper than a whole other truck, with someone else's untold, admitted problems you'll have to fix later. Fix what you have, you know your truck and what it needs. The main reason I had my transmission and engine rebuilt. I know MY truck. :D
 
4X4HIGH said:
I was going to suggest the same thing. I lay odds that your heater core has been leaking for a bit and the cooling system became low on coolant then the engine overheated and either blew a head gasket or even worse (and real probable) cracked a head. With 180K on the engine I would have the heads rebuilt assuming they aren't cracked then you will get the remaining life out of the engine without having to worry about the heads needing any further work down the road.
Click to expand...


Who knows about the previous owner, but I always keep an eye on my temp :) (as well as the other gauges) I'm sure the PO was very hard on the truck, actually. I read the info that came with the new heater core, and I have a feeling the electrical issue I had (bad frame ground) may have helped the heater core die. When the head gasket popped, the engine temp (as told by the dash gauge) was probably 190 to 200.

My buddy was saying how much it sucked to do this work without adding performance enhancers to the engine, especially while this deep in. My feeling is that dependability is key with this truck; I don't want to be out in the middle of nowhere, and have a problem like this!

Hopefully today I won't bust any bolts getting the exhaust off :waytogo:
 
Heads went to the machine shop yesterday (Monday). They are both warped by .006" and need a valve job. Price isn't bad thankfully :)

IMG_20131103_155148_429.sized.jpg


So it looks like to get everything back in place, I'm really going to need to move the exhaust manifolds out of the way. They were definitely IN the way when pulling the head bolts; I ended up using a wrench on 3 or 4 of the lower bolts on each side.

IMG_20131103_154638_479.sized.jpg


IMG_20131103_154645_890.sized.jpg


Also interesting; the pistons seem to be coated? The tops are black, and really a lot cleaner than I expected.

Next big question. Since it's apart, should I get the Edelbrock intake? Will it be worthwhile in the long run, mileage wise? It looks to have longer runners than the stock intake, which should help promote torque.
 
I hope your engine pans out in the end..I've done more than one valve job,only to have it start burning oil and smoke like crazy,after it was all back together..sometimes you get lucky and all turns out well,but often the other parts like the rings suffered while it was running with low compression,and have as many miles as the rest of the engine does,so they need to be replaced too..

When the valves were leaky,the compression was lower ,and the rings didn't have to be perfect to prevent excess blowby..tighten up the top end,and often they'll start pumping oil..you'll know within the first hour you drive it if it should have been re-ringed and honed too,or if the valve job alone was all it needed..
 
Oh man, well I sure hope it works out too. That would suck to "fix" it only to create more problems.

The machine shop said I could have left the valves alone, but they were at the low end of being OK.

In other news, I did a bunch of searching, and nowhere is there any data to support the Edelbrock TBI intake working better than the stock intake, which (without seeing one in person) seems a little puzzling to me but hey, that's fine!

Clay
 
Got the heads back yesterday, and have been taking my time (being detailed) about making sure it's going together properly. The last thing I need is for some stupid mistake that won't allow me to pass smog next year!

Interesting info on the heads (stupid PO work): some of the valve seals were correct, and some were incorrect. Also some Nissan valve seals were used. Some of the valve springs were also incorrect and according to my guy, would probably not have done well past 1500 - 2000 rpm. So, now the heads are completely gone through and legit... my buddy says I should notice a big improvement already.

Cleaned the block surface, degreased & painted the heads "GM satin black" and cleaned all gasket surfaces. Also sprayed the intake, and valve covers. Those are in "great" shape as well; you can clearly see where a screwdriver was used to pry on them (?). My wife suggested I get a new set, but I think the stockers might be harder to find than the chrome set (which are on the shelf of about every parts store around).

The Fel-Pro gasket set says that adhesive is needed for "metal faced" gaskets; these look like they are, so I did spray the block with the copper gasket stuff. Heads are in place now (yay!) but need to be torqued; I need to drop the exhaust to get a socket on those lower head bolts still.

Also, I'm going to rebuild the TBI unit; looks like the regulator was indeed leaking. It's getting the pod spacer installed while this is happening, but no adjustable regulator, yet at least. I'm spending too much money as it is to get it running... good thing I'm doing it myself (I think)!

Might get some photos up later today.
 
I've done this myself a couple times. Did you check the block for warpage or just the heads? If the heads were warped the block could be as well. Hopefully you are ok there. You are supposed to use high tac sealant on the head gasket to help it seal correct. Can't believe it ran if it had incorrect springs on it. Seems like it would let a lot of compression out. With it correct should have a ton more power. Did you use a thicker gasket to seal the heads as they have been shaved? You will have higher compression if using a stock gasket. Just a few things to remember. Tbi should compensate but you may have to run high test to run the engine with no pinging.
 
My buddy helped me check the block, which was good. I have a feeling the heads have been warped for a long time, probably since before the PO "fixed" them. I did discuss the compression issue with the machine shop as well as intake mounting since they were shaving the heads; but they were taking so little off that they said it wasn't worth worrying about. I was absolutely shocked when my buddy told me about the springs... mostly because I thought it ran pretty well! But I don't usually run it at high revs.

Before adjusting the valves:
IMG_20131110_140655_630.sized.jpg


At the end of today's work:
IMG_20131110_151900_578.sized.jpg


Those new head bolts look cool, LOL. Looks like it should be finished up next weekend.
 
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