Replacing seals in my M20

[6670charger]

Have an oil leak, so planning on tearing apart my M20 next week so I can replace the front crankcase seal, the oil pan and valve cover gaskets and the head gasket.

 

I've done the timing belt once, so I know how to do that much. Anything in particular I need for tools or good heads up with regard to the head and crankcase seal?

 

Thanks.

[GunMetalGrey]

What is said damage to the head? 
Most certainly not grounds for a part out. 

[straight6pwr]

just go for it! tearing down an m20 to the head is simple enough to do again in the future if it doesnt work out. seems like a win over selling the car!!

[6670charger]

just go for it! tearing down an m20 to the head is simple enough to do again in the future if it doesnt work out. seems like a win over selling the car!!

 

Selling and parting aren't my first choices. The problem is that this is my DD and if I can't get it on the road by the time the snow flies, I need a car. I'm not driving my 66 Charger in WI winters, and I don't have the money or space for another car to DD while the E30 sits.

 

I'm sure I'll find something, it's just a matter of what and when.

[6670charger]

What is said damage to the head? 

Most certainly not grounds for a part out. 

 

Said head damage is that it has a small nick on the undersurface that has to be welded, but it's also warped. The shop felt that in order to surface it enough to use it would require a hugely thick head gasket. Not sure I want to have to rely on a gasket to obtain proper clearance for the pistons and valves.

[6670charger]

Well, decided to pop for the 855 casting head that was up for sale on Ebay. Not the place I would have preferred to buy, but since everything else I found anywhere was going for around $500 or more, $299 seemed pretty reasonable assuming that the thing isn't junk. I guess I'll find out for sure when I received it and take it in to get it surfaced.

[Earl]

Did you call any of the larger parts recyclers in Wisconsin? One of them would be bound to have one

[YoungCR]

Car-part.com would have all those listings.

[6670charger]

Should have the new head sometime this week. May have to wait another week to get it surfaced as it will have to be disassembled in order to do so. Not sure if I have the tools or knowledge to take out and re-install valves myself.

[6670charger]

My Ebay head arrived on Friday. Off to the machine shop on Tuesday and hopefully begin the process of re-assembly later this week!

[6670charger]

Well, hope to get started on re-assembly this weekend and maybe on the road by Monday. Any suggestions for a newbie to head gasket replacement regarding setting the gasket and timing?

 

Got new head bolts, took a tap to each of the bolt holes to clean them up. All holes are dry and I took my parts retriever magnet to each of the holes to fish out any metal shavings from the tap. Took a razor blade to the top of the block and cleaned all the remnants of the old gasket, and cleaned the front of the block to set myself up for success on the water pump.

[6670charger]

Weekend wasn't engine re-assembly friendly. I did, however, manage to get the head situated on the block last night with bypass hose reconnected and head bolts turned in just enough to have the caps flush with the metal. Today comes head bolt torqueing, valve adjustment, exhaust manifold attachment and hopefully thermostat housing and hose attachment.

[6670charger]

OK. Have the head bolts torqued to 22 ft-lb, and then torqued 90 degrees twice. I just got my days muscle resistance and cardio workout in (at least resistance exercise for my right arm anyway). Remaining goals for today are exhaust manifold re-attach, thermostat housing re-attach and hoses.

[jc43089]

It is quite a workout installing a head. Looking good!

Sent from my 831C using Tapatalk

[6670charger]

A few more pics from yesterday. Got the intake and valve body on, as well as the exhaust manifolds connected. Today, got the valve body torqued in, the throttle cables attached, the thermostat housing attached, and the hoses for it that were in the car re-attached to it. Plugged in the fuel injectors, fuel lines and thermostat cables, and pretty much got the left side of the engine done save for the bellows, MAF and air box. Also got the new water pump and gasket attached finger tight. Hope to torque the water pump bolts and get most if not all of the timing belt in tomorrow. Might even get him on the road!!

[6670charger]

Made really good progress on Friday. Got the timing belt on and nearly complete. Only thing left is to put the fan on and put the coolant in, then hope that it starts and runs right.

