[Davison]

Hi All,

I must admit I'm very embarrassed to have to ask this question but here goes.

My daughter was driving her car when the idler pulley seized up and threw the belt, she continued to drive the car another 4 miles until it overheated and then she pulled over. You guessed it, blown head gasket!

I disassembled the engine and had the heads checked, no problems. Here's the embarrassing part. I'm not sure what head goes on which bank. I'm assuming the head stamped with the #1 goes cab side where the number 1 cylinder is and the head stamped with a 6 goes on the radiator side but this little voice in my head tells me I'd better make sure. Is it even possible to put the heads on the wrong bank? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
thanks!
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[BigPip]

The heads will go on either side, they were made to interchange sides so you don't have anything to worry about.

 

[Davison]

Thanks for your fast reply BigPip I appreciate it.

I would have never guessed that I know how engineers like to make things more difficult than they need to be. I guess I only need to concern my self with making sure all the push rods and rockers go back in the same position.

Thanks Again!

 

[darkemp]

need any help or run into any snags let me know i just redid mine a few weeks ago.

 

[KhanTyranitar]

Make sure you get the heads machined before putting them back on. If they are even slightly warped (and they almost certainly are) they will ruin your new gasket and all your work will be for naught.

 

[Davison]

Thanks darkemp, I do have a question concerning the camshaft position sensor.

I know it's important to set the #1 cylinder to TDC before starting which I've done.
My question is I don't fully understand why this needs to be done. If the cam position sensor and the syncro are never removed from the block and there tied into the camshaft and crankshaft what changes? Also when torquing the rocker arm assemblies you need to rotate the crankshaft to put the lifters on the flat side of the cam lobes. Do you then need to bring the #1 cylinder back up to TDC again?

I guess I'm just trying to understand how all these components work together in relationship to each other.

thanks!

 

[james27613]

hi,

I did not need to remove the camshaft position sensor on my '99 sable,
intake manifold just lifted right off. I did pull in on my '99 wagon but learned
the easy way and just left it in on the sable.

Had same problem last year on my '99 wagon, lost cylinder #1 at water passage,
limped it along about 5 miles and turned it off and let it coast off the interstate.

no problems, cleaned up the heads an had no damage.

just finished doing the same job again on my wife '99 sable,
same problem you had, the tension pulley bearing seized up and the belt walked off
the pulley. she drove it almost 16 miles before the battery went too low to power the
computer (along with the fans going high speed and the a/c clutch engaged).

She asked me what the Genie indicator was. Told her she let the Evil Oil Genie out of the lamp.

She was lucky, temp never hit above 3/4 scale, half coolant still in the engine.

Runs great now and she will never continue to drive the car if this happens again.
(had her mom with her, 80 years young and the temp was almost 102 that day in Raleigh NC.)