Head gasket change

[EuroGSTSpyder]

Damn ..no good start for my mods..I was installing my aftermarket alarm on the car and thought I 'd check fluids at the same time..started to look at them and ..found out I had a blown head gaskket.Oil int he water..water in the oil...white/grey smoke from exhaust..This sux! I was gonna race it on Saturday..Now I cant:-((

I have been goin through the chiltons manual for replacement..is ther anyting else I need to think of except mark up all the cables and hoses so I know where to put them back.Any special things that can be good to know before doing this swap?

 

[larryd]

yeah, find a few friends and prepare to have fun .. im in the midst right now.. ofcourse I didnt have to mark my timing belt or anything becuase Im actually replacing that too, if u havent done it yet you may want to consider doing the timing belt while you have it apart

 

[EuroGSTSpyder]

already consider to do that

I have another q though in this area..is there any way that I can get water in my oil if my crankcase ventilaton is totally clogged ..IE cant vent out?
A friend of mine had it on his Beemer and he thought it was the head gasket too.but it turned out his vent was clogged and when he replaced/cleaned it up it worked fine and never got any more water in the oil ever again..without changin the head gasket.....he had all cylinders in perfect compression too.
If the head gasket is gone I should have some leak in a compression test right?How much should each cylinder be at ?

 

[larryd]

yes if you have a blown head gasket then you should be able to see it via a compression test, though im not sure waht the compression is supposed to be in each chamber

 

[EuroGSTSpyder]

Will make a test before I tear the engine down then..*S* I know for a fact my ven t was clogged up though..checked that out today so...

 

[larryd]

i think i read somewhere its supposed to be 185 in each chamber, still not positive though

 

[AWDkitkat]

I would suggest having a shop do it. it doest sound like you really know your way around a shop and if not this could turn into a more expensive project than you thought. i.e. bent valves or worse.
Not trying to discurage you but if thats your daily then you might be down for awhile.

 

[EuroGSTSpyder]

dont worry...the guy whos helpin me out is a proffessional mechanic at a NISSAN shop...and I am just checkin to see if there is any specail tips or trix that might come in handy when doing this...but thanx for puting up a warning

 

[Silent2g]

either a BHG or something worse then that.

its not as hard as it seems, take your time and do it right the first time.

remember to PULL the timing belt, before you pull it, set all 6 of the timing marks and mark where the belt is on the top with a paint pen,
this saves so much time when putting it back together

 

[dsmtrance]

I'm in the process of doing this too. I have been pushing coolant under boost for like 8 months and am finally getting around to changing the HG (been saving for cams and some other fun stuff). My compression has not changed one bit since the day I noticed it was pushing (has been 190 -194psi across religiously). I'm thinking pinhole leak. Oh well, it still needs to be changed. Anyways, I have "helped" out on a couple of these (head changes) before and I have seen a few different things. I already have ALL the electrical connections off, water lines, DP, batt. out, rad. pulled, oil/coolant drained, etc. Basically, all that's left is to remove the motor mount bolts, jack up the motor and pull the timing cover off. But here's what I was going to do (was told this was one way to do it)...after I pull the cover I'm just going to cut the timing belt and then pull the head w/ the intake manny and exhaust manny/turbo attached. Then, once I get the head back from the shop, I'll set TDC and all that when I put it back together. Sound right? I'm just making sure here. I'm doing this on my own unfortunately and this is my first solo attempt. And I can't afford to screw it up! Thanks.

P.S. Any DSM guru's in the Savannah, GA area wanna help me out when I put this back togehter let me know!!! (I'll buy the beer (lots of it) and food. L8R.

 

[Silent2g]

don't cut the belt
it would severely suck if there was enough tension on there to spin the cams and bend a valve. its not hard to pull off with the covers off the car, just remember to get the tensionor tool or make one