This is excellent! Well done, man.

 

It's Running!

I put the engine back together. Put oil and water in it. I'll drain and put antifreeze tomorrow. Turned the key several times to let the fuel pump pump up the pressure and let it go.

It fired the first time. Started and stalled the second. The third it took off. Oh what a feeling.

It's still up on blocks and the hood is in the back yard. But it's all down hill from here. Thanks for all the comments and answers. This is a great place.

 

Bravo! Mission accomplished - congratulations on an outstanding effort.

 

Great job! your right- this is a great place, and makes me feel better to see your progress. Im still half torn apart due to rain and snow with no inside place to work. But its nice to have someone to come to with questions. Any idea on my chances of NOT having to have the heads resurfaced? Is this just a REALLY bad idea? or something that if it is unnecessary will save me $$?
again...congrats

BTW again- I have been taking digital pics along the way so, if anyone wants them...

 

I feel for you with the weather. I'm in Georgia. It's been good here except for one day when I had a little rain. Where I parked the van the rain would drip off of the roof and right on me.

So, how far are you? I took some notes as I went along and typed them up. If I were to do it again I would change a few things. I didn't want to take anything loose that I didn't have to. If I knew ahead of time that I needed to, I would have done it sooner to get it out of the way. So, when I reassembled it I followed the same order and put it back on too soon. You live and learn.

I didn't have any cracks in my heads. The gaskets were in one piece too. I guess it had to be warped then. The machine shop milled them and changed one valve seat. They cleaned them up (magna-fluxed) and changed the seals (I provided them). All for about $130. I think the gasket set was about $120.

I just went back and re-read your first post about your problem. It sounds so much like mine. Except for the alternator problems. When I tried to drive it, one cylinder would not fire. After I lost enough coolant the temp gague would go up and down over and over. Let it cool and add water and it would stay cool for a few more miles. Always running on 5 cylinders. I doubt that it's the lower intake being loose. But I'm no expert.

If you get your engine that far apart you might just go ahead and do the gaskets. Have you got your gaskets yet? I got a full set that included everything I needed. It even had the T-stat O-ring and Throttle Body gasket and valve seals. Just consider it a learning experience.

I hope you can make your pictures available to the forum for reference. Let me know how it's going and if I can answer any questions.

 

ok, so here's my question. It is possible to change the gaskets without having the head resurfaced right? if yes, do you think it is ok to do that? I am definitely changing all gaskets, Ive already got them, but I am wondering about just cleaning the heads well and putting the new gaskets on. what do you think?

 

Yes it is possible.

I did that once on my old Escort. I didn't have much money and did most of the work myself. The head wasn't warped. The gasket was broken between one water chamber and the outside of the engine. Water would just pour out of the engine. No opening between water and oil or water and cylinder.

On my Aerostar the gasket was intact. It had lifted up and water flowed under it and got into both the oil channels and the cylinder. The only way for that to happen was the head had to warp allowing the gasket seal to break and water to flow.

If you get the heads off, just take them to a machine shop and have them look at the heads. They could be cracked. When you get them back they will be nice and clean. Mine looked brand new. I gave them the valve seals from my gasket set. They cleaned, milled, fixed one seat, and replaced the seals for about $130.00. If they were cracked I would have had to find replacements.

I hate to see you get that far into it, put it together, then have it fail again. A warped or cracked head could cause that.

So, how far are you now?

 

Do you need to spray the new head gaskets with any gasket sealant? If so, is it safe for the oxygen sensor?

Thanks

 

I didn't spray anything. No sealer used on the head gaskets at all. The intake gaskets are another story. Here is the procedure per Chiltons http://www.cybrrpartspro.com/Chilton...24CH03_15.HTML

 

Im finally going to take the heads in today- its only $30 to have them resurfaced at Napa- then I will just put the gaskets on myself. but you are right- I would hate to get it all back together just to have it blow again (my wife would be pretty mad too). thanks

 

So, what was the condition of the old gaskets? Could you see where it was broken?

I expected to see a break between two different channels on mine but like I said the gasket was still in tact but had lifted and the seal broke.

Did you buy a full gasket set? Mine had the valve seals included. Do you plan on changing those yourself? I've never done that. Could be interesting.

Hope you are still taking pictures. Let me know how it goes.

 

To find the leaking cylinder I would use a "leak down tester" which is a guage that measures to pressure the cylinder will hold.

With one of these guages you can pin point leaking valves, piston rings and head gaskets.

They cost about 100 bucks and you need an air compressor as well.

But like one of the other posters replied, if you have it that far apart do both sides. That way you won't have to go back and do it all over if the other side fails.

 

My gasket set had both side anyway. I just did both. I'm happy with the results.

 

I got a complete gasket set. Has everything. And yes, I'm still taking LOTS of pics. At this point its a little shy of 30. As far as the gaskets being intact or not, I have no idea yet.

grrrr..... I have everything off except the exaust manifolds and the rocker arm assemblies. The freakin' bolts are all stuck. I expected this from the exaust manifolds, but not the rocker arm assemblies. I'm even using a 2 and a half foot breaker bar, and they still don't budge. I'm being careful not to strip anything out, so at this point, I'm just hosing them down with WD-40 and hoping for the best. Anyone have any suggestions here? Maybe a more penetraing oil? My major concern is the rocker arm assemblies. I can always pull out the exaust manifolds still on the heads if I have to and mess with them later.

The other interesting bit of news is that when I went to remove the lower intake manifold, four of the bolts were VERY loose. I mean I took them completly out with my fingers. Two were next to each other and directly over the leaking cylinders on the passenger side. The other two were spaced apart on the drivers side. So now I'm wondering if the whole thing was simply a matter of loose lower intake bolts. Thing is, since I'm so far in, I might as well change everything just to be safe. That is, unless I can't get those bolts out!!! Being stuck outside in 30 degree weather isn't that great eathier.

 

Gee,
I don't remember the rockers being that hard to come off. One point that I will make is that (I hear) WD-40 is not really a penetrating oil. I've read that WD stands for Water Displacement. You might try something like Liquid Wrench or I've heard of people using something called PB Blaster or something like that.

On the tight bolts, I used the ratchet with a piece of pipe on the end to give a little more length (for leverage) and a larger handle to disperse the force. The ratchet handle was really digging into my hand. That helped a lot.

I doubt that penetrating oil will help with the head bolts. Those bolts are quite long and I don't think it will get that far down inside. But that's just a guess.

I didn't have as much trouble on the exhaust manifold bolts as I expected but I had sprayed them. I did have to use a box end wrench on the top back bolt on the driver's side.

How many mile do you have on this engine. I had about 180,000 on mine.