I doubt that the cooling passages in the heads are gunked up. How did the coolant in the radiator look? That would be a direct indication of whether there was cross-contamination of oil into the cooling system. What you are seeing is a direct result of coolant into the engine oil, not the other way around. You'll need to flush that crap out for sure and hope that it didn't trash any of the main/rod bearings while it was in there, but besides that, I would doubt that the head gaskets are what caused that from the looks of your *intake manifold gaskets*.

But it really is up to you. There really isn't much more to it from where you are as has been stated, but there are a few points that can bite you. If you wanted to assess the condition of your head gaskets, run a compression & leak down test. That will tell you the health of your head gaskets as well as your valves & rings. Sure you'll loose the position of your distributor and will have to rotate the oil pump drive to get it lined up when the time comes to drop the distributor back in place, but you have to re-time it anyway so that's neither here nor there.

 

I'm guessing that in the last sentence of your 1st paragraph you meant to say ". . .I would doubt that the head gaskets are what caused that from the look of your intake manifold gaskets."
A ASE mechanic friend of the family took a look at the car today and had the same opinion as you. Put it back together, flush out the crap, and give her a try.

Would there be any benefit to pulling the heads though? I could have them cleaned by a machine shop (they really look like they could use it, two intake ports were 100% blocked with obstructions and corrosion) and put brand new head gaskets on. What else would I have to do? remove the fan, the a/c and alternator brackets, remove the exhaust manifolds, and then take off all the head bolts, right? The brackets should slide right off after the fan is taken off. I am having trouble making my own decision though, because I don't know how labor intensive taking the exhaust manifolds and the fan off will be. If I knew they weren't that bad, I would take the heads off for sure. Keeping track of where all these electrical connections and bolts and nuts goes is pretty difficult, I'm already worried that I've forgotten some of it. I guess if I knew that from here it would take 4 or less hours of labor to take off those heads, I would probably do it, depending on the price of machining.

What could I expect to pay to have the heads worked at a machine shop?

Also, you mentioned re-timing the engine. I've never done or read up on that. How's that done? What does it cost to have it done? Is it a tough job? I read that you need to have a programmer. I have an OBD-II but it can't program.

Beginning work again tomorrow! Looking forward to your response.

 

Yeah, that's what I meant to say. I must have gone on autopilot there for a minute. I'm always doing 3 different things at any given time...

The complications I spoke of come from attempting to get the exhaust manifolds off. You can cause more trouble/harm here than good especially if you do not need to remove the heads which is why I recommended a compression check to assess the condition of the headgaskets and other associated combustion chamber sealing devices. The studs that hold the manifolds to the y-pipe can be a real pain to deal with often requiring heat or just breakage to get the two separated.

Check out the EDI engine timing thread in the Tech Article (DIY) section for more info on how to get your engine timed properly. You pretty much would have had to do most of it anyway just because you removed your distributor.


As far as head reconditioning, it depends on how far you need to go. If all you need is a hot tank and a valve lapping; no real valve grinding or mill work to flatten the gasket surface of the head, then it shouldn't be too bad, maybe $75-$100 for both heads. If you need a valve job & the heads milled, then it may be closer to $200. My numbers may be low as it depends on who you know and what the rates are in your given location...

 

It is a difficult call to remove the heads off the engine. You could ask the ASE mechanic friend the same question since he is there to see the damage, he'll probably tell you the best course of action as for what to do. As for cleaning out the heads you may not need to take them to a machine shop unless there is a ton of damage that would compromise the function of the heads and you may not get your parts back until a couple weeks later. Most machine shops usually work with so many projects at a time and it may be couple weeks or even a month before you get your parts back. As for pricing you'll have to shop around, machine shops will charge differently, but most should be close to same price and be less than a "new" set of heads.

If you decide to remove the heads try to clean them yourself or you may be without with a truck for while, again it may be couple of days or weeks or even a month with a machine shop. As for help on pulling heads there are automotive manuals that tell you everything you need to know, I have haynes repair manual, there are other manuals out there like chiltons and alldata. They will tell you everything you need to know even if you go as far as to rebuild the entire engine.

 

I made the call to not go through with the head gaskets. I spent today getting all the gunk crap off of the individual parts and the engine. I pulled the drain plug from the oil pan and about 10 quarts of fluid came out. I actually had to stop draining at one point in order to empty my catch pan.

