Tips, tricks for head gasket change

Well I`ve come to the conclusion that the head gasket on the RH bank of my 4.6 1996 P38 has gone.

Rough idling, seems to be coming from that side, there seems to be steam coming from the exhaust. Losing coolant, but not into oil or vice verse, well there is no white gunge anywhere to be seen. Top hose gets quite hard when hot.

If the system is filled up and run to hot, some coolant leaks from the back some where, can't see from where though and some is expelled from the resovoir, again a sign of over peasurisation of the cooling system I think?

All hoses checked, and tightend where required.

Though she doesn't over heat if kept topped up, but is beginning to use more and more coolant.

Plus she is using a bit of oil as well, again no visable external signs of loss.


So all of the above, is making me inclined to have a go at changing the head gasket myself, well there has to be a first time for everything!

I've got Rave, but was thinking are there any good tips / tricks to make the job run smoother, quicker, as I'm sure some of you have done this many times.

also while in there what else should I check or replace within reason, shes done about 85k. Please make this bit quite simple as this will be my first time at trying something like this .

Plus is it worth getting the ARP head studs instead of the standard head bolts?

All help and guidence gratefully received.

Dont try to remove the exhaust manifolds from the heads-they are a pain with the heatshields-disconnect the downpipe flange nuts-you will need new gaskets. The engine was designed with bolts not studs, I would fit new bolts (A must). Replace the valley gasket and end seals whilst you are at it and pull the tappets out and check those for wear/damage. Strip the rockers & shafts down and inspect for wear. Tappets, rockers, shafts are cheap to replace.

a neat trick would be to do it blindfold!!

its easy enough to do, you are doing both and having em skimmed?

new gasket sets all round, i took the manifolds off as there were no heat shields on mine, a get to take apart and redoo up but not too hard just fiddly. i took the hydraulic lifters out and squeezed em up in the vice to get all the old oil out and when it all went back together it got rid of a tappetty noise. check liners for flush to deck of block, if any are low then you have slipped liner! new head bolts as they are stretch bolts. dont forget the connections at the back of the passenger side head, get these on the wrong way and they fit and the car wont start and you will panic. pushrods need to go into a piece of card so they all go back in the correct holes when reassembling.

hth

I have just done the head gaskets on mine, A simple but frustrating job, the worst part was removing the exhaust bolts especially the divers side bottom rear bolt as i had problems removing the heatshields, other than that it was a piece of cake.