Hello everyone, AF newbie here. I have a 98 Venture, with 192,000 miles. It's gasket time (at least I hope that's the extent of my van's issues). I have read every page of this thread, and the amount of detailed information based on real experience by 'the average home mechanic' has inspired me to take on the seemingly beastly task of replacing my IMG and head gaskets.
A quick background summary:
- I am the 2nd owner of this van (my MIL/FIL bought it new). I purchased it about 11 months ago, and have driven it approximately 11,000 miles. It has never had the IMG or head gaskets replaced. For that matter, this Venture's still running on factory plugs and plug wires (my in-laws never had it tuned up because "it always ran good.")
- Big problems started a few weeks ago, when my wife informed me she got a CEL, and the van 'ran rough' while she was in town one day. She said no gauges or dummy lights indicated any trouble, only the CEL and idle that was noticeably rougher than usual.
- That evening, I was going to take the van to Autozone to have the DTC pulled. Cold start, then 2 miles down the highway, then redline on the temp gauge and dummy light on for overheat. Stopped the van immediately, checked the upper radiator hose - still cold, not pressurized, and cooling fans not running. No coolant had entered the overflow reservoir, and the radiator cap was cool to the touch.
- Drove the van 2 more miles to my Dad's shop, parked, checked under the hood while idling. Upper radiator hose had heated up and pressurized, cooling fan was running, radiator cap hot. Temp gauge fluctuating from normal reading to top end of normal range. This was the first time that ever happened with this vehicle...temperature had always topped out about a third of the way into the normal range then stayed there.
- Since then, I have replaced:
Coolant Temperature Sensor, Thermostat, Water Pump, Flushed Coolant System and filled with new Dexcool. After all of that, temperature gauge actually read worse - would go to near the red, and park there.
- Made appt with reputable local dealer for diagnosis, as the gauge checked out OK per the check Haynes manual prescribes.
- Started van to drive to dealer, and ran very rough, and a tremendous amount of white smoke billowing from the exhaust. Flashing CEL. Idled very rough, and significant hesitation at takeoff.
- Drove approx 5 miles (highway), in the next town, it died at a stoplight. Restarted only with a lot of pedal while cranking, then wouldn't get over 20 mph. Pulled over immediately, had it towed the rest of the way to the dealer.
- Dealer pulled valve cover, and definite coolant mixed with oil (the infamous milkshake / jelly situation.
- Dealer determined much coolant entering #6 cylinder.
- Dealer took intake manifold loose to inspect gasket, said IMG actually in pretty good shape. Told me they're certain bad HG or cracked head.
- Now I have it back, ready to take this puppy on and avoid the approx $1,000 estimate to replace both head gaskets and IMG.
Sorry for the long post, I just wanted to provide plenty of detail on what's happening with this van, as this is my 'introductory post' so to speak.
So, procedure-wise, I'm sure I'll be back with questions here and there, but everything appears to be pretty straightforward so far. I just have 2 questions off the top:
1. Does anyone have or know of any pictures of the engine rotated forward (preferably a pic that included the rad support / cooling fan area, to provide me with some guideline on how far to rotate). I would also be interested in seeing some pics of how the rotation was done and the engine secured, as the most detailed posts I have read on this operation refer to using an engine hoist to tie off to, which I do not have at my disposal right now.
2. Once the rear head is loose and ready to remove, how is the clearance? What can I expect there?
I'm nervous as can be about this, as the guys at the dealer service shop told the wrecker driver to tell whoever was doing the work 'good luck.'
Thanks in advance for any input or guidance you can provide.
Andy