Blew the head gasket in the Tbird today

[1998yamahawarrior]

Dont know if it was age or the boost(which was set at a hair above stock), but the head gasket blew with a fury with no warning. Was just rolling into a local town not even beating it and white smoke started bellowing out from underneath the car, well most of it out the exhaust actually. Well pulled over and killed it, popped the hood checked the coolant and it was really low. Dead give away what had happened. Checked the oil and no coolant in there, that made me happy, no bearing damage. Im betting it popped by or between cylinder 2 and 3, the known place that when they blow, they blow there. Got all the parts ordered, just need to get into my thursday-friday classroom and get my ported head and reassemble it.

 

[YAMAHAULER]

That sucks but at least the coolant stayed out of the crank case my 01 cavalier blew the gasket and had the head milled and new gasket put back together and 20,000 miles later all the crank bearings and connecting rod bearings went so just bought a used motor from junk yard with 60,000 miles on it for $400 and threw it in

 

[1998yamahawarrior]

Ya and luckily Ive got a head ready to go that just needs valve seals from the head kit to be reassembled. I just wish it had waited til the end of the week, so I had all weekend to work on it.

 

[1998yamahawarrior]

Finally got the car to a safe place. One of my buddys borrowed a trailer and we took it to his shop. Hes even gonna let me do the work in the shop at no cost!!!!! All my gaskets and new head bolts arrived at the parts store like predicted. So far all is going well as long as I dont find anything else when I start tearing down.

 

[YAMAHAULER]

Fingers crossed good luck man hope it all goes well

 

[1998yamahawarrior]

Well got the head pulled, cutting my finger pretty good in the process:iagree:. It actually blew in #4 only Im actually surprised, but it does look like its had a headgasket in the not to far past. Im wondering what they did wrong to make the weak spot. But heres some pics that will show what I found.

 

[bones]

chances are they didn't deck the head before they put it back together ... i had the same problem with my yota the guy i sold it to (for $1000) blew the head gasket and had some backyard ******* fix it for him for 400 buck (ripped off) and it blew again like 3 weeks later so he put up sale for $500 and i went and bought it back and fixed it right way

 

[1998yamahawarrior]

Well time will tell. Im gonna take the head up to school since Im putting my home ported head on and Ill check how straight it is. Im actually wondering if they didnt reuse the original head bolts. The originals are 12 point and thats what I pulled out. The replacements are 6 point.

 

[1998yamahawarrior]

Well its completely back together, just got to get the timing set correctly. I dont have any finished pics but I do have some progress pics. Had to quit for the night, since my brain was fried from putting it back together. I just couldnt remember what I was doing!!! LOL

 

[YAMAHAULER]

Looking good man:tup: It's always better to get some sleep and finish tomorrow cause you don't want to forget something or do something wrong and then your back at square one.
My younger brother used to dirt track race with a 77 pinto with the 2.3 4 banger he won a lot of races with that car very strong motor and parts are easy to come by

 

[Gen1Pat]

Whats worse is when you pull something apart and are held up for 2-3 weeks due to wrong parts, parts unavailiblity, etc.. And, then after working on how ever many dozens of other cars during that time, you have to put it back together again. That really taxes your brain. Or you get a vehicle with some *******ized design and you have to completely disassymble most everything to replace 1 ****** part! I'm doing that right now on a 2010 6.4 diesel ford. Just having to replace thermostats is on the rediculass side. It's not the worst, but they could have made it better. Atleast I don't have to do the timing belt, water pump, componant kit, and cyl head on a chrystler pt crapper that my dad had to due earlier in the week.

 

[1998yamahawarrior]

Well she's alive agian!!!!! I do still have to play with cam timing a bit, when the boost comes on it just doesnt "go". Done a little research and it points to the cam gear being a hair off. No biggy, atleast its not a timing chain!!! LOL

 

[Gen1Pat]

I'm not familiar with that engine, but if it's timing belt I'm glad you like it. I can't stand timing belts. Much rather have timing chain. Gear drive is cool, too. Just more resistance that I think it is worth.

 

[1998yamahawarrior]

Ya its a timing belt set-up, cant say I truly like that but when these have the timing setup perfect they are a blast!!! Now timing chain wise I dread if I ever have to do one of timing chain setups in the nascar edition Intrepids.

Some day Id like to take a newer 2.3 out of the newer Ranger and biuld it for a turbo. They are DOHC, run with a timing chain!!! But at the moment the motors alone are crazy pricy to buy out of a salvage yard.

 

[Gen1Pat]

Anything chrystler sucks to work on. Can't beat a good ole timing chain. Especially double roller units. They'll outlast the engine itself.