Alldata say's I need to pull all the rockers and push rods. I thought I just needed to pull #5 and #6 rockers and no pushrods. Going to do this when I swap out the injectors and fix that leak at the front corner before it get's worse. How important is it to have the head checked?

 

Your ? seems a little off , here's my guess , to get the push rods out for #5-#6[ use a mirror , stand on head or feel for rubber plugs directly above the rods and lift rod through those to get out.

 

So the push rods have to come out, 10-4.

 

Ya they all have to come out , I just losen the rockers and pivot off rods , the answer I gave 1st was for the hard ones to pull out , unless you've been there-done that , you can'nt see the rubber plugs directly over them in the sheet metal .

 

I take it your head gasket is leaking, is it from overheating, or overboost from extra power, or just lots of hard miles? Either way if you are changing head gasket, put straightedge on head and deck surface, and check for any warping(especially at your mileage). If you don't have a good straightedge, either borrow one, or rent one.

If you're sending head into get checked(I recommend it if you don't have tools to remove valves yourself so you can inspect it thoroughly) ,then get them to disassemble, and check it over completely, and grind valves and seats etc. I would still check deck straightness, usually it is not an issue unless it has lots and lots of miles on engine, or it has been overheated, a check of it now while it is exposed is the best way to avoid future hg leaks.

 

JF- thanks for the info

Torque, head gasket has been leaking for quite a while now. never over heated though. I do have alot of miles (over 340k) so I guess I'll do the top now and the bottom in a few more years.

thanks for the info

 

I forgot to reply to your other ? s , this a job that if you haven't done many before , with in a real shop envirment , take the head to a machine shop that has a good rep. with the repair shops in the area , there are so many things that if you never have done this , there is just too many things to mention , to try to do yourself , in 30 yrs. of repair buis. , I could not recomend enough that you need to have the head check for straight [ with only a know machine straight edge ] have checked for cracks , theres a number of ways to do this and almost any machine shop has at least one way [ if not , go elswhere ] pressure test is one , magnaflux , ect. you do not want to do the job over I'ld guess, and remember the more & longer the oil & coolant mix the more babit your takong off of the bearings . then your talking about the hole engine.
Hopfuly the machine shop that you have avalable has the time to give lots of tips for the R&R .
Get a shop [ factory ] manual , not a name brand , haynnes , clymer.

 

Well I have checked with all the repair shops (cummins, detroit, freightliner) No Nada nothing, all do recon heads only. There is no engine machine shop in this town anyway,

SO I need to find one in Salt Lake City. Anybody know of one?

Thank you.

 

If you can'nt find a machine shop , then maybe ship the head to one , but by the time thats all done [ shipping $50-100 ,shop $100-150-min. cost could be more if the head is cracked ] and 2nd opp. to get a head from Piers , I think they had comeplete heads for $500-550 , but my 1st choise would be finding a machine shop and surface & pressure test [ about $100 without cracks ] it might be be cheaper to drive the head to the nierest shop

 

John,
I did some more calling, in SLC area. Every repair shop anmed 1 machine shop so I called them.

Getting it checked is free if getting valves done. $400 to do the valves another $100 to resurface. Seems kinda steep from what you listed.
I can drive it down to them as long as the head won't overload the sunfire and I can get it in the trunk. Gonna check Piers now.

thanks for the info.

 

If you question if the pushrods have to come out, then you need to know this. Pull all the injectors before removing the head or you will scrap some of them. To really do it right, get some freezer bags, about 10 inches, mark the pushrod and equalizer that is in the front of the cylinder and place all of number one parts in a bag marked number one. And so on with the rest of them. Put them all back in the same position.

Going back together, make sure to check all the bolts for stretch. If one is stretched, replace it. On here many recommend replacing all the head bolts. I don't, never had a problem so long as they have no stretch.

The front corner leak is generally not a head problem, but is an inherent weakness in the gasket that has been addressed by Cummins. Also make sure the new head gasket is the same as yours in that area, there is a later one that will not work with an earlier block.

 

HID,
I had planned on doing just as you describe including the bolts. Have instruction from Alldata and feel comfortable with them, good pictures and torques, bolt stretch etc. I have also read your past posts on the head gasket differences that was a circus for you. I knew about the heak gasket problem but just thought of getting the head done while it's off and before I put new injectors in.

Thanks for your input.Hope you FL is treating you good.

 

In my post I said to have checked fot straight [ surface ] and pressure tested [ for cracks] nothing about valve job, but as long as you mentioned it that is a check that is easy to do , when head is off , pour about a teaspoon of gasaline in each port one at a time and watch for gas leaking by each valve, none should get by, then its a mater of if a little seeps past but no driping , with the head on a couple wooden blocks , an air hose , a rubber malet , tap on each valve stem while plowing air through each port [ what your trying to do is make sure that there is not anything holding the valve open , then when dry , do the gas again , if you get leaks then its time to go further [ valve job ] .
And definatly remove injectors before removing head.

 

Did more machine shop checking and found one in Rock Springs which is good since I will be doing this at work in my shop (warm ). I went there and talked with the owner, very clean shop and had several 24 heads there.

Now is the hard part.... waiting. I only get paid once a month soooooo my last paycheck was on Dec 22nd and I don't get another until Jan 31st.

Just wanted to thank everyone for their input. I will be taking pictures as I go and will put them in my pic thingy.

 

OK, got the head, not too bad really. Ok I am going to be putting some pics in my gallery of the head gasket and top of the block in the left front corner.

Why is the the hole larger on top of the block but then partially blocked on the head gasket?

I have alot more questions and pictures.

BTW, I can still see the hone marks in the cylinder walls.