All I succeeded in doing was make it worse! Just so everyone know's, I didn't put milk in my cooling system. That's just my awfully pained mind's attempt at humor. These are the moments when one just wants to lay on the freeway and wait for the meat truck!

So I spent about 30 hours doing this head gasket job, just because I've never done it before and I wanted to clean everything up nice, etc. Part of this time was spent on my head mind you...cleaning & lapping valves, etc.

I got it back together last Sunday and held my breath as I cranked it. It started! I thinking it was going ok. But it was running really crappy. So I started playing around with the distributor to figure out if I had everything set up right. Then I shut it down and phoned a friend. Came back out and cranked it..."BANG!" Holy S***!! That wasn't a back fire, I knew.

So I pulled out the plugs and rotated the crank manually. Guess what? Water came out of plug hole number 2. Not just a little either. About a cup or two!

Ok, I know I'm just whinning here. Yacking about it isn't going to tell me what happened. I gotta dig back into this thing. It's driving me nuts though. I just had to report. I'm thinking I got a cracked head. It must have been cracked before and I missed it. I was going to replace it too, just to be safe but I cheaped out. Or there could be some absurd chance that I installed the head gasket wrong...maybe I missed a spot cleaning the block.

Anyone want to put their 2 cents on what it could be? I'd like to order a new head now and save some time but I don't want to screw the parts guy over if it turns out to be something else, so I figure I'll have to wait till I get it apart. Then I have to wait anouther week to get the head. Damn

 

Hey a fellow BC'er going through the same thing I am. Just got mine back together too. So stressful when you crank it for the first time. Mine runs but there is a problem with one of the valves and it is breaking shims. All that work and then to rip it all apart again is soooo depressing. When it broke the second shim I just wanted to roll it out of the garage and forget about it.

Just gotta stay positive I guess. I just keep trying to think about how nice it will be once it is running right. Good luck and hope you get it going soon.

Added motivation for me is I can fire-bomb my current "emergency" car once the Yota is done.

Jason

 

Well fortunately my girlfriend took me in and so I have a way to work in the morning cause I live in the burbs...but I think I'm going to drive her crazy before this is over.

 

spent a whole summer working on my celica replacing the head gasket, making everything new and pretty. fired up, ran fine cept for a little exhaust noise from not tightening the pipe to the manifold enough, took it for a ride and everything was great. pulled the dip stick and CHOCOLATE MILK! man that was daggers to the heart! worked on it May-Aug when time permitted, all for not. thinking back it might have been the timing chain but i don't know. bought another celica, same year and all, 1 month later CHOCOLATE MILK! had that fixed at the dealer, $1500 for a timing chain, car cost $1200

i feel you, it sucks. but yes, be strong and keep fighting. i've heard misery loves company and there is also strength in numbers; what doesn't kill us makes us stronger, and wiser. good luck.

 

When you do a head gasket, always have the machine shop do a pressure test on the head(s). It can save you alot of headache later as you found out. It's also good to have them resurface the head at the same time so you don't have any sealing problems either.

 

My prime suspect would be the head gasket. It is critical that the head and block have all old gasket material removed. Did you clean and oil the head bolts prior to torquing? Did you torque per the FSM and use an accurate torque wrench? I would take the head to a good machine shop and have it milled for flatness. They can also inspect for cracks.

 

I did the Head gasket in my 86 runner, was easy, of course that is the 22RE but hey, just take your head to a machine shop and in 24hrs you will know if its warped beyond repair or cracked. then do the cleaning thing and make sure when you torque it down to go back and forth like a wheel not around in a circle, you can warp a head by tightening it incorrectly.