Head Gasket(s) .... again

[tekkon]

Yesterday the coolant light flashed on and off very quickly while taking a corner. I've done my headgasket before so I was immediately alarmed. I took the car into work for a closer look and sure enough the coolant level was very low. But where did it all go? I took a quick peak down in the valley and sure enough there was the tell tale sign. A little "puddle" of coolant just resting nicely above the tranny. I pulled of the oil filler cap and sure enough there was the other tell tale sign. I got coolant in my oil. ... fun !!!!!

So I spent the night sourcing parts and making sure I have everthing I need to start working on the car afterwork tonight. hmmm maybe i'll sleep here.

Anyway, my question. I guess its more for advice than anything else. This has to be finished come Sunday so here's my plan of attack. If you know of any shortcuts or things I dont need to do then please let me know.

-remove battery
-remove battery tray
-remove coil pack with wires
-disconnect electrical connections
-drain oil, coolant
-remove (move) upper intake with valve body
-remove alternator with bracket
-disconnet coolant lines on block side
-support pass side block
-remove engine mount pass. side
-remove p/s pump
-disconnect fuel line bracket on block
-disconnect injector harness
-disconnet fuel line below regulator
-remove lower intake with fuel rail and injectors(im going to try this although last time I removed them all separate)
-remove hardware from heads and .id each part
-disconnect exhaust from rear manifold
-remove heads with exhaust manifolds attached
-clean everything

-new bolts, new gaskets, new rtv
-put it all back.

Im sure I missed something so if you can think of something please let me know. Im gonna be here all weekend.

[pistonring]

Are you sure its a head gasket and not the intake gaskets, they will make a puddle on the tranny and leak into the engine also??

[tekkon]

well after reading your post i did a thorough visual check on both blocks and there were no signs of an outside leak except for the one dropping on the tranny. I went ahead with the repair and soon discovered that the lower intake was definately the cause of failure. On both intake gaskets one on the drivers side back and one on the passenger side front had blown a severe hole in the coolant passage portion of the gasket. You could follow the stream of coolant down from the gasket and into the valley. I was a little uneasy about not changing the head gaskets since last time I did only the intakes and then to discovever a few days later that I still had the same problem. Maybe I caught it in the early stages, who knows only time will tell.

FYI. You do not need to remove the fuel lines or fuel rail w/injectors to do this job. There is a bracket on the side of the block that holds the fuel lines close to the block. When this is removed it will allow you enough room to manuvere the lower intake so that it can be cleaned and checked. Although this is not a huge step it does take away the possiblility of damaging the little o-ring inside the fuel line on the pressure side when removing from the fuel rail. I suspended the lower intake with a bunge and did the work just be careful not to pinch or bend the fuel line on anything.