Yeah Christine I've been meaning to say it's just been so far at the back of my mind lol... The oil cooler lines are leaking also of course so I'll definitely fix that up now as well. Now I have thought about this and think it will be best if I know all there is to know before going in here, George you were saying I should look at the compression test for all six cylinders before I start tearing into it. I'm wanting to agree with you here just on the off chance there's a problem with another cylinder too. As said before I was told by the guy at the shop only cylinders six and four were tested. All of the evidence is pointing to the problem being in cylinder six but I've recently learned you can never be TOO sure!! I think now is as good as time as any to go out and grab a compression tester then I could also see for myself cylinder six. This will of course just take more time though until I can actually start working on it. Thanks for the tip I'm gonna go out to the parts store tomorrow I guess and get everything I should need for this, I'll see if I can find those wrenches.

 

I am basically agreeing with Les. If the damage is minimal and your compression/leakdown results are decent then consider fixing this engine in the truck.

George

 

Hey, isn't it a good thing to have an excuse to buy new tools??

 

good plan reway

 

Thanks, Les... I got the blazer back this morning. I had to start it up to drive it a few meters back into its parking spot, I can say from driving it there it feels the exact same as it did when I barely made it back home on Christmas Eve. I did a compression test on all the cylinders but three, I didn't want to play around with the steering shaft. Cylinder #1-175psi, #2-173psi, #3-N/A, #4-175psi, #5-165psi, #6-0psi. With this information I started taking stuff apart, I got a good way to take the intake manifold off but I needed to go for class. So maybe I will be able to drain the coolant out later today and disconnect all the hoses then I should be pretty much good to pull it off.

 

Alright, I got back out there and pulled the intake off. I gotta say, it was ALOT easier the second time around lol. I was soaking the exhaust bolts all day with wd40 and I will again before I go to sleep tonight so hopefully, I can get those off tomorrow. I looked back in the cylinder six intake port and couldn't see anything wrong with the valve. If all goes as planned I might be able to pull the head by the end of tomorrow! P.S Don't worry guys this picture was right after I pulled the intake manifold, right after this I put paper towels down each of the intake ports, not that it matters much anyways anymore.

 

For the exhaust bolts, solvent + time is definitely your friend!!!!

In the past I've liked Liquid Wrench with good results. Many prefer "PB Blaster" but I find it messy. Something I've used a few times that seems to work is CRC Freeze-Off. It also rapidly cools the nut/bolt to create cracks in the corrosion and allow the solvent to penetrate. I used this when I took off the rear shackles.

Good Luck!!

 

Waiting for the results!!

 

I'm curious to see what you find as well.

 

Alright, I'd be lying if I said I didn't hit some roadblocks today. The top ground strap didn't want to come loose and just rounded off, I tried for a long time getting that out and think I am just going to cut it and deal with it once the head is pulled. However, I got the other ground strap off and to my surprise, the exhaust manifold came off much easier than I thought it would. And this takes me to the major roadblock, I forgot I need to take the fan off here so I had to go get a fan clutch wrench and I'm gonna have to put the alternator and ps pulley back in place for a minute so I can get that free. I'll be there soon!