head gasket job

[homersipes]

a friend of mines 2001 pontiac montana van

popped a head gasket the other day, his wife drove it to the point where it almost stalled on the interstate.  he got a quote of 1200 for the job.  I told him that he could bring it over to my house and we could do it and save himself some money.  I have never worked on one like this before, I did head gaskets on my dads 89 chevy van, so I know it sucks.  There is no cowl inside the van, so maybe have to take the whole front clip off??  And then the heads themselves, probably take them to be planed downalso right? as she got it that hot.  was wondering if anyone has ever worked on one of these before.  thanks in advance.

[TomD]

Worked on a couple thousand or so I think.. It's not necessary to remove the front clip, but you are in for about 12-14 hours of no fun. One cautionary note however, if this machine has been overheated as badly as you suggest; check for cracks that run vertically in the end most cylinders of the back bank. These should be cylinders #1, & 5. The cracks if present are always visible without the need for fancy testing and on the outside wall of the cylinder. Over the years I have seen a half a dozen or so crack in this fashion.

[vorticon]

just run while you still can.

[homersipes]

will have to make sure to check for cracks, whats your opinion on having heads planed? or atleast checked??

[Buzzard7]

If you have a lift just drop the subframe out. Easy to get at the heads that way. Hopefully the heads won't be warped beyond repair.

[smoe]

If it is leaking radiator fluid in the intake, make sure it isn't a upper manifold gasket first. I had a 98 Buick La saber radiator leak and everyone told me it was a head gasket. It turned out the upper manifold was upgraded from aluminum to plastic around that time. Unfortunately the upper manifold supported the weight of the throttle body. The upper manifold gasket near the throttle body was warn flat probably do to vibration and maybe extra heat from the egr port.

[betty]

Ohhh geeze...just got my car out of the shop saturday...thankfully my fiance adam works at a dodge delership and a guy that is their best mechanic does side jobs on the weekend or I would have been in trouble. My intake manifold gasket and valve cover gaskets were leaking. They thought my rear main seal and oil pan gasket was leaking too but it was leaking oil from the top of my motor and dripping down making it look like my rear main and oil pan I could smell it burning on my exhaust when I would go somewhere but nothing on the ground....so when I told them I had NO oil on my garage floor where I park my car they didnt believe me....until the guy that fixed it spoke with me and listened...guess cuz im a girl the other mechanics wouldnt listen...now if my grand prix had a 350 chevy sb in it with a holley carb instead of all that fuel injection stuff I could have done it myself....but no..it has a 3.8 in it and too much stuff for me to tackle. Anyways, this Josh guy says bring it up and he will check it for me. He called it..then told the other guys next time I bring my car in and I say something about it they should listen to me cuz its my car and I drive it everyday so if something isnt right...i would know. Josh only charged me 300.00 labor and I bought the gaskets, oil and antifreeze..gaskets alone...181.00 for upper and lower intake manifold edlebrock gaskets and edlebrock valve cover gaskets. 50.60 for oil and antifreeze! I was gonna run royal purple through it but 11.00 a quart...no thank you. I put some Lucas (15.00)  in it, injector cleaner (5.00) and filled my tank (56.00)..been expensive weekend!!

[rpm]

Just be glad it's not a 6.0 Powerstroke.

[Shuffler]

How much does this position pay.... never been a Head Gasket. If the pay is right I'd like to seal the deal.

Please hurry as the pressure is about to kill me.

[TomD]

will have to make sure to check for cracks, whats your opinion on having heads planed? or atleast checked??

At least have them checked for plane if you don't have a suitable straight edge. Smoe did point out something good though; this could be just an intake manifold gasket leak as that is a very frequent problem with these engines. How was head gasket diagnosis made? With a combustion gasses test? If not, and the diagnosis was made solely by the presence of antifreeze in the engine oil there is a good chance that only the intake manifold gasket needs replaced. The intake gaskets on this engine are plastic with an embedded elastomeric seal. If failed you will see it at the ends of the gasket where the plastic has cracked and given way. It will be self explanatory when you get down to them. Good luck!

[SIK1]

Just be glad it's not a 6.0 Powerstroke.

Iirc the s.o.p. for a head gasket r&r on a  6.0 PS is to remove the cab to gain access to the head bolts. 

[Captain Virgil Hilts]

If it got hot enough to come close to stalling, the heads are certainly warped, and probably cracked. Take them and have them magnafluxed for cracks, if they're not cracked, have them milled (as little as possible to get them within 0.002" of perfectly flat), and at least have new valve stem seals put on, as they'll likely be ruined due to heat. Check the block closely for cracks. Be aware that getting it so hot it nearly quit has probably taken the tension out of the rings, so it will probably use a little oil, and be low on power.

Oh, yeah, take the radiator out and have it checked closely, excessive heat and pressure often crack the tanks.

If you're really going to fix it, you might consider a water pump and a thermostat as well.

That thing is probably not worth spending $250 on, unless it is in pristine condition, with low miles, and they love it. That's a job I would require the entire balance up front for if I were doing it, because it isn't worth what it will cost to fix it.

[Widewing]

That thing is probably not worth spending $250 on, unless it is in pristine condition, with low miles, and they love it. That's a job I would require the entire balance up front for if I were doing it, because it isn't worth what it will cost to fix it.

Let's figure 135k miles, fair condition otherwise. You may get $1500 for it if the engine damage is no more than a head gasket.... Be lucky to get $500 on trade-in as is.

[Rash]

If it got hot the head has cracks.  Some cracks you can see, some you can't.  Those little leaks will drip water into the cylinder over night.  When you try and start it in the morning it won't be able to compress water....bent stuff will let you know it's worse.

[Rash]

You could pull the plugs out every  morning, then crank it over and blow the water out, then re-install the plugs and go.