YAY!! 2 TRs in 11 years and my first Head Gasket. Questions inside...

[B.B.]

I have owned 2 TRs for a total of 11 years and I have my first Blown Head Gasket.

Last week I just installed a new Pioneer stereo and Speakers and wanted to take a buddy of mine for a spin and soon realized that it wasn't running very good. Would spin the tires but any top end was terrible!!

We stopped at the store, I come out and started it up to a cloud of SMOKE!! I almost paniced when it smoked till I got to the stop sign and smoked up the intersection. (white smoke)

I got home and let it idle and only got a little smoke. I checked the dipstick and there IS water in the oil and the water level is WAY down.

So, my questions are:

1: I won't have a chance to work on it this week, should I drain the oil that's in it? I'll trailer it to where I'm gonna work on it this comin weekend

2:What parts (gaskets,etc..) am I gonna need? Should I replace the valve seals while I have the heads off?

3:Any tips or suggestions??

 

[9secWH1]

depending on how old and the mileage i would change valve springs, seals while your at it. might want to port the heads and the inake a bit since theyare off. i would also put arp bolt in. the studs will be a little difficult if you still have ac. i would get gm head gaskets. heres an other thing when you drain the oil look for metal shavings. driving it that much with water in the oil might have hurt the bearing. if you see a lot you might want to pull the pan and inspect a few bearings.

parts intake gkt, v.c.gkt, gm head gkt, arp bolts, valve guide seals, valve springs possibly.
good luck

 

[87we410877]

I would replace all bearings. Heres what my mains looked like after the blown head gaskets. Rods the same. cams looked ok too but the #1 exhaust lifter was shot and i havnt looked at the cam yet.

 

[turbodave231]

Don't go jumping to conclusions without inspecting the problem.

Get the intake, both heads, and oil pan off. Inspect your 5 and 6 rod bearings first. If they look OK, Then check the mains. Check the block deck for flatness with a good long straight edge after scraping the old gasket material. If the block is flat and free from cracks and the bearings look OK, the engine doesn't need to come out.

Send the heads out to be resurfaced and do a valve job. Tell your machine shop to take the absolute minimum off the heads to make them flat and keep the surface ROUGH (rough surfaces hang onto the gaskets better).

I like the stock composite gaskets and TTY head bolts. Others will tell you to stay away from the stockers. They alway worked great for me in my stock motor.

 

[B.B.]

I would replace all bearings. Heres what my mains looked like after the blown head gaskets. Rods the same. cams looked ok too but the #1 exhaust lifter was shot and i havnt looked at the cam yet.

I hope my bearings are ok, I'll find out this weekend, maybe. I only drove maybe 3-5 miles with the blown head gasket. With only 1 1/2 throttle blast.

I think I'll drain the water out and put new oil in it when I go to pull it on and off the trailer. Would that be ok you guys think?

 

[turbodave231]

Push it off the trailer, don't start it if you don't have to.

Good Luck!