I assume that putting the antifreeze in goes like usual; pour in through overflow tank with engine running, heater defroster on and bleed screw cracked? Haven't refilled a coolant-less engine in quite a while.

[6670charger]

Made really good progress on Friday. Got the timing belt on and nearly complete. Only thing left is to put the fan on and put the coolant in, then hope that it starts and runs right.

I assume that putting the antifreeze in goes like usual; pour in through overflow tank with engine running, heater defroster on and bleed screw cracked? Haven't refilled a coolant-less engine in quite a while.

[B C]

Nice work!

I have always had great results filling the engine with coolant through the top radiator hose, first into the block, then into the radiator, then fill the reservoir. You are correct that the heater blend valve should be set to full hol

[6670charger]

Thanks!! Never thought of that. The thoughts of starting the engine on basically no coolant and running it that way for several minutes while it slowly sucked antifreeze through a straw really had me worried it wouldn't fill fast enough.

[6670charger]

Well, my victory was short lived. Got the car started and the coolant level up to where it seemed it should be. The heater was working. Coolant level seemed to be ok for an initial drive so I took it out for a short drive to let the coolant circulate with intent of checking it again when I stopped. Made it about two miles from the house when the engine lost power and shut down. Smelled like something had burnt. Had smoke coming out of the side of the car and a puddle of oil forming under the engine. The temp gauge never showed that the engine was hot, so not sure what happened, but suspect that the head gasket blew again. I'm not sure why as I had done everything the book and DIY's said to do. I know I got everything together right and timing was set properly. Had it towed to the shop this time as I have no clue where to begin looking at this point. I'm so pissed right now that I'm about ready to throw in the towel on this thing.

[6670charger]

OK. I have to apologize for my rant above. Most of the problem was that my other car broke a driveshaft U joint the previous day while on my way to work requiring that it be towed, and then the E30 broke down on me the next day on my way to work requiring that IT be towed to0. I was just really frustrated with my cars in general and about ready to take a BFH to both of them.

 

Turned out that neither of them required a huge amount of work, and about half the invoice expense for both combined was the towing which I can get back on my insurance.

 

The E30 ended up being the bolt that runs through the cam sprocket into the head. It apparently wasn't torqued quite right and loosened up shortly after I got on the road causing the distributor rotor to stop spinning and leaving me with no spark. The oil I found under the car was just a continued leakage from my pan gasket which I need to work on next. Nothing regarding the engine. Just got the car back from the shop today, and it runs great so far. Coolant level is still spot on after some city driving and the car runs and idles better now than it has in nearly 18 months.

[YoungCR]

Good to hear! I know how you feel man, something new breaking every week. If I had to daily drive my car I would lose my sanity.

[6670charger]

Well, it's been about 8 months since I did the head gasket change, and now I'm loosing coolant big time.....and it isn't leaking onto the ground. Have a feeling that my Reinz head gasket blew and I'm going to have to do this again. Dropping the car off at the shop to have them do a good diagnosis on it just to make sure, but I have a really bad feeling.

Oddly enough (or not), the engine seems to run fine. Just did a valve adjustment on it a week ago and it's a lot quieter now than it was too. 

[wasnt m3]

I had to replace a victor reinz head gasket that someone had done recently on one of my cars. Sorry to hear this.

[B C]

I ran a Victor Reinz gasket on boost. It survived, the piston rings didnt.

[6670charger]

16 hours ago, Snap said:

I ran a Victor Reinz gasket on boost. It survived, the piston rings didnt.

That sucks. I doubt mine is the piston rings though. The only things I can think of that would cause internal coolant loss like this is either blown head gasket or cracked block. The former I can deal with, albeit reluctantly as it's only a couple hundred bucks and a few days worth of work. The latter will be the death of the car. Although an M50 swap could be cool, I don't have the money for an engine swap. This is my DD, so any new engine would require a complete rebuild in order to ensure reliability, and I don't have the money for that, even if I were to try it myself which don't have the time for or knowledge to attempt.