Tomorrow I think I should be ready to start putting the new gaskets on. I'll try to get the new gaskets on and then bolt down the valve covers and lower intake manifold. The problem is, I'm not confident at all in my ability to do the timing or whatever it is I need to do with the distributor. Can I just put everything back together and have that ASE friend of the family do that? How much would that cost at a shop?

Also, while I was taking everything apart, I broke the EGR tube. Not the EGR itself, of course, but the tube which goes from the lower intake manifold to the. . .exhaust manifold maybe? Obviously I have to replace that before I start putting things that would get in my way back onto the car.

Besides that, the only thing worrying me is the amount of bolts and such that I need to put back in, I'm not certain I remember where everything goes, but I'll cross that bridge eventually I suppose.

 

Timing shouldn't be to hard, just remove the number one spark plug and place your finger over the spark plug hole. Turn the engine over with wrench until you feel compression, contine turning the engine over until the timing mark on the vibration damper in aligned with the 0 or "v" notch on the timing cover. On HEI systems all you'll need is timing light and the have the distributor a little loose so you can adjust timing to factory spec. On EDI systems turn the rotor the number 6 mark on distributor (some distributors have a number 8 and 6, just turn the rotor to the number 6) and place it in the back in the engine and redo all the electrical connections. HEI systems have the older looking "crown" type with contact points pointing up the EDI system have the flat cap the contact points pointing out to the left and right. If get a P1345 code for a timing error, just take it to your mechanic friend. If you drive the truck and it knocks and pings or backfires, have it towed. The distributor may not seat correctly the first time, the oil pump is connected to the distributor, just turn the oil pump with oil pump primer or even a long screw driver until the distributor seats correctly and the rest is up to you.

As a final note, have your cooling system pressure tested and bleed of air before you call it a day or you may be back where you started.

 

I think I'd best get help with the timing.
Do I have to leave the intake manifold off while I get help?

Any comments about the broken EGR pipe?

p.s., do you guys use/own a parts cleaner tank?

 

The manifold is what holds the distributor in place so go ahead and put the back on the engine. Distributors are meant to be tuned on the engine. As for the broken EGR pipe, track it back the exhaust manifold. I've never pulled an EGR pipe so I can't tell you for sure that you'll need to pull the exhaust manifold, you'll have to make that call when you get to it. If you pull the exhaust manifold, just get a new gasket for it or you could be dealing with an annoying exhaust leak.

As for the parts cleaner, I've used one at the school I go to we have a couple to choose from. The one I've used is tank that pumps water and grease cutter through a nylon brush. The other one is a heated and fully automated cleaner that is normally used to clean engine blocks and cylinder heads. I don't own one though.

 

okay, got almost everything back together. The past hour and a half that i worked on the car were the absolute most frustrating of the whole job. All I'm trying to do right now is put the plenum (upper intake manifold) back on and bolt it down, but it wont go. It's eternally frustrating that such an easy task is being held up so much. It seems as though the manifold is getting hung up on the part from which all the injectors come from (I think this may be called the metering block). The intake is not sliding down far enough on this block, which means I cannot get the manifold to mate to its surface and the electrical connector can't go low enough on the metering block to connect.

:i con_deadhorse::ico n_deadhorse:
^^^ precisely how I feel right now working on this car.

I have to go to orientation for law school in exactly one week. This SHOULD be less than a one day job to finish this up, but this *#&#$ thing is holding me up. If you want to see exactly what I'm speaking of, I can make another video. In fact, I think I'll start working on that as soon as the girlfriend gets here.

Thank you guys so much for the help you've already given me. You get 19782497938 internets.

 

Hey guys, got the car totally put together today. My uncle helped me with the plenum, turns out it just needed some beer rubbed on it (grease, of course. It was hung up on its own seal)

The car RUNS now, but sounded like crap when first started. I let it run for around 10 minutes and it sounds better now, as if it's working through all that gunk that was pictured in the first video.

The problem now is that there is smoke coming from the engine bay, there is a P0340 code, and the tachometer aren't working. That code is for Camshaft Position Sensor 'A' Circuit Malfunction. I'll be doing research on the CPS to try and make a judgement on what will fix it. Being that this has started doing this after the intake manifold job, what would you think would be causing this problem? From some of the other threads I gather that it may be a timing issue? However, I watched Ron the mechanic friend align the camshaft and distributor, he did it perfectly.

Let me know whatcha think!

I can't thank you guys enough for your help, I just want to make sure you all know how grateful I am for it.