Blown Head Gasket Symptoms!

[SideWinderGX]

blah, another question.

lets assume my head is nowheres near warped....like 1 thousandth or whatever its called. when replacing the headgasket with arp studs, the mechanic wouldnt have to mill the head or anything right? that would cost upwards of like 1500 bucks....and im seeing posts all over saying around 800 for labor (not including parts) for replacing the headgasket, making no mention of milling the head. and they didnt have a BHG, either, it was just being cautious of a problem that could possibly occur.

edit: wtf, cant ever NOT edit a post...planning on using HKS MLS headgasket with arp studs.

[IHateHacks]

My head wasn't warped at all, yet I still had my machine shop plane the head. To have a head cleaned (as clean as the day it was made), checked for cracks, and planed it only costs $150 give or take a few $$. No way in hell it costs $800 to have a head machined, you can buy a rebuilt cylinder head for that much.

If you are using a metal head gasket you must get the head planed. You also MUST lap the block. I used a factory head gasket and I still had the head planed.

I replaced every hose and gasket doing my head gasket, I even bought a new timing belt tensioner which cost $140 by itself, and I'm still well under the $1000 mark. Even with the 20 cans of brake cleaner and 5 rolls of shop rags I'm right around $850 total, machine work and parts.

I understand you will be having a shop do yours, which is not the smartest idea, because no matter what you say to them, they will still torque the head bolts to the factory 58ft/lbs. They are not going to listen to a customer over factory specs. And they will overcharge you, you'd be lucky to drive out of there with a new undertorqued headgasket for $1500.

[SideWinderGX]

ok, planing the head sounds like an amazing idea for that cheap, ill definitely ahve that done then. thank you however, since im using the ARP studs, the mechanic (who ive talked to before, and has a handful of 500+ HP cars of his own...his monte carlo is amazing) says he will torque 5 over whatever spec hes using. i said were going to use what the ARP studs say, he says thats fine, so itll end up in the high 70s. i was happy about that.

just...eck...i can get the headgasket and studs myself, ill just give them to him and he'll do the labor. but the labor part sucks haha....almost a grand for everything, easily. he did an 88 supra before and that took him about 16 hours (which i gasped at) and he said hes gonna cut me a small deal since i know a buncha people that work there.

difference between lapping the block, and getting the block planed is? ima guess that planing it makes it as smooth\flat as possible, and lapping just cleans it all up and makes it look all perfect. will lapping the block cost much?

[88Tsupra]

hey guys...i bought my mkiii supra on janurary 28th and they said they swapped it for a metal headgasket cuz so far i have no trouble with it..buh is there a way to know for sure its a MHG...cuz i dont wanna get my downpipe 3inch elbow high flow cat and see symptoms..hopefully that wont do n e thign to the HG..i floor it some times buh only up to 4500 once in awhile 5000 when damn people cut me off...help me plz i dont want a BHG

[IHateHacks]

Only way to know what kind of head gasket you have is to take the head off.

Only way to determine if your head gasket is leaking/blown is to run a block test.

[88Tsupra]

on a difficulty scale wha is it and how long will it take..cuz i dont have garage(house) to store my car in

[mkIIIdraper]

just finished putting back together after head gasket replacement now my car doesn't start


help !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

could it be timing or is one of the vacuum hoses incorrect or what

ps i'm not that proud to say but i didn't mark the vacuum lines when i took them apart

[IHateHacks]

It could be a number of things.

I'd first make sure the cam timing is correctly set, then I'd make sure ignition timing is correctly set. Because you can't set ignition timing if the cam timing is off.

I can post diagrams of the vacuum lines if you need them. But you should start your own thread so we don't clutter up this sticky with your problem.

[mkIIIdraper]

fixed ignition timing car runs now woo

[Jermalicious]

i just bought my first supra, its an 88 turbo 5 speed, the oil is a milky color, and there is a white smoke coming out of the exhaust, and when driving it there was a little poof which also caused smoke from under the hood, i have no idea what to do and reading everything hasnt really helped.