so, i made a thread about my radiator. however, i started it up this morning after filling it up with coolant last night and the truck was missing. i noticed under the hood that there was a gathering of coolant on the merge from the exhaust manifold pieces, down toward the downpipe (like where the reed valve pipe is but in front). i also noticed some wetness on the exhaust heat shield edge, near that area. could be coolant coming in from the head or HG, going into the exhaust manifold and collecting there, bubbling out and spattering as a result. as the truck was warming up the wetness started to steam and it smelled like coolant to me. it is wasn't coming from INSIDE everything, MAYBE it was a split in that coolant pipe that runs in that direction, under the exhaust manifold. but that wouldn't explain the miss. i pulled number 2 plug wire and no change. so i pulled number two plug and steam was coming out of the hole <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/barf.gif" alt="" />

the plug was also wet...not with fuel (no smell) so i'm thinking it was water.

Sooo...this head is an OE head with the jet valve eliminated. what are the chances that it is more than a head gasket? is a HG hard on this thing?

again, i find myself in a weird position since it was such a cheap truck. i got 20k and over 2 years out of it. other than this issue, it has served us well. do i give up now? that is the question i always ask with this thing.

i'm thinking i should pull the head and see what's doin'. i'm worried it is the head too, but i guess clearwater can rescue me there ; )

compression test

i was going to do a leakdown to try to narrow it down but it doesn't matter. i know the HG, at the min, is gone. i don't even know if my battery would make it through a compression test. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" />

a HG would be ok, but i'm concerned about the head being the problem, because that might make or break whether i fix this or sell it. either the HG or head are gone, for sure. water on the plug, steam coming out of the plug hole and white exhaust like a choo choo train.

i'm off to staples to print & bind sections 0 and 7 through 11 of the FSM ; )

I think if it's not leaking at the crack between the valves, have it straightened and surfaced and do the block prep and headgasket it. Mark the hoses well.

Unless staples changed their policy, you can't print something you don't hold copyright to. Then again maybe the dim bulb behind the counter that day had a stick up an orifice that doesn't need sticks...

fasteddy, thanks man. i'm going to get it (the head) checked for everything at the machine shop.



haha, yeah, that probably is policy, but i'm gonna give it a shot. i can't have my putey anywhere near my work area and touching a track pad with greasy hands is an issue.

OR...i could print it out myself but it's like 160 pages. i'd have to go there anyway for more ink and paper though. hmm.

i'll let you know how it works out.

Sorry to hear it. Most people dont realize in the service section, you are suppose to re-torque the head bolts every so often so if it didnt overheat, hopefully you just popped the hg.

Any way you look at it, it's an easy head to pull. I usually just pull the entire op end off when im doing turbo cars, but i seem to remember it being much easier to pull the manifolds off while still in the car with my 88 d50.

There is your unbolt sequence. do it in small turns. Good luck.
8 6 1 3 9
10 4 2 5 7

thanks sir!

yeah, i've done honda sohc HGs in my sleep HOWEVER...the wild card with this thing is the DAMN vac lines for this little carb, all 80k of them!!!

so i was able to get staples to run off and bind the juicy parts of the service manual that i always use, and will be using for this lil project



it cost about 19 bucks so it'll be worth it i'm sure.

oops, I gave you the tightening sequnce the loosesnign is opposite. yeah the vac lines are horrible.

felpro gaskets do not require retorquing, nor to most any except copper without hylomar, unless you overheat it. After any overheat, it is very good practice to retorque immediately to see if you can save the headgasket. The PT in felpro part number means permatorque, the blue stuff on them is machine printed rtvish stuff for a self setting gasket seal. The gasket is resistant to compression, too, past the specced compressed thickness at specified torque.