V6 head gasket

[joevit]

1999 olds alero V6 needs head gasket. How difficult is it to do in my driveway? Any special tools that I need. And any help that anyone can give me would be appreciated. Thanks Joe

[db21]

I replaced head gasket on my 99 Olds last year. Not a hard job, just take your time and follow the book. I did it over the course of a couple weeks, spending an hour or two each night - so I could read through each step. Also made notes as I took things off, to be sure I put them back in the right order. But put it all back together in a day. No special tools, torque wrench is about it if I remember. Hardest part was getting 2 exhaust manafold bolts off from exhaust. Good luck!

[mcgee139]

My mechanic and I did my 2001 olds in 12h its not hard but time consuming so good luck!

[blazes9395]

You need a good torque wrench, and variety of wrenchs, sockets(10, 13, 15 mil) and I would reccomend a good tech book. If it has been overheated, and you blew a headgasket, take the heads in and get them checked to make sure they are alright. Get good head gaskets, good intake gaskets and keep the eninge as clean as possible, you don't want dirt getting into the engine. Finally, take your time.

[03CavyMan]

They're not too bad to do at all, just take your time and label things you may forget. Make sure you wipe any coolant that runs into the cylinders when you lift the heads off and take a clean rag with oil on it and wipe the cylinder walls to make sure you have compression on startup. Another thing I do is pour oil on top of the lifters before I put the pushrods back in to prevent the lifter clack on startup. The pushrods are two different lengths, be sure you don't mix them up or you'll spin the lobes on the camshaft and other damage. The intake pushrods are the shorter, exhaust are the longer ones. One thing that's a little tricky is getting the side bolts on the lower intake manifold started. The easiest way to get them is to start tightening the upper bolts first which will make the holes on the side bolts line up a lot easier. 9 times out of 10 the crossover pipe studs break when you go to take the nuts off them. So be sure to get some (6) of them before you do it.

Here's some torque specs for ya.

Head bolts - 44 lb ft + 95°
Top lower intake manifold bolts - 1st pass 62 lb in, 2nd pass 115 lb in
Corner lower intake manifold bolts - 1st pass 115 lb in, 2nd pass 18 lb ft
Rocker arm bolts - 11 lb ft + 30°
Upper intake manifold bolts - 18 lb ft