Fixing my head gaskets
Friday, February 16, 2001
- I got on my bike to ride to school in the morning.
There was a puddle under my van.
I felt it and it felt like coolant.
I was pretty sure it must be my head gasket.
- I emailed "the list" to get some information on doing this myself.
- I called the local shop I use (Bugs-N-Bunnies : Salt Lake City, (801)485-2421 )
and talked to them to get more information.
- Here is what I found out:
- Most of the time the heads are repairable (using JB weld)
- I should be able to do it myself.
- The shop time estimate was 10 hours for both heads (billed time)
- A head stud could possibly be corroded and snap off - in this case the engine is junked.
(This was the only real possible problem according to Bugs-N-Bunnies)
- After taking off the heads a valve job should be done (around $150 more)
- The estimate in price by Bugs-N-Bunnies was $800-900 for the head gasket job (including parts and labor),
plus the valve job ($150), plus repairing the heads ($100), for a total of about $1200.
- I downloaded and printed off all the instructions I found on the web (these are a great source of info).
This is more or less the information I got from people on "the list".
- By the evening I decided to take it in and have Bugs-N-Bunnies do it. I don't have time to fix it.
Sunday, February 18, 2001
- I decided to do it myself. Not quite sure why, but I wanted to do it.
- I went and bought some tools/supplies I didn't have:
- 24-inch breaker bar (should have gotten the 18-inch one), this was quite useful
- Rust remover (liquid wrench type stuff)
- 17mm 1/2 inch drive socket
- 1/2 by 3/8 inch adaptors
- 1/4 inch drive extensions
- Nut cracker (I bought one that is too big)
- Still need a torque wrench ($20 at Sears)
Monday, February 19, 2001
- Took off the push rod tube shields to try to see the leak. I couldn't, but I could see coolant pooling
on top of my engine and dripping below. I figured it had to be the head gaskets.
- So, we had to swap my roommates dead van and mine in the drive way
(so I had more room to work in the back of the driveway).
A bit of a pain.
Tuesday, February 20, 2001
- I ordered parts from The BusDepot:
- Gasket kit: $100
- O2 sensor: $30 (figured I'd replace it)
- Tune up kit (plug, distributor, etc): $23
- Short coolant hose: $8
- 5:00-6:30PM:
- Put a sheet of plastic under van so I didn't get the concrete too oily.
- Drained oil
- Put van on jack stands
- Drained my coolant
Thursday, February 22, 2001 (1:30-6PM)
- Removed alternator
- Unbolted intake manifolds from the heads
- Unbolted injectors from intake manifolds
- Labeled EVERYTHING that came off with masking take and where it went.
Especially which cylinders wires and injector and everything went to.
- Took intake pipes off the distributor box in center of engine
- Unbolted air regulator (??) from the head
- Hung the fuel rails (with injectors in them) on boards across the engine compartment using wire.
- Took off the engine shields (I was missing the one on the right side)
- Tried to take off O2 sensor from exhaust, but I discovered that I didn't put antiseize on it (oops!).
So, I just cut the wire and I'll deal with it later.
- Took all the exhaust off. It was easier then I thought it would be.
I hack sawed through one bolt and found that was more difficult then just torqueing on the bolts.
- I wasn't sure what to do about the thermostat -- did I need to take off the water pump?
Did I need to take off the thermostat. I stopped here and emailed "the list"
Saturday, February 24, 2001 (9:30-11:15 and 5:30-6:30PM)
- Took the thermostat off, but not the waterpump.
- Took the valve covers off
- Removed the rocker arms
- Removed the pushrods
(I labeled these so I knew which lifter they belonged to and which way to orient them)
- Started unbolting the right head - the bolts came right off.
I unbolted in the reverse pattern of the torqueing pattern.
- After taking the head nuts off about 1/4 inch,
I tried to push the head off the block, with little success.
- I finally just took the nuts off completely and then the head came off the block (with a bit of pulling)
- But, both cylinders came off with the head -
so, I made sure I didn't pull the head more then 1 inch off the block.
- I banged the head (as suggested somewhere, Haynes manual maybe?), but the cylinders didn't come unstuck.
