Tokez420

RECAP:
so i bought this 89 pickup with a blown engine $400. had my mechanic take out the engine. a shop picked up the engine and rebuilt the engine and tossed in a new head. shop brought back the engine and my mechanic installed it.
had some troubles with it overheating. it would go to the half mark on the guage and once to the 3/4. after replacing the the following things in this order: clutch fan, T-stat, and radiator. i finally fixed the overheating. and now the guage doesnt go higher than the 1/4 mark.
today went to check the oil and coolant. the radiator was noticeably LOW. so i fill it up. the go to check the oil. pulled the dipstick and was very water light brown!!!!!!!!! . then the brown stuff came to the top of the radiator. :cry: :cry: :cry:
the engine only has about 1,500 miles since rebuilt. drove the truck real easy for the 1st 500 miles then changed the oil. so i guess this mean BLOWN HEAD GASKET???? i dont think it overheated nearly enough to blow the head gasket, but who knows.
so u guys think i should call the shop who rebuilt it? or what should i do???????????? :cry: :cry: :cry:

yotafreakshow

hope the rebuilders have a warranty on thier work. I'd let 'em know what's up. Sounds like a head gasket, or warped head to me though..worst case a cracked head. A really worn timing chain can wear through the cover into the water pump housing and cause a mix of oil and water...though I don't think you'd see much oil in the radiator, just water in the oil. only a guess there, and the chain should be new w/ a rebuild.

Tokez420

yea they have a 12 month/12,000 mile warranty. i really hope its not the head since its new paid $300 for it :cry:

Fahrenheit 451

Did you have the head retorqued after a break-in period? Although opinions vary, from what I come across the most, unless it is an aftermarket headgasket and using ARP studs, retorquing the head is required.
Also, can you check the receipts and see if they reused the head bolts? The bolts are torque-to-yeild on a 22re and shouldn't be reused.
To me, it does sound like the headgasket is bad and will have to be replaced. Make them (whoever put the head on) pay for every penny on the warranty work. You shouldn't get stuck with the bill on this one IMO. Better get the head checked while it's apart too to make sure the overheating didn't warp it. I would even consider making them pay for new valve seals. If the overheating was the result of the bad headgasket, they did the damage and overheating can take the life out of the valve seals.
If you can, while you're at it, get a set of ARP studs and have them put them in instead of the stock head bolts and you basically shouldn't have to worry about a blown head gasket ever again.

p.s. If you go with ARP studs, make sure they get AND USE the right torque specs. They are torqued higher than stock bolts.

Tokez420

thanx for the responses
yea i was just gunna ask about re-torquing the head bolts. i didnt do that. i didnt know u where suppose to do that. is this the cause of the head gasket? the only thing my mechanic said was to comeback to adjust the valves at about 700 miles. i didnt take it back cuz he takes too long to do jobs so i just adjusted them.

Tokez420

Ttt Bumb

86toyota

Something isn't right having the H.G. blow allready. Was this a reman head or new? Did they shave the block, and if they did was the Timing Cover bolted on the block? Did they magnaflux the block for cracks?

3/4 reading on the temp. gauge shouldn't warp the head.
Also, I have never retorqued my head bolts on any rebuild and it hasn't been an issue.

Tokez420

yea this was on a new head.
this is the shop that did the rebuild.
www.perfectengine.com

Tokez420

okay so i called the shop today. they told me to take out the engine and call them to pick it up. they would check what happend and fix it. but i had to fork out the cash again to take out and put in the engine. this part is in the warranty certificate, so im ˟˟˟˟ out of luck there.
im considering taking out the engine myself since i have the time to do it right now. i cant rent the engine jack. is it really that hard? i took out the whole engine with tranny in my 93 corolla after i wrecked it. but now i have to strip the engine of everything.