Nutzy

1st post. Woohooo!

Anyway, I have purchased a 93 Protege DX with 210k miles and the 1.8 sohc engine. It currently has a blown headgasket and/or cracked head. While cranking the engine with the radiator cap off, it will shoot antifreeze 2 feet into the air so cylinder pressure is somehow getting into a water jacket. I have a new head for it and will be tearing it down tomorrow. The head gasket set is on order and will be here tomorrow (fel-pro, good choice?). My main questions are these.

Can the head bolts be re-used? If so, what do they torque at?

Is there anything out of the ordinary that I need to look for or check while the head is off? Thanks in advance for your assistance.

DLC

Pro2Go

2 words:

Haynes Manual $10 at Autozone. It will show you everything on how to replace the head gasket, and it will give you all the torque specs.

The head bolts can be reused unless they look worn or are broken. Torque specs are in the Haynes manual.

mannydingo

Pro2go is correct. Get the Haynes Manual. I have removed the cylinder heads off cars 4 times now on different types of cars with either a Haynes or Chilton Manual. Chilton sometimes will have info that the Haynes one doesn't but Haynes is full of photographs and pictures help incredibly. When you take off the head just make sure the cylinders are going up and down freely. You will have two being fully up at the same time while another two are at the bottom. Check the cylinder walls. They should look smooth. Listen for noises down in the engine in case there's a broken piston arm or bad crankshaft bearing if the car still runs now. Anything strange and forget about putting it all together. In that case you should get an engine from the junkyard because chances are that it will have fewer miles than the one you have. Some cars with your car's mileage actually still run well and we have had a car like that in the family. Try to get an engine from a car that is wrecked so that you know it was junked due to the crash and not because of a bad engine. The FelPro brand is just fine. My mechanic uses them on almost every car he does. Where did you get the replacement cylinder head from?

mannydingo

One more thing. Put every group of bolts/nuts in a different little plastic sandwich bag, or similar. For example, if you take off 4 screws that hold the distributor onto the head, put those in a bag with a paper inside saying "distributor". On other items you remove, just leave the bolts on the part itself. On three of the four jobs I did, I did not do this. On all three I had an extra couple of bolts that to this day I don't know where they went. The car ran fine but it doesn't sound car healthy. I even remember on one occasions not using bags and instead getting wide tape and wrapping all bolts together and writing on the tape the place where they go. i.e., fuel rail, etc.

Pro2Go

Yeah that's a good idea with the bags. Also, if you're unsure about something, or you think that when you go to put it back together it might confuse you as to how it goes, make diagrams. Whenever I work on a car I always keep a pen and notepad handy for this. Sometimes stuff can get rather confusing, especially on newer cars.

As for the mileage, mine has 189k and I am on my 2nd trip in Kentucky with it (~650 miles each way). As long as you take care of it, it should last. I've got an AMSOIL XL-7500 oil change waiting for me at home once I get back.

dlc

Thanks guys. I was hoping someone knew the torque specs without me having to buy the manual. I bought the car to fix up and sell and was trying to spend the least possible $$$ on it. The more I spend on it the less I make


Does anyone know why the name in my first post showed up as "NUTZY"?

Later

dlc

I got it here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...K%3AMEBWN%3AIT

Ghost

dlc, usually head bolts can take about 50 - 60 ft-lbs. For the pattern, usually start from the top center bolt, lower center and work outward in a clockwise rotation. Tighten it in small increments up to the max torque, if not you might not get a good seal. Good Luck.

Nutzy

Hey, I'm Nutzy! :P Thoes crazy PHP Documents!

demoninvictus

as per the 92 shop manual, the bolts holding the cylinderhead (count 10) are as listed in the picture below.
if i have the wrong diagram, forgive me, i'm not a motor head..
peace

mannydingo

I agree with you about not buying the manual in that case. You would only be buying a book that you may never use again and I think your profit margin is not going to be high on that car after the work you put into it--especially that high up in miles.

Alfetta159

Consider a new timing belt and water pump while you're in there. That is if it's a high mileage car.

mannydingo

I agree to consider a new timing belt, however, just give it a good look. If it does not need replacing, it may have already been changed not too long ago. You're trying to make a buck here. A new belt will be about US$30 more and more work. I think it should be the new buyer's duty to change it if he wants. Now if the belt looks bad, don't screw the poor buyer over. Lose a little more and change the belt now that you have so much taken apart. If you see that the belt has any of the teeth missing or that the belt looks frayed or in otherwise poor condition, replace it.

demoninvictus

bah, get a set of belts put on and you do it yourself, or if you change your oil yourself and should happen to need the manual, the benefit FARLY outweighs the cost of either of those routine maintenance procedures. and for 20 bucks, you have no reason to bitch.. if you're too cheap, i'll ship you a copy of a factory service manual for 5 bucks shipped. either that or get a new car.
peace

mannydingo

He bought the car to fix up and re-sell.