- I took a break, went to the basketball game, and after the game did an archives search on the list.
It was suggested to pry the cylinders off with an open-end wrench
(here's the link,
I used a 13mm wrench).
I didn't quite understand this advice when reading it.
- I went and tryed prying with an open end wrench and it worked. They cylinders came unstuck.
- I had the right head off!
- I then did the same thing to the left head and it came right off too!
- I looked at the heads and they looked good to me, but I had nothing to base that on.
- I emailed the list for advice on what to do:
should I re-ring the pistons.
I eventually decided that this was a difficult thing to do, so I decided to forget re-ringing.
Monday, February 26, 2001
- I called Bugs-N-Bunnies and asked if he would look at my heads and send them to the machine shop for a
valve job. I will bring them in tomorrow.
- I got my parts from The BusDepot.
The head gasket kit only cost $100 and I got the head gaskets, valve cover gaskets and more.
The coolant pipe was back-ordered.
- I started to worry if I needed to replace any lifters. I wish I had pinpointed which lifters
were making noise before I took the heads off.
- I also wish I had done a compression test to know if I needed to replace the rings.
I think it had ok compression a year ago or so, but not sure what those numbers were.
Tuesday, February 27, 2001
- I took pictures of the heads and the engine compartment.
- Diane drove me and my heads to Bugs-N-Bunnies.
- Mike (Bugs-N-Bunnies) told me that one of the heads was no good.
It had had a spark plug thread rethreaded and it looked shitty and also had a broken stud.
He had a spare head lying around he would sell me for $100.
I thought his used head looked shitty, but he assured me that either the machine shop would
clean it up nicely or would declare it bad (and then I'd have to buy a new head)
- Mike also gave me some advice on putting the green O-rings back on the cylinders
(between the cylinders and the heads):
be very careful.
Put them on with a dab of motor-oil, if they are broken, the cylinders will leak.
- Also, I need to replace the metal gasket rings (not sure if they are gaskets or what)
in the heads that go in the cavity next to the cylinders.
- Mike assured me that there will many extra gaskets in the head gasket kit that I can throw away.
- I looked into getting a new head.
I can get one (with valves) for $360 from Marnal,
and they had a dealer here in town. (Their website said $306, maybe I can talk them down?)
- I finally decided to get the report from the machine shop.
I figure the used head will cost me $100 for the head plus about $75 for the machine shop cost.
This is much less then the $360 for a new head.
- I called my room mate for his advice. He said he would get brand new heads.
Since his van is waiting for a head-job, I thought I could just take off his heads and take them.
I eventually decided that I didn't really want to do this job twice.
I'll wait for the machine shop verict and re-evaluate then.
Tuesday, March 6, 2001
- I got my head back from Bugs-N-Bunnies.
- My reused head was extremely pitted.
- The used head I bought looked pretty good.
- It cost $350 (ouch!) ($100 for the used head, $225 for valve work, $25 tax)
- Mike at Bugs-N-Bunnies told me some stuff about putting everything back together,
I have found him very helpful.
- I put an initial coat of JB weld on my heads:
- I have never used JB weld before, but I found it a lot thicker then I expected
(I expected it to be think like most epoxy I have used, but it is extremely thick)
- I used a toothpick to apply and a razor blade to squeegee
- This took about an hour. I'll probably put another coat on tomorrow and see how it looks.
Wednesday, March 7, 2001
- Put another coat of JB weld on. Took me about 30-45 minutes.
Thursday, March 8, 2001
- Put a final coat of JB weld on. Took me about 30 minutes.
- My heads were quite pitted and I think I finally got the pits filled in nicely.
- I think I will lightly sand my heads, but I'm not sure its necessary.
Using a razor blade as a squeegee kept the surface pretty smooth.
Tuesday, March 20, 2001
- Cleaned off the engine block where the gasket would be sitting (this sucked)
- I cleaned out the old green (now black) O-rings on the cylinders.
A bit of a pain, I used dental pick.
- I put in new green O-rings. I smeared some vasoline on them so they would stay on when I pushed the head on.
- I cleaned (only a bit) my pushrod tubes and restreched them (only a small amount)
- I put in the metal rings into my heads.
