Holy **** your right no one told me about those bolts on the bottom. That bottom edge got away from me. I wasn't paying attention to the one I saw on the side of the water pump...

 

As I said before, it should not be difficult to remove...Once the remaining bolts are gone it should come out pretty easy

 

When you remove the head, pull the old gasket & use compressed air (90 psi, at least,) to blow all moisture, oil & debris from the bolt holes and passageways. I used 180 grit paper on a sanding block to sand & clean all mating surfaces (block, IM, EM, etc.) After blowing away all debris, give all surfaces a wipedown with acetone soaked rag.

 

The tightening sequence diagram with torque specs that came with my head gasket set were expressed in NM, not ft.lbs. Remember that a NM is MUCH LESS force than ft. lb.

 

I got it apart. I think im gonna lift the head off tomorrow...

Ok will an investment into a dremel tool do the things you listed Wagmar?

I've already been working on that...

 

Purchase a hand sanding block & 120 or 180 grit sand paper at Wal-Mart in the auto paint supplies section. I considered using a Dremel with a rotary brass brush to buff the piston crowns. Mine were not too bad. Keeping the mating surfaces clean, along with the head bolt holes free of debris is very important. Also, since I replaced my valve guide seals 30K miles back, I left the valve train intact. My valve guides were in great shape. My valves were good as well.
If you have orig. valve guide seals, replace them, they harden w/age & allow oil to leak down through the guides, then down into the combustion chamber. After my gasket replacement, I now use 1qt. per 2.5k miles, so I know everything is in pretty good shape. Fuel consumption is 21 city, 26 hwy.

 

My valve guides have already been replaced in '04. Im going to get the head skimmed and checked at a machine shop for about $120 bucks...

I guess it depends on my engines level of wear and tear...

Ps2cho what do you think I should do as far as the dremel tool?

 

I would recommend NOT using any sort of abrasive at all on the piston tops. You want to clean the piston, not flatten them and change combustion physics. I know nothing about it, nor want to for my work! You could leave it alone, and you would have no issues, but I enjoy doing a job right rather than skipping steps.
You can carefully use 120/180 to rid of any leftover gasket remnants on the block. You want it clean enough to eat off. I would first use gasket remover product though.

How many miles has been it been since you had them replaced in '04? I'd say any more than 60-70k miles and I'd do it for peace of mind and extend your life by another 5 years or more depending on much you drive.

Wagmar your guides are probably had some slack in them (even just a little) and that is the reason your consumption is still there. Since my rebuild I have not used a single DROP of oil. Not one. Nothing. This is how it should be, anything less means something is not functioning as it should. These engines like they burn oil, but with everything up to standard and fresh, it should not burn. It has been I believe 6k miles since my rebuild 16 months ago.

As I said, replace them if it been some miles since the last. It will cost ~$100 in parts. Just hand it to the guy who is going to skim your head as he has done it thousands of times. (Make sure you get your old ones back when you pick up. A sign of a good shop and it is a check that he actually DID the work...this applies to any sort of work).

Dremel with any of the cleaning attachments will work fine. The point I am making is that you do not want to damage via abrasive measures. One advantage to cleaning the tops is that you can check for any objects that may have had some fun in the chamber at some time and CAREFULLY sand out hotspots. I found one hotspot on mine from something.

Glad to hear it is out.

PS: Use a bungee cord like I did to hold the chain up. You don't want it falling down!! Attach it to your hood and then it is safe

 

Ok nice! Any way you could give me a list of parts that your referring to?

Valve guides, seals, valve springs?

 

You just need the guides + seals
6x intake, 6x exhaust
1x stem seal kit

If you don't have the head gasket bought yet, I recommend this set. It had every gasket I needed including the front timing cover one.
https://www.autohausaz.com/search/pr...20Gasket%20Set

14x Cylinder head bolts if you don't have these either yet. You cannot reuse head bolts, if I have not mentioned that already.
https://www.autohausaz.com/search/pr...%20Head%20Bolt

 

Ok cool! Thanks man...

