Fresh head gasket - OK to tow right away?? (1 Viewer)

[IdahoDoug]

Anyone know if it's OK to tow right after a headgasket replacement? I don't know if it needs to 'set' or if a few thermal cycles are a good idea before placing the engine under the stress of towing??

I'm planning to tow the boat tomorrow (Sat) and just finished this yesterday.

Thanks

DougM

 

[e9999]

no idea if it's OK or not to tow right away, no solid evidence that I know.
However, if it were mine, and I just spent 2 days doing the thing, I'd sure take it easy (no towing) for a while and maybe go back and retighten everything in a while, after things settle a bit, just to be sure....

 

[landtank]

Do the temp guage mod that RavenTai has come up with and have at it.

 

[flintknapper]

Go for it.

Its a gasket. It doesn't require a break in period like piston rings or diff. gears.

In fact, its in the best shape its ever going to be in right now. As long as you torqued the head properly...there should be no problem.

Re-torque the head bolts after 500 miles if it makes you feel better...(I would just cause I'm anal), but the factory never required it.

New Head gasket, flat mating surfaces, proper torque figures/sequence= Good to go!

 

[powderpig]

I would not hesitate to tow after this job at all Doug. As flint say it is just a gasket. If you had any problems with the work it should of showen up already. Have fun, enjoy the new security of have the job done. later robbie

 

[cruiserdan]

Re-torque the head bolts after 500 miles if it makes you feel better...(I would just cause I'm anal), but the factory never required it.

These are plastic region bolts that are stretched in order to clamp. They have a limited number of re-uses and should be measured before re-use. In addition the cams would have to come back out, not what I would want to do again so soon.


D-

 

[flintknapper]

These are plastic region bolts that are stretched in order to clamp. They have a limited number of re-uses and should be measured before re-use. In addition the cams would have to come back out, not what I would want to do again so soon.


D-

I was not aware the cams had to be removed, so I learned something here today. The slight amount of preload lost to embedding probably wouldn't be worth the effort anyway.

Thanks for the correction.

 

[IdahoDoug]

Thanks guys! That 1HZ will be moving 11,850lbs around town tomorrow morning. Ironically, part of that dead weight is a 350hp V8. Someone needs to figure out the whole "quick disconnect engine you can move from the boat to the tow vehicle and back" thing, eh?

DougM

 

[ginericLC]

Doug,

You swapped a 1HZ head onto your 1FZ to make it diesel You might have all sorts of problems now. It won't just be towing. I'm guessing you mistyped?