Posts Tagged ‘gasket’
When you consider the cost of fixing a cylinder head gasket at an auto repair shop, you will understand the significant savings you can make when you carry out the process on your own. Ensure that you have enough time and patience for the job before embarking on it, however.
How do you know when you need to fix the cylinder head gasket? The first symptoms that will alert you about a problem with the cylinder head gasket are either black or white smoke coming from the exhaust.
Necessary tools & materials
- Your car’s repair manual
- Torque Wrench
- Wrench
- Pry Bar
- Drop Cloth
- Gasket Scraper
- Valve Cover Gasket
- Cylinder Head Gasket
- Exhaust Manifold Gasket
- Intake Manifold Gasket
Necessary preparations
Read your car’s repair manual and place it where you can refer to it easily. Place the necessary tools next to the manual in the order you will need to use them. Place a clean drop cloth at a safe place nearby where you will place the parts you remove.
Remove the distributor
Remove the distributor if it enters the engine the via the intake manifold. There is usually just one bolt below the distributor that holds it to the engine. Remove this bolt using a wrench and then pull the distributor upwards.
Remove the exhaust and intake manifolds
Remove the bolts holding the intake manifold first and then break the seal gently using a pry bar.
Remove the cylinder head
Remove the bolts holding the valve cover using a wrench so that you can reach the push rods and rocker arms. Remove the nuts holding the rocker arms and then pull out both the arms and push rods. Then remove the cylinder head.
Replace the cylinder head gasket
Use a gasket scraper to clean the cylinder head’s bottom and the engine’s surface where it sits. Place the new cylinder head gasket onto the engine and replace the cylinder head.
Reassemble everything in reverse order from the way you removed them.
NOTE: Use a gasket sealer to coat the intake manifold gaskets and valve cover only.
Do not let the relatively small size of a water pump gasket fool you into thinking that it is not important. Here is some important information about it. The various components of a water pump gasket include gasket paper, silicone, rubber, felt, metal, as well as either plastic polymer or fiberglass. It is located between the water pump and engine. The water pump gasket prevents the coolant that flows between the engine block and water pump from leaking out. If the engine leaks out, then the engine is likely to overheat. Other parts of the cooling system will also experience more strain. Failure in the water pump gasket means that the seal that maintains proper flow of the coolant through the radiator and around the engine will not work properly. One of the major signs that there is some fault in the water pump gasket is the presence of some water beneath the car. The water can collect into a small pool if the car has been still for some time. Other things that can lead to failure of the water pump gasket include aging and corrosion. As a result, some water will collect in the oil compartment and the engine will overheat.
The head gasket is the weakest section between two cylinders because of its relatively thin construction. It may become damaged in some way, such as by being bent or burned through, allowing leakage. This kind of fault is what is known as a blown head gasket.
The head gasket is located between the engine block and the cylinder head. It primarily functions by sealing the cylinders to get maximum compression while minimizing the risk of leakage of either coolant or engine oil.
Leakage of the coolant leads to frequent overheating of the car, which is the major symptom that a blown head gasket manifests. There are also other signs that you will see, including a significant drop in the level of coolant, blue or white smoke coming out of the exhaust pipe, as well as mixing of the coolant oil and engine oil. You may also notice that the engine’s coolant overflow tank cap keeps popping out.
Overheating, which is the major symptom of a blown head gasket, is also its main cause. An engine that is frequently overheated leads to expansion of the metal surrounding the gasket, damaging it. It is therefore important to ensure that the coolant system functions well by carrying out regular maintenance.
Abnormal combustion is another possible cause of a blown head gasket. An abnormal combustion exerts more strain on the gasket by causing pre-ignition or detonation problems.
Tools
Items you will need are a torque wrench, owners manual, ball peen hammer, wood block, sealant, spray gasket remover, fender cover and a scraper. Most importantly the valve cover gasket.
1 Remove all the retaining nuts and keep them secure. You will find them all around the perimeter of the valve cover.
2 Take the cover off and remove the used gasket material. Clean the surface thoroughly.
3 Now with the utility knife you used previously remove all of the valve cover surface and the heads.
4 Use a degreaser and rag to the clean the entire surface of the area. Any debris left on will interfere with the sealing process.
5 The gasket only fits one way before applying pressure to make the seal make certain it is position properly.
6 Replace and tighten all bolts.