Yeah I already got that gasket set. Im about to order a lot more stuff from there. AutohausAZ is definitely the best place to get parts.

 

My valve guides are the original, now with 145k miles. I can live with 2500 miles/qt on oil consumption. Mine was a budget fix. If I had the extra coin, I would have had the valves ground, and guides replaced. I did'nt touch my piston crowns, however.

 

Loclark757-

If you want to see more salvage yards, see Car-Part.com
Its an auto recyclers' consolidated website and gives you nationwide reach. I found a very good yard here in the Dallas area from that website.

 

It really is...90% of my parts I have bought are from there. 5% because they didn't have it and 5% because I found it elsewhere cheaper....but that is rare. I've ordered thousands from them now and always look there first.

The free shipping on $50+ and no tax for me just makes it killer!

 

Ok went to the head shop today dropped off my head. It wasn't warped much and looked pretty good. The camshaft looked good as well. I'll post some pics tonight.

It's either going to be $40 bucks meaning the head is no good. $125 cleaned, skimmed, and tested or around $300 for a valve job.

The guy I talked to at the head shop pointed to a place on the head where something got into the gas perhaps and caused a rough place on the bottom of the head. He said it was no big deal and that whatever it was probably got blown out of the exhaust tailpipe...

Im guessing my fuel filter is in the back next to the dual fuel pump assembly?

What's the procedure for making sure my fuel system is good to go?

 

Don't touch the fuel system until you have the car back up and running. Once it is running again after the rebuild then tackle it. To "properly" diagnose and test it, you will need a CIS fuel pressure tester and a DMM. Fuel filter is by the fuel pump. Look at the FSM for the procedure. It's very straight forward.

I recommend you purchase this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Bosch-Fuel-Inj...1119486&sr=8-1
It has every procedure for the K-Jet diagnosis and repair. It is an invaluable resource.

 

I didn't get a pick of that smudge I was talking about...Maybe you can see it though

They will not load up each one is too big of a file. If anyone wants to seem them just PM your email and I'll send them to you...

 

Ok nice that will work.

Where do I get the manual for my transmission? Someone told me that they have it. I forgot who it was.

 

Here ya go:
http://www.ps2cho.net/downloads/phot...722_repair.pdf
http://www.ps2cho.net/downloads/phot...n%20repair.pdf

 

Mackotransmissionparts.com has all the parts and ps2cho has the best price on repair manuals for 722.358 transmissions. Speaking of which, my 1989 300e with 225K mi. is slow to engage in reverse. It needs about 4 sec. before R kicks in. Any thoughts?

 

Let's head over to Ps2cho's transmission thread for transmission help I forgot all about it...

Try to keep the subjects better organized on here. My mistake...

What happened to your transmission rebuild thread Ps2cho? I can't find it...

 

Wagmar, that will be your B3 bands, the ones I replaced on mine for safe measure. My transmission thread is "mainly" over at peachparts on the 1st page. The one on this forum is probably on the 2nd page now.

 

Nice I'll check it out. Ok the head is still good. Had it tested and a little bit skimmed off the bottom. Its gonna cost $140. Definitely money well spent.


A tiny sliver of plastic broke off that holds the guide rail pin but the part that came undone snapped right back together. Should I worry about this?

IM WORKING ON GETTING SOME PICS...

 

Thanks, PS2CHO. I'll check your thread over there.

 

What's a good way to tell whether your thermostat and water pump are working properly? With it taken apart...

Should I hold off on this until I get the car put together? Im about to order a bunch of parts from Autohausaz and I want to make sure I got everything on the list...

Head Gasket Set
Air Filter
Bypass Hose
Coolant Hose to expansion tank
Head bolts
Head Washers
Distributor Cap
Distributor Cap Cover
Supressor Cover Rotor
Distributor Rotor
Oil Filter
Radiator Hose Upper
Transmission Filter
Transmission pan gasket

Im doing a tune up as well...