I think that I'm just going to suck it up and yank dang thing--after taking out wet spark plugs from it and finding a "puddle" of anti-freeze in my oil, I think it would just give me piece-of-mind to make sure that the head is in good shape.

Anyway, I've been trying desperately to avoid doing this because it doesn't look like it's going to be any fun at all. This is on my '89 IROC, which has the stock L98 engine in it and air-conditioning. There just doesn't look like there's a lot of room to work there, especially with all of the emissions stuff and air-conditioning being on that side. Also, the pipe coming from the cat goes up behind that head (which I unbolted and was never able to bolt back on), as well as some wires which attach to the back of the head as well.

I was wondering if anyone could offer me any tips on how to make this job easier. Is there anything that I need to watch out for? How much time am I looking at to do this? Also, will I have to take the hood off (I'm trying to avoid that, too, because I cross-threaded a couple of bolts the last time I put the hood on)?

I'm almost thinking that it would be "easier" to just pull the engine, but then again I've heard of so many people just "swapping heads" without pulling the engine...

Thanks

 

did you run a compression check? Pretty sure its porbably the head gasket but it doesnt hurt to make sure that the coolant isnt getting in through the intake. My 305 had simaler symptoms when the intake gasket blew out and the crank case filled up w/ antifreeze. As for pulling it... get everyhting off that you can, all of the emmisions stuff and what not. Move any harnesses or anything for that matter that gets in your way. As for the a/c, you dont have to disconnect it, just lay the compressor aside. The hosing is flexible and allows enough play to move the compressor out of the way. One final tip is get a good name brand set of torx bits to remove the bolts on the acc. bracket. those sobs are tight and will chew the cheapie bits to peices. Other then that, be patient and dont loose your cool.

 

I have actually run two compression tests--see here for the results.

You'll notice that my passgner side results are consistiently (although not by a great magnitude) higher than the driver's side head--plus, three of the plugs on that side came out wet. I would imagine that the slightly higher numbers are due to the extra fluid in that head, and be that fluid antifreeze or oil, it just seems that it's a problem that can't be found/fixed without removing the head.

As far as the antifreeze in the oil goes... I suppose that it could just be due to the coolant that came out of the intake manifold as I was taking it off (which would have drained straight into the lifter valley and then into the oil pan from there). In fact, now that I think about it, if the coolant had somehow finding its way into the oil while the engine was *running*, wouldn't it have been agitated so much by the moving parts that it would have mixed into the oil and made it look like "chocolate milk"? Correct me if I'm wrong about that--because what I have is completely separated out.

On a side note, there is one test that I haven't got around to doing yet, and that's a leak-down test. I've got all of the equipment ready; it's just a matter of running the test.

 

Thought of something else: There are wires that are bolted to the back of that head, correct? Can I disconnect/reconnect them with the head already taken off--i.e. I loosen the head and move it towards the front of the car a few inches and then disconnect/reconnect them? The reason that I'm thinking this is because, between the emissions stuff, wiring harness(es), the heater core, and A/C all being on that side of the car, it's otherwise impossible (at least to me) to be able to fit my hand back there to do anything.

Also, I'll have to remove the rocker arms, right? I just recently went through the trouble of getting them all adjusted with the engine running, and I'd rather not do that again if I can avoid it. Is there any way that I can mark the bolts so that I know how tight they went on, or will I just pretty much have to retighten them with the engine running again?

 

I donno if id rip it apart yet. Tearing a stock tpi engine making good compression down to the short block is alot to pay for peace of mind. There are other things that can make the plugs apear wet, gas and oil are two of them and these can find their way into your motor through other paths than those of the cyl head + gasket. How do the plugs smell/feel? That will tell you alot about whats on them. As for the coolant in the oil, it will settle out and form a layer just like the oil and vinegar stratify in your salad dressing when you let it sit. Carefully check your intake gaskets to make sure your not leaking coolant in form there. Id change them and do a fresh oil change and see how it goes from there. It looks like those numbers are too high + uniform to have a blown head gasket.

 

You've got to pull the intake off anyway, so you can check that first. Those ground straps can be a bitch. Try to pull the head forward and disconnect them, I'm sure there is a bit of slack in them. As for the emissions stuff... yeah, it's a pain. That's precisely why a lot of people take it off.

Just make sure you know exactly how the distributor goes back in, and don't move the engine without it in. If everything else goes well, it'll be easy, but time consuming.

I'd definitely take my hood off if I was doing this. Maybe you can work around it, but I'd rather fix the hinges than bang my head on the hood 20 times and strain my neck.

 

Thanks for the replies.

I think, then, that I'm going to wait until after I have performed the leak-down test to pull the head. To be totally honest, I really don't know what I'd be looking for if I had the head off--clearly, the head gasket cannot be blown with those compression numbers. I guess I'm just wondering what is getting into the cylinder and how. I can say that it's not gas because I took a match to one of the wet plugs and it didn't really do anything. It's probably oil.

And, ultimately, the problem that I am trying to fix is the one for which I haven't found the cause yet: overheating (if you're interested, you can see this post for some background on the central issue). I don't suppose that whatever fluid that's in the cylinders--regardless of how it got there--is capable of making it overheat like it is and continue to keep this car off the road.

I'll post back to the boards when I have my leak-down test results.