Old Head Gasket Out.... New One Soon!

[Dante04SRT]

WOW, I can't believe how bad the head gasket looked! I just pulled it off about 10 minutes ago and it there was a full length 1" of material missing from both the 1-2 and 2-3 cylinders, the exact ones that were showing very low compression!

I am really glad to see definitively that the HG was indeed bad. I was really worried about popping the head only to see a seemingly intact head gasket (which I've seen on other motors b4).

Anyway, I'll post a pic later. Thanks for everyone's help! I may just have this boat back in the water next week!

 

[Coors]

Re: Old Head Gasket Out.... New One Soon!

You may want to put some thought into having a machine shop check that head; and the top of your block (they can do it in the boat, you just need to trailer it down to them.

 

[Dante04SRT]

Re: Old Head Gasket Out.... New One Soon!

Absolutely, the next stop for the head is the machine shop. I'll ask them about the block, but it looks pretty good.

The only thing that I was scratching my head at was the #1 cylinder. The piston looked like something had hit it at one point. Near the edge, towards the back of the cylinder, it looked like rust had corroded part of the piston itself (probably when it sat all summer/fall/spring with the previous owner). It wasn't deep, but just something I could feel when cleaning the water out.

The other question I had was with regards to something I found while cleaning up. I have no idea where it came from, but thought I'd ask if its something anyone knows about. Its a small rod, about 7-8" long with splines on one end. Its small, its only about the size of a 16-18 AWG wire. Any ideas what it is? I don't know if it came off the engine or has been sitting in the engine cover. I didn't remove it, and as easy as the job was to remove the head, I doubt I accidentally removed something.

ANYWAY - HERE ARE THE PICS, ---- GRUESOME!

What do ya think?

 

[Coors]

Re: Old Head Gasket Out.... New One Soon!

bad, but to get back to that piston- something got ingested- was it from the carb?
The filter bolt?

 

[Coors]

Re: Old Head Gasket Out.... New One Soon!

And, is your oil looking ok?

 

[Dante04SRT]

Re: Old Head Gasket Out.... New One Soon!

The oil looks milky, but was new as of 2 weekends ago.

 

[Dante04SRT]

Re: Old Head Gasket Out.... New One Soon!

Bump

 

[tommays]

Re: Old Head Gasket Out.... New One Soon!

did you drain the block and manifold before pulling it apart

It looks nasty on top of thsoe pistons


Tommays

 

[Dante04SRT]

Re: Old Head Gasket Out.... New One Soon!

did you drain the blaock and manifold before pulling it apart

It looks nasty on top of thsoe pistons


Tommays

I spaced the draining the block part before I started. Meant to, just didn't think the head would come off in like 1 hour!

I figured there was already water in the oil (so it has to be changed) and the oil was already settled to the pan, so I wasn't worried about any add'l oil in the water jackets.

I did clean the pistons to look at them and they look fine, as normal pistons do, with the exception of the #1 as described above; However it still looks 'ok' and seems to be sealing reasonably well.

 

[Dante04SRT]

Re: Old Head Gasket Out.... New One Soon!

Called around, the machine shop that came most recommended was $81 for disassemble, clean, magnaflux and reassemble and resurface the head.

They wanted another $37 to pressure check the manifold.

Do those prices seem fair? I'm probably going to drop them off tomorrow morning.

 

[Don S]

Re: Old Head Gasket Out.... New One Soon!

I think you have serious problems between #2 and #3 cylinders. Both block and head look really eat out and low. A new gasket will not seal. I would get it checked by a pro, or you are going to spend a lot of money to put that mess back together for nothing.

 

[Limited-Time]

Re: Old Head Gasket Out.... New One Soon!

I think you have serious problems between #2 and #3 cylinders. Both block and head look really eat out and low. A new gasket will not seal. I would get it checked by a pro, or you are going to spend a lot of money to put that mess back together for nothing.

That erosion suggest the engine was run for some time with a blown head gasket. If you place a straight edge across the surface in question and can see light under it you have bigger problems as Don stated. You can use a set of feeler gages along with the straight edge to determine the amount of damage.

 

[Dante04SRT]

Re: Old Head Gasket Out.... New One Soon!

After cleaning the surface, I really don't see any appreciable damage to either the head or block along the 2-3 mating surfaces. It looks really bad in the pic, but there is no physical depression or corrosion that is visible or "feelable".

I will double check tomorrow and talk with the machine shop about getting it checked when I drop off the head & manifold, but I'm pretty sure it just looks worse than it actually is.

Thank you for the suggestions.