My head gasket pictures

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mason

mason

Joined
Jul 2, 2005
Threads
54
Messages
298
Location
New Mexico
Here's my head gasket adventure. Some of you know I've been chasing this problem, and thanks to some good advice, I concluded it was the HG. Course, that was after putting in a new '94 radiator and blue hub fan clutch. I just hope it wasn't too late.

-Eddie
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My garage

This is my little work area. As some of you will have noticed, I left the hood on. It was a pain in the ass, but provided a little shade.

The girl is my oldest daughter. Turns 16 on Monday, and she's been doing her provisional driving on the Cruiser. Wish I could have learned to drive on a TLC!

My other daughter (14) was the one who was fetching tools and laying out all the bolts and other parts. She's babysitting, so I'll introduce her to you all later.

Again, thanks to you all who helped. Took about 6 hours total to get it torn down. 2 last night, and 4 today. I'm planning on taking a little more time getting it bolted back up next week.

-Eddie
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Nasty!

What were your symptoms?
 
Classic fire-ring failure. Please send me that gasket.
 
Nator,

Had been loosing coolant for a while, and figured it was the leaking radiator. May have been, but maybe not. Got a new radiator, and at first thought it was taking a little longer to clear air out than normal, then noticed the coolant loss gradually getting worse. Got a #6 misfire code, and did the bubble test. Ordered the parts. Never overheated, never blew out the exhaust that I could tell.

Beno,

The head came out without taking that apart, but I'm going to take it apart anyway to clean the whole assembly. I was moving at a good pace, and everything was breaking down without any problems--almost. The ECT sensor didn't unplug, it came apart. Gonna have to order a new one on Monday. I did take the fan, shroud and air filter box out which gave me enough room to sit and stand in there.

Dan,

I'll ship it to you next week.

-Eddie
 
That doesn't look that bad. A little Sea Foam and you would have been fine.

-Spike :D
 
By the looks of the gasket, it appears that 1/4-1/2" of the gasket was protruding from the head. Did you happen to notice this beforehand?

With that much gasket protruding, the gasket had to have been deformed and I'm surprised it lasted as it did.
 
CJF said:
Suntory time!
Click to expand...

One of my favorite movies! Hey, thanks for helping to find the problem.

cpg said:
wow not even near being round.
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mkfour said:
By the looks of the gasket, it appears that 1/4-1/2" of the gasket was protruding from the head. Did you happen to notice this beforehand?

With that much gasket protruding, the gasket had to have been deformed and I'm surprised it lasted as it did.
Click to expand...

The head bolts were all tight, so I really have no clue how that happened, or maybe even how long ago.


-Spike- said:
That doesn't look that bad. A little Sea Foam and you would have been fine.

-Spike :D
Click to expand...

Should have tried that first! And thank you also for your help. Onur even offered to come down and help. Would have taken him up if he wasn't across the state.

Next time I begin to notice air in the radiator, I'll do some more investigating!

-Eddie
 
Last edited:
trevdawg said:
How did you manage to take the head off without taking the air intake manifold off?
Click to expand...

I unbolted the EGR from the intake manifold, disconnected the PHH metal tube from the manifold, then unbolted the main wiring harness from the firewall, then just twisted the head clockwise out off the block so the EGR and PHH tube would come right out beneath the wiring harness. It was heavy, but I did it by myself and with the hood on.

Just as an update, after I got the head and combustion chambers all cleaned, took it to the machinist and he said it was perfectly level. Said it was good to go back in without any milling.

Got the head installed back in it this afternoon, and was really worried about the amount of torque I had to put on those bolts. The 29 lbs was no big deal, it was the two 90 degree extra runs that made me think I was gonna bust something.

The rest will have to wait till tomorrow.

BTW, how do these trucks run without the ECT sensor? Mine crumbled apart, and I probably won't get a new one till Tuesday or Wednesday.

-Eddie
 
damn man, you make it seem so easy! inspiring you did it all like that w/ hood and intake on. nice work, hope you get it fired up tomorrow! :cheers:
 
I'm really glad the hood was left on. It was raining all day today, so I was able to sit under it and still get the block cleaned off.

I'm almost afraid to ask this question, but I probably should now rather than later. The gasket went on dry, so I assume it should stay dry. But, instead of coating the head bolts with a light coat of oil, I dipped them in oil and inserted them in.

Now here's the part I probably shouldn't have done. Before I screwed them in, I poured a little oil around each head. Then after they were all torqued down, a light coat of oil had seeped from between the gasket and onto the block. Is this gonna screw up the gasket adherence?

-Eddie
 
The oil should burn off, allowing the gasket to seal properly... Though luckily you were able to tighten the bolts down without hydrolocking them in the blind holes? Heard something about that happening sometime back and causing a crack or two. On most of my builds I prefer to use Studs, that way it handles all the torque and wear, not to mention easily replaceable than the threads in the block, overkill I know... On the TLC is it possible to remove/install the head in the vehicle if it was equipped with studs instead of bolts?

My truck has 116k miles, would you recommend a HG job based solely on PM and your time/place of convenience or keep driving it until it does blow and becomes an inconvenience and possibly a more costly job?
 
Sc0- said:
My truck has 116k miles, would you recommend a HG job based solely on PM and your time/place of convenience or keep driving it until it does blow and becomes an inconvenience and possibly a more costly job?
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I'm approaching 100K and plan on doing it as a pm prior to failure.

I'd rather not be halfway to Cruise Moab and have it fail.

If it was just my DD and I wasn't going long distance, I'd probably procrastinate.

Also, Great job mason!
 
Sc0- said:
Though luckily you were able to tighten the bolts down without hydrolocking them in the blind holes? Heard something about that happening sometime back and causing a crack or two.
Click to expand...

I'm not so sure I didn't do that now. See here: https://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=167701


Sc0- said:
My truck has 116k miles, would you recommend a HG job based solely on PM and your time/place of convenience or keep driving it until it does blow and becomes an inconvenience and possibly a more costly job?
Click to expand...

After going through this, if all had gone right, I would have been out of service for about three days. Would have saved some money to spend at Slee's next month, and felt pretty good. Mine was a need to. Not a PM.

But, like someone else said, I really do think they're actively failing (HGs), and it's just a matter of time.

Yeah, I'd do it as PM, but this time, I'd have the DVD ready (still don't have it), and I'd take the radiator out like Beno suggested, and have a good, well lit carport or garage so I could take the hood off. It rained almost all day yesterday, and I had to have the hood on so I could work.

I must have crawled in and out of the compartment a million times to get other tools and picked up dropped ones.

I'd rather to 50 PHHs than another one of these.

-Eddie
 
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