Just another blown Head Gasket (1 Viewer)

What method is easiest for head gasket repair?

  • Pull just the engine

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    31

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Making slow progress

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I got the nuts off the downpipes for the exhaust and removed the front header hardware, but it left a single stud in the block and won't let the header slide out. Hoping to pick up a Torx head removal set today.
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Same issue with the EGR hardware. Got the nuts off, but studs won't allow me to get the large pipe off the fitting.
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Was able to remove the pass side factory heater hoses without damaging the heat control, so minor win there. Finally found a use for the set of standard huge wrenches I bought years ago at Harbor Freight. The largest wrench, 1.25" is a fit for the large nut on the EGR pipe.
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Got all the sensors unplugged from the head itself and the two lower sensors at the oil pan. The front knock sensor is being very stubborn so far and I haven't even located the rear one yet or the two large connectors for the trans harness. Do I need to remove the starter to get to those?

Got 6 of the 8 upper plenum bolts out too, but having a lot of trouble locating the 2 bolts nearest the firewall. Pretty sure I can get the 2nd closest one with a guide from someone up top, but the last one is a mystery.

Parts and tools keep showing up and I will keep pushing along. My best friend today was my 24" 3/8" extension for my sockets. Not sure how I would have gotten at things without it today.

This stuff is my new favorite thing:
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Asking a question here, but will start another thread as well ...

Can I undo the harness from the interior side of the truck and pass it through the gap in the intake manifold instead of disassembling the knock, oil pan, O2 and transmission sensors?

That would save me a lot of hassle working under the truck. I can pull the head straight up with the hoist and thread the harness through if it will fit.

Yes, that’s how I did mine.
 
Ok, so two confirmations that the harness can go down through the lower plenum, not just up. That will be my plan then and I will try to get some pics as I go.

Thanks for the input on that @cme4lyt and @Azca

Grabbed up sockets to remove the studs last night. Fingers crossed that they come out ok today. Ready to move past the basic disassembly and get moving on getting the head off and out for rebuild.
 
I pulled my harness from inside the cab. While I had the intake manifold off I slotted it to allow the harness to slip between horns on the manifold so next time I'm in there I dont have to mess with it. Worked great.
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Looking for some help on a stupid unforeseen issue ... I need to roll the truck back ~20" to position under my hoist. I expected to be able to just cycle the key to the on position and roll it, but it won't come out of park and the main harness has already been unplugged from inside the truck.

Anything I can do here? Not happy about this at all. Looked for wheel jacks and ~$500 ... ugh.
 
Disconnect the drive shafts and push?
 
Yeah ... I was looking for less work ... balls. This really chaps me to have this dumb issue. Never even considered this would be a problem. Do I just need to reconnect the CPU or does it need power from the battery as well?
 
Yeah ... I was looking for less work ... balls. This really chaps me to have this dumb issue. Never even considered this would be a problem. Do I just need to reconnect the CPU or does it need power from the battery as well?
I dont think the CPU can do anything w/o power.
 
Looking for some help on a stupid unforeseen issue ... I need to roll the truck back ~20" to position under my hoist. I expected to be able to just cycle the key to the on position and roll it, but it won't come out of park and the main harness has already been unplugged from inside the truck.

Anything I can do here? Not happy about this at all. Looked for wheel jacks and ~$500 ... ugh.

I had to do the same thing when I did my head gasket. Put the center diff in neutral and roll it.
 
You can get the truck into neutral without it having power. There little black cap on the shifter, pop that off and stick a long screwdriver down to unlock the shifter.

^^^This, shift lock. The squarish cap in front of the shifter, just pop it off with a small screwdriver. Then stick a long screwdriver straight down, then you can move the shifter to neutral. I did this multiple times in my last go round, easy.
 
