well found out today my 86 bronco i bought has a blown head gasket. added almost a gallon of coolant into the radiator and started it up and it was smoking bad.


but recently i seen that the oil pressure on the aftermarket guage was reading about 20psi. what should it be at? it mostly read 40psi when i would drive it. what should i check for when i replace the head gasket?

 

I would start by not even starting it until you know if the coolant is getting into the oil pan. 20 at idle and 40 while driving isn't bad but running it with coolant in the oil will just take the bearings out.

 

well got the head off, took a look at the gasket it was fine, then i took a look inside the cylinder wall it was fine, then the head and it had about a 1.5in crack up to the valve. i havent really check the coolant when i bought the truck in november. well i got a spare head im going to pop of another engine and check out. probably just get everything checked out and make sure it is good before i throw it on. what is the engine supose to be at for sure on oil pressure?

i will be pulling the oil pan off to replace the gasket and i mise well do the pump if its bad.



im not to upset cause i bout the bronco for $450, it just needed a carb and havent had a problem since. and i have a spare 4.9l that i got for $40.

now the only thing im upset about is that the guy installed a after market water temp guage in place of the wire and so it is just a metal wire that heats up, everytime i have looked at the temp guage it was fine, but is is cold out so the cold air would have cooled it down

 

No, cold air wouldn't cool it down, that line is full of either or butane, something like that. As the end of it heats up, it pressurizes more and moves the needle. As for the oil pressure, I have no idea what it should be. I just know that is in a decent safe range for it. If you are really worried, get some plastigauge and check clearances.

 

Get the head magnafluxed for insurance. A lot of people prefer the mechanical gauge to the electric one.

Your oil psi sounds good. If it gets under 10psi, then I would worry. 20 is good.

 

im not to worried about bearings, this bronco is just my mud truck so i can keep from wrecking my 93 f150 Daily driver.

 

i might aslo do the chevy rockers on their, and efi heads.

now with the efi exhaust heads can i just block off the hot air return to the intake and just have cold air sucked in through the carb?