Head Gasket Job Question

[mikedalcollo]

I'm in the middle of changing my head gasket (at the point of putting it all back together)....when i scraped the block to get all the old gasket off, it got into the the oil and coolant galleries....not to worried about coolant (can rinse easily with water), but the oil....should i be worried about that or will the filter take care of it? I was defiantly going to drain the oil and change that before first start.
Thanks for any advice

[fixkick]

the oil hole on front left if block , (gallery hole) is 1/8" diameter,
so crank the engine for 1 second, bam it clean. end worry.
now the head, that is a big worry
same hole, same place but in head, has Orifice there, at 0.050" inches, comes out with metric, allen wrench
if it clogs at ANY time. the cam bearing burn up.first. then.... doom. x10
make every effort to flush this head gallery clean.



and here. its just one tiny hole. there ..

[mikedalcollo]

that's great because I made sure those holes were clear. The block side I used a little piece of plastic baggie pushed into the hole. Head side I used a pipe cleaner n got whatever gasket gunk I could see. When I get a flashlight n look down into the block though I can see the gasket gunk in the water n oil.

[fixkick]

i drop the pan plug.
and flush from top down,. (i use Stoddard solvent or engine flush)
the most important, places (besides head orifice)
is the block up stream side of the filter. that no crud hits bearing shells, even small amounts can clog that bearing (port) and seize the bearing.
(and adds up, this spot in shells.....)
If the filter is fresh, as soon as the heads back on , or before spinning the crank for any reason, that end should be ok.
my greatest fear, is a filter and that bypass valve , burping..... im sure you know all this but its a top of list deal.

hey, ! Happy trails !

---

and before connecting the FI fuse. and before first FIRE UP.
crank until the top end shows oiling. (spark plugs out so it can spin fast)
at the least.

[mikedalcollo]

I was goin to drop the pan anyway...the seal is leaking.
Can I use the solvent after the head is on through the ports? Two birds....?
And I floated...great idea and tutorial
Thank You!

[fixkick]

sure , but taking pan off, you break the factory RTV seal. (hard to do, that, if still there) its like glued tight. (and never leaks until someone fiddles it)
the front seal is on the pump. and the pump has metal seals. with paper seals there, most leak (nonstock seals do that)

and if 1996 car? you cant use cork gaskets on the pan, or the CKP goes Dead. (or worse flakey) due to the standoff error.....
is your car G16a or b engine? and year.

at any head pull lots of junk ends up in the pan. and some can suck through that very large pump screen pickup tube.
and if it lands in the bearings, bad news... my guess is the filter will get that, but im too sure on the head. i dont know the gallery feeds to the head very well.

[mikedalcollo]

it it's a g16b....the year it's a little harder to determine....the vehicle is a 96. Half of the engine has been swapped with a 95. Have no idea which half. It doesn't look like the oil pump seal is leaking....it was pretty clean under the timing belt cover, but its all over the the bottom of the pan n sensor. I have the RTV for it as well.

[fixkick]

ok, the usa car, or 1998 canada body
runs OBD2 ECU and needs Crank sensor. (will run with out but badly)

mine was oily too... but found out the oil on my 96 , came from... get this. it was going down the plastic flex conduit to the CKP sensor. the source leak was
valve cover, then to this silly conduit. to the bottom of engine where it dripped and fanned up to the pan front to rear.
the only way to find leaks is clean it all. then run it.
never seen a leak easy to find, just at a glance. ever. (rare)
there is gravity at work, and wind, and leaks do follow odd paths.
if you put a 95 engine in a 96 the first step is pan off old 96 and moved to 95 with CKP sensor. and matching pump. 3 parts. there.
unless running a stump puller, (off road only)??
here is the conduit leaking (flex split conduit 96)
http://www.fixkick.com/my96-16v/ckp-sensor.jpg
once all top leaks cured the conduit dried up and no more leaks.
most cars like this never get service, ever, never a Valve covers set. nor ever check lash while doing this..... so all get hard and leak, every one. do .

not only that?, it might just be the last engine owners mess , (remainders)

---

most pans never ever leak.
unless messed with, (the color of the RTV i think was orange new) if you see blue its messed with....or cork.
they were glued on, and can be heard to remove it was done so well.
rusty pans expected sure.

[mikedalcollo]

The RTV on the pan now is orange, not red or blue like the RTV I've found in local shops, so it probably had not been touched. I was leaning towards the top being the swap anyway, head was in pretty good shape. Should I even bother with the oil pan right now? I just want to make sure I don't ruin the bottom with old gasket gunk. I've drained it n was going to dig in to the pan today

[fixkick]

id not touch a pan unless the engine is upside down on the garage floor.
unless i knew it leaked for sure, and most don't , in almost every case of suspicion, it's not the pan.
almost all other leaks, cause the pan to seem to leak, and is not. almost all.
VC leak, filter leaks, cracked oil sender. , cam leak, front crank seal.

some guys flush it, the fill with oil, run engine, for say 15minutes (using onsale cheap oil 10w-30 from walfart? brand ???) and then new oil. Say mobil 1.

depends hon ow much engine is worth to you. some nothing others, cant even find a core in 1000 miles.

for sure gasket head scrapings are a serious invasive procedure... if ever there was. one...