Blown Heads

[inrltd]

ok so my 89 is now parked since i got a little sundance... thats to good to be true right now..

i was wondering how i can tell if the engine heads are cracked.. im going to strip down the engine today and want to buy all new gaskets but dont know how to tell if there good or not.. 1 cylinder is bad.. i was going to replace and fix it .. is the heads blown cause the car was only running on 3 cylinders?????

i drove it about 2 weeks ago to test drive it after i replaced all the leaks and holes.. and that blew the heads right away cause there was no where for the antifreeze to leak once i fixed it all up...

just want to rebuild it but 1200 dollars for a new engine is ridiculous cause no matter how much i love the k cars... i wouldnt spend that much on a engine alone..

sorry i dont help people out that much .. im more of a electrician and hands on type of person...my dad is the mechanic..

[K-CAR_WAGON]

I think on Aluminum heads the correct way to do it is to take it to a shop and have it pressure tested - in addition to visual inspections. On the old cast iron heads you can magnaflux the head to detect cracks.

See links below.
http://www.turbo-mopar.com/forums/showt ... inder+head
http://www.hugoautoparts.com/cylinder.htm#what

[Pete in NH]

Hi,

Yes, the way to really check the head out is to pressure test it for hidden cracks you may not be able to see. Also, it is very important that there is no warpage which can be an issue if the engine was overheated. Aluminum heads od cast iron blocks is not a good thing when overheated. The Aluminum expands at different rates than the cast iron and something has to give, usaully the aluminum. Take the head to a good automotive machine shop and have it checked out. If the head is warped your new headgasket won't mean much for long. You also need to follow the torqueing sequence in the shop manual when re-assembling the head to the block I personally would go with the Mopar Performance head gasket and new head bolts.

Good Luck!

[inrltd]

ok so i did a compression test but didnt know how to put the piston up in cylinder 2# where its getting 40 psi instead of the 135 it needed to get...

1st try... no air from under the hood .. checked the exhaust and white misty smoke was coming out .. might of been condensation sinces its like 40 degrees in corpus christi right now..

2nd try .. piston was as good as it was going to get upwards.. massive air coming out injection thingy... fuel injection .. i covered it with a tshirt.. and let the air run at 140 psi controlled.. and no air leaked out anywhere else.. the oil looks brown the transmission fluid looks normal.. but there is milky residue on the inside of the oil cap..

not sure what to do now or how to put the piston all the way up and when its all the way up how do i check for air when all the air is coming out the top of the injection..

other news.. my 91 plymouth sundance is maintained and working 100%.. only problem was the tire split in half and the lady didnt know it .. so she thought it was the cv shaft and tie rods.. she replaced all of them and still didnt check the tire... i told her and she said.. she just didnt want the car anymore and glad i got it .. even if its 100% working .. it was her fathers that passed away and was glad its in good hands.. im going to post pics soon...

[K-CAR_WAGON]

You need it to be not only on TDC on the cylinder that you are testing but also on the compression stroke. You can get the general region based on the location of the rotor. You can get a more precise location based on the location of the timing mark identifying TDC for cylinder 1 and then marking off 90 increments and identifying the firing order.

Here is a few links.

http://www.carcraft.com/techarticles/11 ... ewall.html

http://www.turbo-mopar.com/forums/showt ... +down+test

There are various specialty tools also avaiable for finding TDC. See a few links below.

http://www.amazon.com/TOP-DEAD-CENTER-L ... 12&sr=8-13
http://www.amazon.com/TOP-DEAD-CENTER-L ... 312&sr=8-6

[inrltd]

oh on this 89 dodge aries.. i could never find the top dead center .. so im taking the engine apart and taking the heads to a place where a guy is going to test it.. i think its 120 dollars or something like that.. its localy and i couldnt find anywhere else that they do this in corpus christi..

hes going to see if there warped split, check the pistons rods everything .. so 120 is good for me.. last time i took heads to him i got charged 80 dollars and the heads to my v8 vortec truck where cracked in like 9 different spots lol.. i have a history with blown heads.. i dont know what im doing wrong .. i take them for oil changes regulary and always keep fluids brand new.. maybe its me constantly buying anti freeze in texas.. i dont know .. maybe i should swith to water