99 cavalier...loose head bolts

[rusted and busted]

It would be less work to just call the salvage yard and have them tow it away. The car has 190,000 miles on it and has seen its better days. I don't think anyone really read my original post and that was is it common for head bolts to loss their torque. Yeah I know if I replace the head gasket it should fix the problem but a gasket set costs close to $100 and will take a day or two to do the job. As I stated in the start the motor has good compression, if the hg was blown it wouldnt, that hg in the picture you added would show the problem on a comp test. All I really wanted to know is if anyone had this problem happen to them but all I got was replies telling me that I have a crooked mechanic and the correct way to torque a front spindle and how dishonest mechanics up in Canada are....while making good reading at the end of the day it still didn't answer my question.

The closest thing that was of a help was the quote on post #13....."The exhaust Side head bolts were definitely not anywhere near torque spec when i removed the head, it only took about 1/4 turn on my 1/2" drive ratchet to get them to loosen by hand". That lets me to believe this can be more of a common problem and with all the miles on my car the bolts may have backed off and when it overheated it popped the gasket seal....but not immediately because it still ran fine for a few days after. Once it popped coolant poured out the front and into the cylinders. I snugged the bolts down and it's not leaking coolant out of the front or into the cylinders now and its holding compression.
If I'm right it should start again after the cylinders dry out then I'll replace the head bolts with a new set and if I can't get it to go again I'm pulling the head.

[Tech II]

here's the thing.....I never heard of it(bolts being that loose).....I doubt you are the original owner....

Hank panky possible? Sure.....that's why you NEVER bring your vehicle, even for oil changes, to places that may have a bad rep....sometimes going cheap, isn't the cheapest in the long run.....always ask around for where people bring their vehicles, and, if they ask for a certain tech....

It's possible, that you may have bought this vehicle AFTER a head gasket job was done....these are stretch bolts.....improper procedures, a bad tech, and most important, if new bolts were not used, may cause future problems.... have seen head gasket problems when new bolts were not used....

[rusted and busted]

No I am not the original owner of it, I got the car from my father-inlaw who bought it over 6 years ago and drove it over 100,000 trouble free miles....he never had any problems with it other than basic routine repairs/maintence. While true you never know what you get when you purchase a used vehicle the amount of miles he drove the car doesnt sound like it was a victim of shoddy repairs. But I guess anything is possible.

I have also heard stories of cars being assembled at the factory and not having all the bolts properly torqued, bolts being cross threaded. In fact I have a brother who bought a new truck back in the early 90's and it burned oil like crazy. Being that it was under warrenty he brought it back to the dealership and long story short....on 6 of the 8 cylinders the rings on the pistons had the gaps lined up causing the problem. So I guess no one should be trusted...lol.