- I cleaned the head nuts with a tap and cleaned the head studs with a die.
I think this was a good thing to do.
- I worked only one head at a time. I did the right one first.
- I used permatex orange copper (goop) from Autozone for head sealent. I was told that the VW stuff if junk.
- I smeared some goop in the gasket and slid it on the engine block.
- I smeared some goop in the smooth part of the gasket (where the head will sit)
- I then shoved (gently) the head onto the studs
- I also gooped between the pushrod tubes and the white seals (but not between the engine block and seals)
- I fiddled to get the pushrod tubes in place too (I stretched some of them too much, a bit of a pain)
- I then fiddled with gooping up the studs and torqued down the according to the Bentley manual.
- I did this for the other side too.
- I had some extra time, so I cleaned up my pushrods and started putting them back in.
- One of my pushrods was bent, so I had to buy another ($18 at the FLAPS, would have been $14 at Busdepot)
Friday, March 23, 2001
- I put the exhaust back on, using new stainless steel bolts.
- I put the thermostat back on, but had to take it back off to get something else to fit right.
(this seemed to be a theme -- I put several things on, only to have to take them off later)
- I then stripped the threads on the water pump when I put the thermostat on again. Damn it!
Saturday, March 24, 2001
- I took the waterpump off to find that the threads weren't stripped, but the housing broke.
It was a new water pump (Aug 1999?). I will try to get another on later.
- I bought a new water pump ($70 at FLAPS)
- I put the water pump on.
- I put everything else back together (thermostat, exhaust, push rod shields, alternator, belt, intake
pipes, fuel injectors, etc.)
- I adjusted the lifters. I wasn't too sure how to do this and guessed. I hope it works out fine.
I basically followed the book, but I only turned some of them 1/2 a turn instead of two turns.
I turned the "stiff" ones less then the soft ones.
- I then filled it up with oil.
- I was ready to put in the coolant, but would do this on Sunday.
Sunday, March 25, 2001
- I jacked up the front of the van to start the coolant filling. I have never done this before
so wasn't too sure what to do.
- I decided to put a flush tee in the front to flush out all the old coolant. I know that some people
frown on using these, but I took it out when I was done.
But, the scary part was when I took the coupling out of the coolant line (to put the tee in),
a ton of coolant flowed out near the head.
I wasn't too sure what it was, but it scared me and I thought I might have really messed something up.
It turned out I forgot to reconnect the coolant line to the head when I was putting everything back together.
- So, I flushed the coolant and then put the key in the ignition. I was a bit scared, but it started right up.
- I just followed the book (this time the Haynes manual) and filled it up. I'm not entirely sure if I got
it filled up all the way, but I'll probably burp it later.
- The idle was a bit rough, but it drove better then I remember it before. I'll have to fix up the idle later,
but I am quite happy with everything.
The temperature level stayed "normal", I didn't see any coolant leaking.
There was a small drip of oil on the ground after I drove around 30 minutes,
not sure if I need to worry about this or not. I'm not going to worry about it too much though.
Estimated actual time working on van (not counting most parts trips and research)
| Date |
Time |
| Feb 19 |
1 hour |
| Feb 20 |
1.5 hours |
| Feb 22 |
4.5 hours |
| Feb 24 |
3 hours |
| Mar 6 |
1 hour |
| Mar 7 |
.5 hours |
| Mar 8 |
.5 hours |
| Mar 20 |
5 hours |
| Mar 23 |
3 hours |
| Mar 24 |
7 hours |
| Mar 25 |
3 hours |
| Total |
30 Hours |
Estimated expenses. I probably spend over $100 in tools, but I didn't count them.
I figure that is money well spent and maybe shouldn't be counted in the expense.
| Description |
Cost |
| Head gaskets |
$100 |
| O2 sensor |
$30 |
| Orange sealant |
$5 |
| Water Pump |
$70 |
| Hoses (coolant) |
$10 |
| Tune up stuff |
$30 |
| Valve job |
$250 |
| Used head |
$100 |
| JB Weld |
$3 |
| Push Rod |
$20 |
| Oil |
$10 |
| Antifreeze |
$20 |
| Hardware (nut/bolts) |
$20 |
| Total |
$668 |