headgasket went to crap need tips

[rudy q]

i am going to replace both my head gasksets any tips that might make it less time or easier got water in the oil :mad: so got to take care of that too it a 3.4 camaro 94 do 3.4 head warp easy should i get them check

[BLLDOGG]

its always a good idea to have them checked but if its out of your budget, as long as you never overheated, you might be fine if it really was just the gaskets.

[rudy q]

i did over heat a coulpe of time but i herd that cast iron take a lot to warp

[fenderman]

All I can say is have a machine shop check and resurface the heads if necessary. That is the proper way to replace a head gasket plain and simple. Just because there are cases in which head gaskets were replaced without resurfacing doesn't mean you will be fine to do the same. When doing something like this always take the extra precaution to make sure that the surfaces are the best they can be.

You say that you heard cast iron takes a lot to warp. In comparison to what? How do you measure "a lot"? Your car generated enough pressure to break the seal on the head gasket. Even if it was a simple tear through from one passage to the next there was enough pressure there to rip the gasket out from between the head and block surfaces. That to me seems like a lot. If the head gasket is gone in one place there is not as much force being put on that area as there is on the rest of the head. Imperfections are possible under these conditions combined with heat fluctuation and pressure.

Until you have the head surface checked you will not be able to tell whether it is ok or not. There is no guide book for how long and how hot you can run a blown head gasket with no adverse effect on the head. I've seen it happen under all kinds of conditions and seen it not happen under the same conditions on other cars of the same make and model. That's just the nature of car mechanics unfortunately.

I'd imagine if you were upset about getting water in your oil you'd be even more upset if it happened again after doing the work. I'd hate to see you tear the car apart, get everything cleaned out and put back together only to find that you have to do it again. Doing the job only half right to save time and money based on assumptions will only leave you open to spending twice as much to do it again properly. You sound like you want to do this right, so make sure your gasket is going to have the best seal possible.

[rudy q]

how much will it cost get the heads check ......In comparison to what? alluminiun

[nda0602v6]

I would seriously take into consideration what 'fenderman' said about having the heads checked first. I replaced a headgasket on a little 4-banger in a plymouth acclaim for a guy who told me it didn't over heat and told me to just slap another headgasket on. About 3 months later it blew again and this time it shattered two pistons and the broken piston pieces destroyed the head. I don't know about 6-cyl heads but for one 4-cyl head I was quoted around ~$30 bucks to have the head checked to see if it was warped and another ~$30 if it needed machined. The guy may have saved 60 bucks but he destroyed his engine in the long run. Good luck man, let us know how it goes.

[rudy q]

it's going to be 25$ a head and this guy dose nice work.... i soon as they come off the motor i am going to drop them off.... took off the upper intake damn fuel rail was bich to work with but i won in the end no broken stuff(plastic crap) yet so i am on the right track

[marvelrunner]

I just got done like a couple of weeks ago changing the headgaskets on my 3.8l 96 Camaro. All I can tell you is good luck, I had a hell of a time on my car.

[pontiac nino]

Originally posted by rudy q:
it's going to be 25$ a head and this guy dose nice work.... i soon as they come off the motor i am going to drop them off.... took off the upper intake damn fuel rail was bich to work with but i won in the end no broken stuff(plastic crap) yet so i am on the right track

lol you need a fuel release line tool to remove them or else you might break one or two lines like me.
Good luck

[fenderman]

I should have mentioned this before but now is as good a time as any. You are going to want to install the heads correctly. I hope my advice is not too late.

First of all, see if you can get ahold of a thread tap that matches the threads on the cylinder head bolts. Your heads will require even torque and dirty threads will give you improper torque readings. Make sure that the threads on the bolts are also clean and free of old sealant and other debris. Also just as precaution check all the passages in the head and block and make sure they are clean as well.

Secondly make sure that the head gaskets are installed with the correct side facing up. Some gaskets even come with a "This side up" marking on them to ensure that no passages get blocked off accidentally.

When you get ready to install the heads, apply sealant to the threads and the undersides of the bolt heads and tighten in sequence. For a 3.4 Camaro engine you will want to torque all the bolts in sequence to 41 ft. lbs. After you get all the bolts tightened down you will go back over them and torque them an extra 1/4 turn again in sequence. Proper tightening sequence is this (hopefully I can explain it clearly):

Take the center two bolts at the top and the center two bolts at the bottom and form a square. Start off at the bottom left corner bolt and work your way clockwise. The remaining 4 bolts will form a rectangle. You will tighten these 4 the same way- start at the bottom left corner and work your way clockwise. This must be done both during the initial and final torquing. A rough diagram is:

0 <-6____ 0 <-2____ 0 <-3____ 0 <-7

0 <-5____ 0 <-1____ 0 <-4____ 0 <-8

[98Silver6]

would a shop charge me an arm and a leg to change headgasket cause i just found that my driver side one is leaking? :mad:

[HBHRacing]

always always always send heads out to be checked. at the LEAST have them resurcfaced and cleaned. A good idea would be to have the valve seals replaced. Wile they are in there they can easily spot a problem like a bad valve seat.

[rudy q]

fenderman thanks for the info but never start any thing without this

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...badlt1/me1.jpg

[BLLDOGG]

Originally posted by 98Silver6:
would a shop charge me an arm and a leg to change headgasket cause i just found that my driver side one is leaking? :mad:

yes, yes they would. sorry

[BLLDOGG]

fenderman gave you some really good tips that might not be in the manual. as for those line disconnect tools, at sears, they are like 10 bucks a kit. good luck buddy. i never realized its so cheap to have the head check or the mention of a budget wouldnt have been mentioned.