i got a leakey head g

I got a gasket leak and wound like to do it my self becuse i dont have anymoney,How hard is it to do? I have basic auto skills but never done one of these..Any word would be helpfull..Thanks :banghead:

getting to the head is one thing, mainly hoards of removing parts. few critical items to remember, im pretty sure other people will come up with their own, but use a torque wrench for the love of god, and torque in the correct pattern. make sure to entire clean the old head gasket off and to make sure not one single tiny little piece of it is left in any of the cylinders. also, make sure you either mark where your timing is or take the engine apart at compression stroke of cylinder 1. if you put the cams on wrong you will be doing most of this work again when you destroy your valves. no re-using any gaskets that have fluid through them, air gaskets are ok (throttle body to plenum for example) but intake to head needs replaced as well. unless you have no life and are a perfect mechanic, expect to be without a car for a couple of days.

Its a 1993 and its my work car,and with gas at 1.99gal i cant lose this car since it gets 25mpg.I have been looking the job over and going to buy a manual and attempt it.Plus my wife says i cant do it and when she says that ITS ON>>>>>>.

Did anyone else take the title of this thread a very wrong and dirty way?

you got a potty mind!!!!

Yes, Yes I did take it the wrong way. :slap:

if the head is alum and not steel when you buy a new head gasket get new head bolts and some anti seize for them. the hayes manual and the chiltons both will tell you that you need to replace the bolts

If you are short of cash you can reuse the bolts. I replaced dozens of these head gaskets before I read a manual. The book does say to replace them, but I still haven't had any come back. Just for the record I usually do replace them now if required. Only if some is real short of cash will I clean them really well and reuse them.

I just replaced the HG on my '93 2.2L. In all I spent about $100 and 3 days, but thats including tools and weather issues. You could get it done in a day for $60 if you have a suitable work area.

I used PB degreaser and fine grain sand paper to clean the head and thermostat gasket areas. I bought new head bolts and tourqued them to my Chilton specs. Make sure you label everything you take out and put it back in the same place. It's tedious, but a good idea to put each small part in seperate labled bag.

These cars are famous for having cracked heads. IF your head casting number ends in the letter s, take it to a machine shop before re-assembling to insure you're not wasting your time, as that casting is the most prone to cracking. These cars are very easy to do, just organize your workspace, and CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN