Finally took the heads off - major surprise

[5.0_GT_kid]

After a few days of light work, I finally got down to the heads and removed them today. I removed them due to symptoms of a blown head gasket.

Symptoms were:

overheating
coolant changing to a dark, dingy brown
coolant bubbles in overflow tank
large amounts of pressure in cooling system

When I pulled the valve covers and lower intake off, there was the standard chocolate milkshake EVERYWHERE, clearly a sign of a blown HG.

I removed the heads, and much to my surprise the gaskets were intact, they were strangely dirty in the middle parts and didnt appear to be in great cosmetic shape.

When I was removing the heads, i noticed some of the bolts were fairly snug and required a breaker bar, while some were tightened but did not seem to be as tight as i assume head bolts would be. None of the bolts except for 1 had thread locker on them.

Also. there were no dowel pins. Not stuck in the head, block, etc.

What do you guys think? These were not the stock gaskets. Could it be that they were blown and the idiot that owned this car before me replaced them but did a bad job?

Any ideas/suggestions appreciated

 

[Rick 91GT]

it could have also been a intake gasket leaking...

However with no dowels it can be hard to put the heads on perfect, a small mismatch could cause a leak.

Get a set of new locating dowels, any head gasket you like the Fel-Pro PT2, or 1011-2 will work just fine. If they are stock head bolts they are TQ to yeild and should be replaced, I prefer the ARP. Use Permatex on the threads on the lower bolts these enter coolant passages, use the moly lube or oil on the upper bolts and TQ to spec. (which is sounds like the previous owner did not)

Since it blew the headgasket you need to try to flush the motor out to prevent wiping the bearings out depending how bad and long it was leaking. Pour some fresh oil in the motor and prime it, rotating every 90 degrees and drain it, repeat. After you get the car back up and running change the oil...

 

[5.0_GT_kid]

I called clearwater cylinder heads and they told me that due to these being the stock heads and made of iron, they have to completely disassemble them to clean them (magnaflux or whatever its called), check to make sure they are not warped and then rebuild them.

it sounded like standard protocol, until he told me its going to cost $125 per head!

$250 just to have them checked and cleaned, with new seals? that sounds outrageous to me, anyone have any suggestions? I dont have that kind of money. Do i need to have them checked?

 

[f8tlfiveo]

Buy a remaned set of gt40p's on eBay from oddesey.. 370$ shipped to my door with no core charge..

 

[f8tlfiveo]

I'm sorry it's Odessa not oddesey..

 

[mob]

They essentially want to rebuild your heads, which isnt a bad idea but not really worth the money on these heads. I would have them just check to make sure the surface is flat and not warped, and it wouldnt be a bad idea to change the springs and valve stem seals while you have the heads off, which you should be able to do yourself. Trick flow spring kit costs about 115 if I remember correctly.

Technically you dont really need to have them checked, the worst that will happen is you will have the same problem again. Though not very likley, if it were me I would just buy new gaskets and throw them back on, get new bolts, dont use thread locker but rather a thread sealer like rtv on the threads of the bottom bolts, and you can use anti-sieze on the top bolts, and follow the torque sequence and specs from a repair manual.