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I don't want to double post, but I searched and didn't find anything. Does anyone have detailed instructions on replacing head gaskets on a 1990. I'm debating on whether to do this my self or not.

spoore wrote:I don't want to double post, but I searched and didn't find anything. Does anyone have detailed instructions on replacing head gaskets on a 1990. I'm debating on whether to do this my self or not.

Do you have the FSMs? Is this a turbo motor or NA? If your not pulling the motor I would rethink. If you pull the motor you can replace all the seals as well, plus the head gasket is a breeze with the motor out.

What of FSM's and it is a non turbo

spoore wrote:What of FSM's and it is a non turbo

factory service manuals

I have a haynes manual and that is all I have

Yes, if you do it, pull the engine and do the rear cam and crank seals at the same time. Some people say they can do them with the engine in, but on my kitchen engine I had to use an impact wrench to get the head bolts off (all a 3-foot breaker did was lift the whole engine and stand). There's no way I could get an impact wrench in there with the engine in.

Steve

Leave the engine in the car..... Take it out if you wish....

The hayne's manual does a decent job of explaining it, and the FSM is good. Just follow the loosening and torquing sequences and make sure you torque them right. And clean up the head and block gasket mating surfaces until they shine like new! Sure it will be easier with the engine out of the car, but it can be done in the car too. Mine is still running over a year and 17,000 miles later...

Andrew

IMO unless you've got a hoist and a bunch of extra time, removing the engine is a waste. Steve, I believe the reason a breaker bar didn't work for your kitchengine (like that? ) is the stand isn't really stable enough to take the torque. I mean think about it, when the engine is still in the car, it's mounted to the crossmember, which is mounted to the subframe. It's also mounted to the transmission which is mounted to the subframe and the driveshaft to the rear diff to the subframe, and though the pitching stopper up top. Basically, if you can move the engine with all that shit attached, you don't need a breaker bar

I mostly followed the haynes manual spoore, so you can take pride in knowing that's at least two people that did it that way (andrew you used the haynes right?) Basically you've got like four things you need to take care of before you can remove the heads. You've gotta get the intake off, the exhaust off, the coolant drained, and the timing belt off. Follow the sections for those in the haynes and you should be alright.

Ah well, I'll try and be more detailed

Remove the big 3" air intake tube, also the air filter housing, and disconnect the maf cable.
Disconnect all pcv hoses (attached to the air tube)
Disconnect the IAC valve hose (also attached to the air tube)
Disconnect the brake booster hose
Remove the sparkplug wires and sparkplugs and all mounting pieces
Disconnect all electrical connectors (iac, tps, o2, coil pack, crank, cam, cpv, injectors, i think that's all there might be more though)
Remove the alt/ps and ac belts, loosen the lock bolt and then loosen the adjusting bolt
Remove the alt
Unbolt the PS pump, there's three bolts when looking directly in front of it
Lift the ps pump off the the pass side, where the air filter was is a good place for it
Unbolt the AC compressor (you can't really move this anywhere but it gets in the way)
Remove the cruise and throttle cables (open the throttle plate and slide the pin out
Disconnect all the fuel hoses on the driver side
Drain the coolant
Disconnect the coolant hoses that connect to the IAC valve and the TB (you can actually leave the one between the IAC and TB connected, but the other lines gotta go)
Disconnect the three large connectors behind the battery
Unbolt the intake manifold from the heads
Remove anything still connected that I didn't mention
Set the manifold aside
Unbolt the exhaust manifold and remove it (I just let it hang down)
Shift the transmission to 5th gear
Unbolt and remove the Crank pulley
Remove the timing belt covers
Unbolt the cam sprockets (it's easier to do with the belt still on)
Remove the timing belt tensioner
Remove the timing belt
Remove the cam sprockets
Remove the headbolts
Remove the heads
Replace the gasket
Torque to factory specs
The rest is reverse

Now that I think about it, I don't think removing the cam sprockets is needed, I did it since I was replacing the cam seals, but w/e.

If you have anymore questions don't hesitate

I removed my heads with the engine in the car and was successful.

Would I do it again? No.

Why?

First off, trying to get proper torque to all the head bolts is very difficult. I had a leaky head gasket due to this.

I pulled the engine less than 5k after I did the heads due to a bad clutch and the need for new rings.

This thread
http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic.php?t=16873

and this section below is my belief you will benifit with pulling the engine if you have the time and money

I just pulled my engine and replaced the rings and clutch. I had just had the heads rebuilt a few thousand miles earlier.

For the $300 the "new" engine costs, you can just about get a gasket rebuild set and get the heads redone. At the same time replace the rings for $40 and the rear main seal for $8.

So cost is about :
Schucks sells a real good lift for $170.
Gasket set runs about $100
Clutch is $150-$200
rings $40
Rear main seal $8
Waterpump $40-$50
Timing belt $15?
Head rebuild $200
Misc $100

Total $883 for a moderately rebuilt engine with new clutch. Time is 20-25 hours


If you were to use the "new" engine $300, it would still need a waterpump $50, timing belt $15, some gaskets $20, the new clutch $200, the rear main seal $8 and misc costs $100. This adds up to $673.

If you have the extra $200 and 25 hours, you are going to get a much better engine in the long run.

I immedietly stopped smoking and got 26.5 miles to the gallon when I did the rings and seals.

Is this the guy's only car, though? And does he have the tools to replace the rings. He'll need to get the right sized hex wrench to remove the plugs and something to pull the wrist pins out. How experienced and confident is he at this type of work? I agree, though that most of the stuff could be accomplished in a weekend. I'd just clean the heads and check for warp with a straightedge. If it's all cool, I'd just put them back on with the new gaskets. If you're goin to replace the front cam seals, timing belt etc (which I recommend also) I'd break the bolts loose before removing the engine as it's a real PITA to get them off when you don't have the engine locked in position.

Steve

no comment about the kitchengine eh? I thought it was humorous at least

douglas vincent wrote:First off, trying to get proper torque to all the head bolts is very difficult.

For me, torquing the bolts was very easy. How did you torque them? The only tools i needed to torque them were:

2 14 mm 12 point sockets (one deep well and one regular)
2 Torque wrenches (one for ft/lbs and the other for in/lbs)
A permenant marker to measure the degrees
A flashlight

Its also easier if you torque them while the engine is still jacked up. Then you can see the bolts easier.

THAWA wrote:andrew you used the haynes right?

I used the Haynes for most of the job, but when it came to the proper torque sequence and specs, I wanted to make sure I got it from the FSM, so I used that to torque them.

The only thing that I can see that would be hard with the engine in is getting the back head bolts to clear the frame of the car when taking them out and putting them in... But you just have to work with them a bit.

Andrew

hehe, Same here, though I only used 1 14mm with a couple of diff extentions
and one torquewrench, I just converted to ft/lbs
I alos used the fsm for the torquespecs aswell, simply because I dont trust haynes with that. Getting the heads back on was the hardest part, you have to sort of shimmy them on there, takes a lil while but itll work

I found your kitchengine comment humourous indeed.