Replacing HEad Gaskets/Head Bolts replaced too?

[wes28]

Hi all. I have a 97' Sable, which we all know is nothing but a Taurus, and I'm told more people read this forum than the sable one, so I have a question... My brother borrowed my car and the car died on him. He got it restarted, and drove it another mile and it died again, and would not restart. We checked the radiator, and it had NO water. So we fill it back up, after checking the oil, which it appeared to have NO water on the dip stick! We tried to start it, and it would kind of want to start but not quite.
We pulled it home, and I drained the oil just on a hint, and sure enough about 2 gallons of antifreeze in the oil pan. I removed the heads, and gaskets and am getting ready to put it all back together after about 3 months of it sitting with the heads removed.
My questions are this. I was reading the Chilton book and it states that the head bolts should be replaced when removing the heads for any reason, why? If it REALLY needs to be replaced I will, but with the bolts being almost 75.00 I want to know that they need to be replaced! Also, I need to get my car going as cheaply as possiable. Before the head gaskets blew, the car did not smoke at all, and ran good except for a sensor/electrical issue I can reapir after I get it running again. Is there anything I should do or worry about before starting to put the engine back together when water mixes with the oil like it did? I drained the oil/water a day after the gasket blew. Is there still going to be water in other areas within the engine that I need to worry about? I figured I would get the engine back together and run some cheap oil in it for the first couple of days then change oil/filter again with good oil on the second or third day!
Any suggestions/comments appreciated!
~Wes~

97' Mercure Sable
3.0L V-6

[shorod]

Well, the head bolts need to be replaced because they are of the torque-to-yield type. The service manual doesn't explicitly say this, but it certainly sounds like they are. This means that when they are installed, they are torqued and stretch some. If you attempt to re-use them, at worst they may brake, at best they won't hold the head on tight enough.

As for damage that may have been caused by the coolant mixing with the oil, I'm not the best to answer that question. I would suspect that the coolant may have started the corrosion process on the bearings, etc., especially if oil was not put back in the crankcase after draining the oil/coolant mixture and then it sat for three months. Hopefully someone with more experience will chime in with better news for you.

-Rod