I'm doing the head gaskets on my 2005 F350 and have just finished cleaning the head and deck and checked both and couldn't find a single spot where I could fit my .005 feeler gauge underneath.

I'm ready to reassemble, but just wanted someone else to quickly glance at the images below and let me know if they look clean enough. I used a right-angle grinder with a "rust-remover" pad on the head side, and a 3M scouring pad on the deck side. By far the deck side is the worse of the two.

Deck Before Cleaning:


Deck After Cleaning:


Head Before Cleaning:


Head After Cleaning:


Tools:

 

I would work on the deck some more, whistle clean is what I want. I would still deck the heads if you can, mine were twisted and bowed.

 

There is kind of an art to this. The trick is to feel the surface to determine what is just discoloration and what is material left on the surface. Remove all the old gasket material, carbon etc. and ignore the stains. If you chase the stains you remove metal from the surface unevenly and increase the chances of a leak. It's hard to tell from a picture, it's more a feel thing. That 3m rust remover rotary pad is pretty coarse for this kind of job, it can remove metal quick. If you want it to look good I recommend a wire brush for you die grinder. It will shine it up (burnish) without removing much metal from the surface ( just watch out for wire the brush sheds).

 

That's exactly the reason why I decided against the brush. The rotary pad I used is the lesser of the two I have and I was careful to keep it move.

I decided to go ahead and use the rotary on the block too...

 

Did you have a puke issue before??

if so did you find a bad head gasket

they do look clean I wouldnt worrey about the stains either

Last time I did it on my car I cleaned till smooth to the touch and didnt worrey to much about the stains dont want to remove any metal

 

I am unfamiliar with the "puke" issue, but I did have significant coolant temps in the degas bottle. It vented coolant and gas for several minute after I stopped. The dealer wasn't able to tell me definitively that the head gaskets were bad, but everyone here agreed that it sounded like they were worth doing anyway.

I'm no expert, but I don't think the leak was on the passenger side. I wasn't able to find any one area that indicated coolant or exhaust had breached the gasket.

Both are smooth to the touch (mostly) except for a few stubborn small spots, but I can see no gasket material remaining (blue stuff) or very much carbon or rust.

I coated everything in WD40 for tonight, and figured I'd finish up this side tomorrow night to give people some time to comment.

There's a whole lot of photos here:

Head Gasket Photos

 

I checked corner to corner after your comment. The passenger side appears to be flat with no more than .002 (estimated) variance. Is there a Ford suggested maximum variance?

I have no problem getting them decked, but would rather not have the work done if it isn't needed.

 

hmmm. dont look like someone followed the currect way to do things.. dont see the metal serface prep and brass or plastic scraper.

anyway as rusty said. remove the gasket not the stains.

 

Hey Great pics reps to yyou

puke is when theres enough pressure to force coolant out the Degass Bottle cap

so if there was no visible breach in the head gaskets theres 2 more possibilities in my mind

Cracked head/s
or
Headbolts streched

am I missing something here???

Im hopen just bad Bolts but never know alot of work to have to go thru again if its not

Iv heard rumors some of the headbolts ddnt get tightened to proper spec at the assembly plant
some have said they were only finger Tight
Did you find any headbolts like this

 

benny I have done more then 100 sets of heads never seen one finger tight. however if there was one it was then likly the result of a streched both. once that happens and the bolt gets longer then it should the tension /clamp force will be reduced.
there was an up date to the torque a number of years ago iirc one of the changes was a 3rd 90* turn.

 

You would be correct. When I posted before about cleaning the heads, I don't recall anyone mentioning metal surface prep or plastic scrapers. But to be honest, carb cleaner, brake cleaner, and a metal scraper didn't touch whatever was baked to the head and block, so I have my doubts as to effectiveness of the plastic scraper. What is the source of your information? I'm curious to know just how bad I screwed up.

My original post:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-cleaning.html

 

youll be fine.however the info you seek can be found in the search box. I have stated it before at least a few times.
cast iron is pretty hard to screw up your in luck however you have altered the rms pattern. still not a big deal. just never do this to an aluminum part that you expect to seal again.

 

Yes... I had puke. It was noticed on the first 60 mile drive after about 30 minutes. After that it rapidly got worse, and over the next 200 miles, a 10 minute dump run would cause it to get very close to overheating.

I did not encounter any "loose" headbolts, but I used the impact gun to remove them. Some seemed tighter than others, but all were pretty similar.