Thanks guys, that did the trick and saved the day. Was able to hit up @beno and he advised me of the same. Got to take advantage of the Consulting portion of LCPC LLC. More packages in the mail today for beno to replace a few jacked pieces from disassembly ... #6 injector clip, the inner short coolant pipe insert between the head and the block and the dizzy drive gear since I dropped mine and chipped one of the teeth.
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Once I got it in position things went smoothly. Got it hooked up on the hoist.
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And it's out ...
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Looks like #1 was my quitter. Steam cleaned compared to the others.
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#2 & #1 - #2 looks wet because I sprayed them with WD40 to prevent rust. The Bars stop leak that the PO put in the engine has residue and buildup everywhere. I doubt the coolant system in this truck will ever be clean again.
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#4 & #3
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#6 & #5
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Looks like #6 was close to failing as well
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1 - 2 - 3
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4-5-6
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Wow, nice job dude. I just did this job 2 weeks ago, well finished it 2 weeks ago probably took me 2 weeks to do it. Did many similar things. Great pictures, great idea slotting the manifold to fit the harness through. This was the biggest job I have ever done and now I know why everybody always says its not too hard just time consuming. I realized that all the people saying this are people that have finished it. On that end of it now I feel the same way, being in the middle of it and not knowing what the heck I was doing I was saying what are these people talking about. But I got through it and now I feel pretty good about it. Thanks to this rad forum. Nice job, keep the pictures coming.
 
After taking much longer than expected, I finally got what I think is the original PCV fitting out. It had turned into hardened plastic.
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Got the intakes back from cleaning and installed new hoses on the upper intake stuffs:
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22 years of cooked on oil vapor removed:
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Painted the upper since it was still a bit stained on the outside when it came back. Much better now.
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Had some mission creep, but figured I had some time waiting on the head to come back and so much was out of the way that it was a good time to replace the steering pump. Read several threads and watched some YouTube vids.

Out with the old:
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And in with the new:
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Took gear height measurements before and after and tq to spec. Fingers crossed no ticking when it's back up and running. If you ever found yourself purchasing metric wrenches up to size 24mm and wondering if you will ever use them ... the answer is YES. They were clutch for this job and made it MUCH easier, as did these huge channel locks I inherited at work that someone left behind once.

Exhaust manifolds came back from cleaning and showed them some love:
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Hoping to have the head back by the end of the week. Expecting to start cleanup on the head tomorrow.
 
Couple more squirrel items getting knocked out while I'm waiting on the head to come back.

Pulled the hamster wheel and cleaned it off best I could. This truck doesn't move the same volume of air as the other two, so not sure if there is another issue or not? The wheel wasn't all that dirty and I didn't feel any debris in the condenser compartment, but may try to Frigi-Clean that after it's back up and running.
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Decided to knock out the Pin-7 Mod as well as insurance in case I ever break a driveshaft I will be able to limp it home. Never as easy as the write-ups make it seem. Did most of it by feel to get things apart.
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Then:
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Got the connector off the Trans Control Unit and then hit a snag. Slee says cut the black wire with the blue stripe. As I was isolating the wire to cut it, I noticed the black wire with the red stripe is already cut and I don't see a matching end for it on the harness side. Anybody know what that wire is supposed to do?
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Also, I had the #6 injector connector break while removing it. I have the new connector shell on hand now. Can someone advise me how to de-pin the old connector please?
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Oil cooler

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Cleaned up the inside of the cover as well, but no pic of that
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Touched the rear knock sensor and it disintegrated in my hand. Not sure how it was working.
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Also lost the harness connector on the water temp sensor. The wire pulled right out of the connector.
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On the upside ... the head is back and installed in the truck. Tried to start the cams, but was too beat and kept making mistakes. Took everything back off and will try again today.
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Had a slight hiccup that I had installed the fuel rail while the head was on the bench and it didn't want to allow the harness to move past it properly, so I had to remove that before mounting the head. Very much stressed about the connecting the fuel filter lines and then the upper intake bolts and all the proper hoses, but fingers crossed on that.
 

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