Automotive help needed

[HayZee518]

I don't want to do anything unecessary as I don't have a bundle of cash or patience. I'm 61 and don't need this aggravation to add to my already depressed state. Guess I'll pull the heads and regasket them also.

[mrcaptainbob]

A Dage Neo! How 'bout that!! I just got one for my wife. Had 129K on it. Seemed okay at first, but then started overheating. Turned out to be a bad rad cap gasket! Well, this thing red lined REALLY bad! THought for sure the engine was cooked. A couple weeks later it puked antifreeze from under the hood while on the X-way. The rad top can cracked. We nursed it home by stopping off every so often, letting it cool down, add water. New rad time. Pump and T'stat, too. All is well now. Even though it red lined the gage a few times, it hasn't hurt stuff. From what I've been told, we are DAMN lucky!
Back to Hayzee's issue. Now that you're so far into it...doing the head gasket thing is a good idea. Surfacing the heads? Hard to say. IF possible to do it, then yes. You may not have damaged them. BUt it's better than to put that intake back on and find it's a head gasket. It's better to have them checked now rather than find...yadda-yadda-yadda. Ideally would've been to have pressure checked the system before you invested wrench time. But, it's still not a loss, as you noted, these engines do have a bad reputation. You're just solving issues before they happen. Glad you have a new pump and t-stat to go along with it all. And, at 61, you're still a little young. Us old timers (64) are willing to give you all the help we can...
THis'll be a comfy car when you're finished. It'll be freshened for another 80 to 100K. Keep us posted on your progress, Hayzee.

[HayZee518]

Oh I will play by play. Bob I called your son. Very impressive. He knows what he's talking about. I sent him a few pictures of my in-progress work. I pulled out the gaskets yesterday and looked at them with a big magnifying glass. You can see where the gasket material is squished near the bottom, but not touched at the top where the leaks happened. The gasket material on that plastic/rubber carrier are tubular shaped. If you ever heard of a plasti-gauge, it looks almost the same when compressed. Thing is with a gm car they mixed american and metric bolts together on the engine. The torque values for the engine bolts are in inch-pounds not foot-pounds like we are all used to. Smaller may be worth it, but not on these hot running engines.

[mrcaptainbob]

If nothing else, HayZee, being inch pounds makes it easier to remove! YEah, that gasket may be squished near the botom without much evidence near the top, but it must've been doing something, as it held up for quite a long time! Not too much pressure on the intake gasket anyway. It's negative pressure in the chamber, but positive in the coolant passages. Neither of which is a very high psi. Play by play is the best way to do it. Just keep chippin' away, Hayzee. I did speak with my son tonight for a few. He hasn't received the pics yet, maybe they'll show tomorrow. And yes, he does know his business. A master mechanc on school bus deisels, all the way down to alcohal go-karts. This...from a kid that left MY ratchets in the mud when a kid! Now HIS (giant) Snap-On box has everything organized....
Are you planning to do the head gaskets, too?

[HayZee518]

I'm up in the air whether to do those or not. It was a real finger buster getting all I needed to get out now. I can just imagine how difficult it will be cracking loose the exhaust manifolds off the heads. That and the have heat shields on top of those. As far as the pix go, I sent them to his yahoo mail address as instructed. Maybe he gave me the wrong address

[mrcaptainbob]

What's the status, Hayzee? Meet with success? Did you do the head gaskets?

[HayZee518]

I decided against the head gaskets. The exhaust manifold is covered with heat shields and I rounded off one bolt heads trying to remove the shrouds, so the heck with them. The machine never leaks oil so I'll take a chance. I got a lot of it back together. Those vacuum lines and environmental sensors are a pain. The back rocker cover had to go on before anything else back there can be bolted back. Alternator is back in, lost a bolt for the thermostat pipe - somewhere underneath on a metal shelf. Oh well I'll get all the back stuff put in before I release the engine and push it back where it was.

[mrcaptainbob]

Hi, HayZee.
Is it up and running?

[HayZee518]

I put it back together with the intake gasket and it ran but I had the same problem - so - I tore it down again. I'd still be tearing it down if it weren't for one bracket that I cannot remove. I gave up on the engine. so now its looking for a new set of wheels. I junked the car.

[mrcaptainbob]

Aw, HayZee. Sorry to hear that.