Blown Head Gasket, or Worse?

[PHAEDRUS]

-B-
Mine just refers to my truck as "thing" as in what the hell are you doing to that thing now!
Dave

 

[Scamper]

Ah, well my "big stinky" is back in the garage (ours too is under the bedroom B--we must have the same home design, though I've not yet had to plan a BBQ). They got me for $1037 in parts and $2400 in labor. Ouch! (oh, plus tax too... ). Tribute to CDan's dog  :G Guess I should be smiling since I didn't see any $125 gaskets! Just a $351 gasket kit (04111-66035)!

CDan--I don't see any of the part numbers you mention on the bill. With my luck recently, that probably means they went to K-Mart for the parts :dunno:

B--they have a notation on the bill that the head was milled. I asked them for the specs, but they said they'd have to check with the shop to see, since they didn't do the work themselves. In any case, it's milled and it's installed, for better or for worse.

At any rate, it's back in business and runs fine. Now it's time to start thinking about flashing lights and beepers, sharks with laser beams on their heads and the like to warn me of impending major expense. I saw an article on George's site re a pyrometer for exhaust gas temps...I'd want one with a loud buzzer too...and maybe a tickler--may as well enjoy it if you're going down in flames!  

Right now, it's time for something refreshing...perhaps with a widget.  

Cheers,

Tom

 

[cruiserdan]

Tom,

 That's an overhaul set. They too have the valve seals in them. I appreciate the thought but you did not feed MY dog, some other dirtbag got it. :tear:

 Glad to hear you are back on the road. I would be curious to know what they would say if you mentioned that the book says don't cut the head, so why did they?

     Regards, Dan

 

[Scamper]

Hi Dan,

Sorry your dog's goin' hungry tonight..maybe next time?

I haven't yet talked to them about shaving the head--I know they did it ('cause they said they did), but I don't yet know how much they shaved off. They told me that they'd ask at the machine shop where the work was done. I don't know if they keep that sort of record or not though...

I did look in the BGB, and it didn't say 'not' to shave the head, it just said that if the warpage was greater than the numbers you quoted, that it should be replaced. What I did find odd was that on my bill, there was a hand-written note that the head was milled to +/- 0.005. I assume this is inches and what I thought strange was that the BGB notes that the maximum warpage was 0.15mm or 0.0059 inches. If so, then what good does milling to within .005 inches get you? Make me wonder if it was indeed warped more than that (that's probably what you were suggesting).

By the way, they also noted that the gasket was blown out at #6--maybe that means something to someone.

Tom

 

[semlin]

apparently #6 is where they usually blow. I wouldn't know (furiously touching wood)

 

[Beowulf]

Tom,

>> By the way, they also noted that the gasket <<
>> was blown out at #6--maybe that means <<
>> something to someone. <<

Yes. The #6 has been reported as the achilles heel on the 1FZ-FE head gaskets.
-B-

 

[Jim_Chow]

I thought this link about machining heads was interesting....
http://www.supras.com/~riemer/HKS/hksgaskets.html
Could this be why once an engine blows a head gasket, it seems to have a greater tendency to blow another one in the future?