Replaced the head gasket... still problems.

[heavypork]

Ok, so my car was stuttering alot and driving funny... Probably cuz i took it through a puddle that was 2 feet deep and sucked in some water. Anyways... i think i blew the head gasket, cuz my coolant was slowly disapearing, and my oil would get a little tiny bit milky once in a while.
So, i decided in search for better gas mileage and a non-bucking festiva, i would pay the 30 bucks for a new head gasket.
i've done the head gasket on my s13 sr20det, a couple of times before so i have experience.... but heres what i did....

First off, i have a 1988 festiva with the carburated b3 engine(i think thats what it is). Well i took the head off, brought it down to the machine shop, and took a couple passes on it to make sure it wasn't warped(cuz at one point the engine was running pretty low on coolant so it got hot). Anyways It turned out to be pretty Damn Warped... so i took off about 10 thousands of an inch off the head till it became straight again... Deburred the combustion chambers edges... cleaned it all up, brought it home and did a valve adjustment. I then made sure the engine block itself had no cracks or any visual damage, and scrapped it clean of any nasty shit on the surface. I then proceeded to put on the new gasket along with the head, and then put the bolts back in slightly oiled. I torqued from the inside outwards, and i torqued them all to 35lbs.... then went back and torqued them again to 60lbs. after that i reassembled everything, and changed the oil... added new oil and coolant.... started it up....

Right off the bat it was immediatly quieter because of the valve adjustment i did, and it felt like it revved much easier.... but then im driving it down the street and its bogging, so i bring it back and theres obviously a leak somewhere, cuz theres coolant all in my oil... and its much worse than before i did it.

my guesses of what it could be are....

- shaved too much off the head so the headbolts are too long now.
- Headbolts are too long because they got stretched from the warpage.
- im fuckin unlucky with cars all the time, and nothing ever goes right for me.

I check the headbolts, and they are all the same length. And today i took it apart again, and decided that i'd try to added another washer between the head and the head bolt, so that it would make the actually bolt shorter. I havent checked to see if it worked yet cuz i need to pick up some new oil...

Anyone have any input on my mystery... please chime in.

also... Where the hell are you supposed to get headbolts for a festiva if ford dont have them or kia, or advanced auto parts or pep boys... etc etc?

[Tim]

Maybe you got a cracked block?

Junkyards are your friend when you need parts.

Regards,

Tim

[heavypork]

I dont think it would of gotten worse from changing the head gasket...
and as far as junkyards, they want 500 for a new engine... for that price i could buy another festiva... which im almost thinking of doing... but i only really wanna spend 200 to fix it at the most.

[Tim]

I
and as far as junkyards, they want 500 for a new engine... for that price i could buy another festiva... which im almost thinking of doing... but i only really wanna spend 200 to fix it at the most.

Well, you could buy another Festiva, put a B6 in it, and put the old engine in your current Festiva.

That's what I'm planning on doing, since my engine is worn out.


Regards,

Tim

[heavypork]

rigth now im just looking for a direct replacement carburated b3. Im in the midst of rebuilding the SR20 in my S13.

[FB71]

if the head warped, then the block deck may have also warped. Milling the head and flattening it would then aggravate the leakage issue, due to the fact the head no longer follows the contour of the block. And yes 0.010in is safe to mill from the head without shimming the bolts. It really sounds like the block is warped.

[heavypork]

I began working on my festiva again today and while taking the head off again... i was in the midst of removing the intake manifold and noticing the coolant coming out all over... which made me think to myself... thats probably how the coolants getting in my oil and screwing everything up... because i never replaced the intake manifold gasket or used rtv on it. It definetly sounds like the problem... but the coolant coming out had some oil in it, and i see how water could get in the oil, but i dont see how oil got into the coolant. Any ideas?

[wrestler3025]

My guess would be that you have a crack in the block that is letting oil into the coolant passages. This happened to me when I was 17 and I didn't know what the heck it was. I had an 88 Ford Escort GT and oil kept getting into the radiator and the overflow bottle. The car ran like poo and was showing similar symptoms to yours. Just a suggestion though. Hope it helps.