Head Gasket Kit Question

[dwalmop]

I have a 96 with 3100. Is there a way to tell if my car has pushrod guides on the intake gasket or not without tearing into it? Will it do any good to bring the VIN to the dealer and ask if there's not an obvious way to tell?

Thanks

[maxwedge]

You have holes for the pushrods, what guides?

[dwalmop]

I'm not sure. It's been a while since I've had one of these apart. I blew a head gasket and I was shopping for gasket kits and that's one of the questions I had as to which kit I needed.

[maxwedge]

Make sure to get the latest type intake set and new bolts here.

[95ragtop]

My 95 Cutlass did not have guides built into the intake gasket. The kit I purchased did have guides. I cut them off with a dremel wheel. Worked great if you need to go that way. The dealer should be able to tell by using the VIN.

[richtazz]

Max, Fel-pro (and other gasket makers) asks whether the intake gasket has push rod guides or not because in 95-96, GM used both "old style" heads with ball and socket rocker arms, and "new style" heads with roller rocker arms.

Dwalmop, take the oil cap off and look at the rocker arms. If the rocker arms have a roller bearing pivot, you need the style with the push rod guides on the intake gasket. If they have the old ball and socket style rockers, you need the set without guides on intake gasket.

[wafrederick]

Price a head gasket set too,it might be cheaper to buy than purchase the headgaskets,intake gaskets and valve cover gaskets separtely.

[maxwedge]

Originally Posted by richtazz

Max, Fel-pro (and other gasket makers) asks whether the intake gasket has push rod guides or not because in 95-96, GM used both "old style" heads with ball and socket rocker arms, and "new style" heads with roller rocker arms.

Dwalmop, take the oil cap off and look at the rocker arms. If the rocker arms have a roller bearing pivot, you need the style with the push rod guides on the intake gasket. If they have the old ball and socket style rockers, you need the set without guides on intake gasket.

Rich, myself I've never seen a 96 with old style rockers just 95, good point though.

[richtazz]

Rich, myself I've never seen a 96 with old style rockers just 95, good point though.

I haven't either Max, but Fel-Pro (and other gasket makers) still ask the question on the 96 model as well. It has been my experience that all 96's have the roller set-up, and it's the 95 model year that was the split, but the gasket makers seem to want to include 96's in the mix and ask the question.

[dwalmop]

Hey thanks all. I'm afraid I may have a bigger problem. I've been so busy I haven't had a chance to even look at it closely yet, but when it happened, not only was white, sweet smelling smoke coming from the tailpipe, it was also coming from under the hood, mostly around the rear head region down by the exhuast manifold. Is this normal, for a gasket to blow out both sides like that? Or do you all think i have a bigger problem, like a cracked head or something? The darn thing only has 115,000 on it and has been maintained perfectly (including coolant flushes).

[dwalmop]

Also, where's the best place to buy the kit? Autozone? Carquest? Napa? I've had bad luck with NAPA's chassis parts, don't know about their other parts.

[maxwedge]

Stay with quality Napa parts. Pull the heads, now.

[richtazz]

buy from whomever sells Fel-Pro branded gaskets the cheapest. Victor are JUNK. Definitely DO NOT drive the car anymore.

[dwalmop]

Ok. I'll stick with fel-pro, FYI, I only drove the car for MAYBE 1 mile to get it to my garage ofter it blew, and it's been sitting ever since.

[dwalmop]

Is there a special tool/remedy to remove the water pump pulley? I'm afraid of doing some damage to it. Also, is there any way to avoid breaking all of the head shield bolts around the exhaust manifolds/crossover?