rth, head gasket blown, towing, local mechanic or machinist for diy (1 Viewer)

[Devil's Slide Doug]

198, 000 miles and my head gasket blew. Catastrophically failed actually. No Question about when the temperature pegged and started missing and tons of sweet white steam poured out the exhaust. This happened on the way to the Rubicon so at least it happened on the road and not in the middle of the trail. My Cruiser was towed to my in laws in Roseville. I live in Pacifica. I have to get it to either a trusted and reasonable mechanic in Roseville or the Bay Area or to my house in which case I will tackle the job and will need to find a machinist to go over the head. Any one have experience with AAA for towing? Will they tow to my house rather than a shop? weighing my options.

 

[Impreza]

Yes they will tow to a house.

 

[lp2k]

AAA will tow max 50 miles, measure your distance

 

[Rwhat]

AAA will tow max 50 miles, measure your distance

Depends on what AAA coverage you have. I dont have AAA insurance, but bought their 100 mile road side assistance plan and use their DMV services. I heard AAA is getting stricter on people upgrading their plans for longer tows.


Also, hit up Powderpig/Robbie or any of the bay area guys who had their heads done. I cant remember the name of the shop that did the head work.

 

[Devil's Slide Doug]

120 miles to my house so I would need to buy the premier service. just trying to figure out whether I should fork out the cash and send it to mudrak, yotaman or Sevin's shop or fix it myself.

 

[NLXTACY]

Oh man sucks that is happening to someone else. If you have premium AAA then you get 100 miles and I have used every bit of those 100 miles several times over the years. Once with my 60 being towed to Valley Hybrids. Pacifica is West of the SF Airport so I really dont have any suggestion that way. How far are you from Stockton? Georg at Vally would be the way to go. Or Mudrak but then you are just as fare the other way.

Sorry man. At least this gives you the opportunity to upgrade

 

[Schwaz80]

I hear Toy Shop in SF is good. Not sure how many 80s they get but they do work on 60s. Can't go wrong with Valley Hybrids or Mudrak though.

 

[Devil's Slide Doug]

Parts are ordered (thanks beno), dvd is ordered (thanks Doug), have the name of the shop in the Bay Area that Robbie uses. Clark's Machine and Auto Repair. AAA premier is payed for and by this weekend the 48 hour sign-up hold period will have passed and I will get my Cruiser towed 120 miles back to my driveway and start diving in. Crossing my fingers that the head is not warped from the overheat. If so, I will cross that bridge and source one.

 

[timer00]

I have had AAA for years and have used about half or 3/4 of my 100 mile allowance a few times. They do have a new premier thing that gets you 200 miles which is neat.

 

[IdahoDoug]

When you get home, call a few machine shops to find a straight edge. You are looking for a longer one than many shops carry due to the straight 6. Shops that restore old engines will have one due to the straight 8s, V12s, etc and those old engines warped a lot. So see if you can make arrangements to leave a deposit or bring your head in and check it yourself but that's not been the experience. If you're bringing it to a machine shop for a valve job anyhow, they should include a flatness check and a pressure test for cracks in their standard head service. I forget the length, but it's in the "Tips" sheet you're getting with your DVD. It's at the post office so should be quick arrival.

As soon as you can, pull the spark plugs and fire some marine fogging oil in the cylinders after you turn it over a bit to blow any coolant out with the plugs out. You don't want coolant sitting in the cylinder for multiple days on end and the fogging oil will help protect the rings and cylinder walls.

Doug

 

[Devil's Slide Doug]

Thanks for the tips. It has been almost a week with the truck just sitting there with coolant in a cylinder with no real access to it. With some luck she will be home tomorrow and the plugs will be pulled and the engine turned over. Not sure where to find marine fogging oil. Would wd40 work in a pinch followed by compressed air to blast it out?

 

[Devil's Slide Doug]

Got a bit of time with the Cruiser today. I was in a hurry so I just pulled plugs #5 and #6 since the middle plugs were covered by the air tube, etc. Loosened the radiator cap. Cranked over with difficulty and nothing blew out of the cylinders. Pulled the rest of the plugs and #4 was sopping wet. Cranked the engine and lots of water blew out of cylinder #4. Fogged it, cranked it and then fogged it once more. Hopefully, on Monday I will have a chance to start tearing it down.

 

[IdahoDoug]

Be advised you've shoved some coolant past the rings by not pulling all the plugs and later finding you had the plug in the contaminated cylinder. Cylinder fogging oil is available at any auto parts store and probably even auto section of some big box stores. I'd recommend you repeat the fogging once a day on 4 as you don't want the rings to create a rust ring on the cylinder - which they will do if left stopped too long.

DougM

 

[scottryana]

Any warning that it was going?? I am getting ready to take a big 3,000 mile road trip in my LX and I hate hearing stories like this.

 

[Devil's Slide Doug]

No warning. temperature gauge shot up, I smelled coolant and white smoke blew out the back.

 

[Devil's Slide Doug]

Spent the day pulling the head and it is at the machine shop. Inspection of gasket showed major blow-out at cylinder 4. Deformation/slight leak at cylinder 1 and 6. I recognize all the parts in the gasket kit except one gasket #15785-66010. I was not planning on servicing the oil cooler. Would this gasket be used for the pipe that connects to the top of the thermostat housing? I now need to order a few studs and what-not that are a bit buggered. Any silicone options for ALL the firewall heater hoses, some are curved so not sure how to use stock straight hose from a parts store.

 

[IdahoDoug]

Pic or link? That pipe also has 2 O rings in it, I believe, so not sure here.

DougM

 

[robertaleon]

There should be two of those gaskets for inside the oil cooler.

It looks similar to the 1 gasket for the EGR pipe.

I'm all for PM on the oil cooler - mine was very nasty inside with peanut butter like crud from the cooling system. See sig

 

[OGBeno]

15785-66010 is for the following:

 

[robertaleon]

Certainly not saying you're wrong Beno (quite the contrary) but is that gasket doing double-duty; ie Mr. T using the same gasket for the the A/C - Water Piping and Oil Cooler as the parts description has listed? I don't see that part in the grind kit.