| Author | Message | ||
     Chad Meyer (Ccdm3) Member Username: Ccdm3 Post Number: 112 Registered: 07-2002 |
I found the cause to my overheating...a clogged radiator. Unfortunatly this caused me to damage my head gaskets. I checked with a local shop and they want approx. $1300 to fix it. Does this sound a little pricey? | ||
| Paul T. Schram (Paulschram) Senior Member Username: Paulschram Post Number: 1779 Registered: 02-2002 |
Chad: Considering you will have about $250 in having the heads machined, etc, around $400 in gaskets and head bolts, etc. and the labor, it might be a little but not too far off. I don't have my estimating guide at the office (it might be under the trash on my desk:-) so I can't tell you how many hours Rover says it should take. Have you considered doing it yourself? Peace, Paul | ||
| Will Weatherford (Wweatherford) Member Username: Wweatherford Post Number: 44 Registered: 02-2003 |
Quik question - Were you smelling coolant (i.e., in exhaust) prior to this determination? W2 99 D1 | ||
| John Moore (Jmoore) Senior Member Username: Jmoore Post Number: 743 Registered: 10-2002 |
It's one of the more involved jobs I ever did on a car, but doable if you have the time and can decently turn a wrench. It took me two weekends, one weekend to disassemble, heads machined during the week, next weekend to assemble. Need a torque wrench, shop manual and clean garage/workbench. | ||
| Chad Meyer (Ccdm3) Member Username: Ccdm3 Post Number: 113 Registered: 07-2002 |
I am sitting here as we speak (type) reading the workshop manual. I have done all of the other upgrades and maint. to my truck thus far, but I have never disassembled the top half of my engine. No, I do not remember smelling coolant. I know it is the head gasket because I took it to a local radiator shop and had it checked. It is reading 30ppm vs. the 0ppm it should read. (whatever the hell that means) Why do I need to have the heads machined? | ||
| Paul T. Schram (Paulschram) Senior Member Username: Paulschram Post Number: 1780 Registered: 02-2002 |
Chad: If your vehicle overheated enough to allow the head gaskets to fail, you are throwing money away by not having the heads machined. The heads have almost certainly warped. If you reassemble them as is, you may never get the gaskets to seal. Also, depending upon how hot it got, you may have had valve guides fall out of their homes, and if really hot, you may even have had valve seats fall from their homes. Lastly, how many miles? It doesn't matter, you need to have your valves reground. If you are going to the trouble of removing the top half of your engine, do you want to skimp on something as relatively inexpensive as having the heads redone? | ||
| Chad Meyer (Ccdm3) Member Username: Ccdm3 Post Number: 114 Registered: 07-2002 |
It never really got that hot. I don't think the needle ever got above the top position on the guage. If it ever ran hot, I instantly turned it off or did whatever necessary to cool it off. It does not overheat with the a/c off. On a seperate note...it is my only vehicle. Should I drive it? If it does not run hot, is there a problem? I have to see a client in an hour, and have no other way to get there. Thanks | ||
| Paul T. Schram (Paulschram) Senior Member Username: Paulschram Post Number: 1784 Registered: 02-2002 |
First off, don't trust that dash-mounted temp gauge. Secondly, go ahead and drive it if you don't mind potentially warping the heads to the extent they can't reliably be resurfaced-oh yeah, you may end up needing both valve guides and seats. Oh yeah, get it hot enough and the number three cylinder sleeve will soon have an extra option, clearance for the crankshaft after the sleeve falls into the oil pan. I assume that you are blaming the head gaskets due to the presence of combustion gases in the coolant. If this is the case, it could be a short step to having coolant in the oil. Coolant in the oil can result in your buying a new engine as the glycol in the coolant will attack the babbit in the bearings-I thought this was an old wive's tlae until I broke a crankshaft. The knocking noise you will next hear is not the squirrel wanting out for more food. I may have a reputation for doom and gloom (right Raf?), but inthis case, there are serious repercussions to not fixing this. CB fix-alumaseal, that will seal up that pesky leaking head gasket for sure. | ||
| Jim H. (Victor_mature) Member Username: Victor_mature Post Number: 117 Registered: 02-2003 |
Chad, Just to weigh in, I wouldn't tear down the top half of my engine -or turn it over to a shop- on the word of a radiator shop (no offence to radiator shopmen). If you don't have a compression tester go buy one, they're cheap. If you have two (or more) adjacent cylinders reading low, there's your blown head gasket. If, while giving it a compression test, coolant squirts out of the spark plug hole, there's your blown head gasket. If your readings are all nice and high and within a few pounds of each other, you DON'T have a blown head gasket. All the postulating on this board won't tell you one tenth as much as a compression test will. If you do have a blown head gasket, put your keys in the cookie jar until you repair it -and have the heads machined, the valves ground, guides, seals, springs, et al, looked at, if you've got the top torn down do it all and do it right. Jim | ||
| Will Weatherford (Wweatherford) Member Username: Wweatherford Post Number: 46 Registered: 02-2003 |
Damn, that was an awsome response! | ||
| Chad Meyer (Ccdm3) Member Username: Ccdm3 Post Number: 115 Registered: 07-2002 |
Well...it has NOT been driven since diagnosis. I am dropping it off Monday morning at the shop to get repaired, after he does a compression test to assure that is indeed the problem. Thanks to everyone for thier suggestions, and for listening to me complain. Chad |
