Hi,
Am hoping that i have only a bad head gasket. Getting ready to pull the head and heard someone say that the headbolts should be removed in the same pattern as they are torqued due to it being an alloy....

Suggestions?

thanks

 

check out http://forum.planetisuzoo.com

they might have an answer for you, not many people post here anymore.

 

that's always a good idea. You might want to have the head tested too while it's off. These heads often fail around the valve guide inserts. On mine you could hear coolant dripping into the exhaust system!!

 

Hi, two more questions. do I need to remove the rocker arm assembly before i remove the head, or can i remove the head with it attached? Second, the head is held on with Allen bolts. I tried thus far and I cannot pop them loose with a 1/2 inch breaker bar. suggestions...

 

If you can reach all the head bolts you don't need to pull the rocker arm assembly.

About the head bolts, get a bigger breaker bar! Seriously, what I do is put the box end of a large wrench (1" eg) over the breaker bar handle and get another foot of leverage (about doubles your leverage), that should do it!

About checking the head, I did the head gasket on mine, put it back together and not fixed! It's worth having the head checked unless you can see where the gasket has failed and you're SURE it's the head gasket.

 

thanks for the support. I was concerned about the bolts being allen bolts and messing them up..I'm gonna fire up the impact wrench....I had a half in breaker bar on it and could not move it...it says 70 some foot pounds..feels like 170...arrrggg

 

The impact wrench might be one way, but you should loosen the head bolts a little bit at first (quarter turn each or so), then come back and do each one another half turn or so until the tension is completely off. Also, the allen head bolts are stronger, but a little more brittle than a regular bolt, be a shame to snap one off in the block with an impact wrench. I'd go with the bigger breaker bar. And 70 lbs is not alot when you're talking head bolts, I don't think they're necessarily stuck, I think you just need more leverage on the breaker bar.