1998 Head Gasket Replacement

G

gregd

New member
Joined
Jun 16, 2015
Messages
26
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Hello everyone. I actually have an 1998 Old's Silhouette. The oldsmobile forum I found seemed like it was dead. So I figured why not come over here. It's pretty much an identical van. I bought this van new on 12/20/97. It's been a great van for my family all this time and I am not ready to junk it. Garage kept and wasn't driven in the salty winter months much. Nice and no rust.
Well it needs the head gasket's replaced and I am just now getting started. I am having issues tilting the motor forward. I removed the air intake rubber hose and radiator fans. After attaching a ratchet strap to the motor it only tilted forward a few inches. Looks like 1/3 of the way. Whats holding me back. I put some pressure on it . Does it take 500 pounds of force ? Getting a slow start here and it's a spare car so I have plenty of time. Going to try the slow and easy approach to this job. Thanks for any advice from anyone who has done this job. Greg
 
I agree motor/engine mount
 
Thanks for the reply's. I did some searching around and it looks like it doesn't need to be tilted as much as I thought. Took another crack at it this morning and things are progressing nicely so far. This is going to take me a lot longer than I originally had thought.
______________________________
 
Well finally got the heads off. Only snaped one bolt. Didn't break any tools. No cuts and only one hole in a tee shirt. Working at a slow pace. But not getting frustrated with the task at hand.
One of the pistons looks like it just came off the shelf , the other 5 have some carbon on them. Head gasket failed at one spot, and the intake manifold gasket at 2 places.
Just ordered some parts and going to take a break from this job while waiting for the parts to arrive.
Other than the Heater hose cluster , any other good advise at what I should fix while the heads are off. Not sure where this oil pump o ring is.
I curse every time I change the air filter on this van. Didn't curse this job so far. Hope I can keep the good attitude.
 
How many hours did this take you? There's a local Montana with a blown head gasket for $450. I'm curious if I have the ambition to dig into it :) Other than rotating the engine, were there any other surprises? Did you use a Chilton's manual or something similar?
 
I think tearing it down is going to be the easy part. I have about 8 hours in it. Personally I would steer clear of a broken van. You can buy a working one for very cheap in PA where I live. I used a 1-a auto youtube video on how to change the lower intake manifold gasket to get started, but removed most of the stuff they pushed to the side. I can't work the way they did in the video. I am not a fan of the Chilton manuals at all.
______________________________
 
Finished it up this afternoon. Everything went very good. Not as bad a job as I thought it would be. Hope to get a few more years out of this van. Greg
 
I've been milking a bad one myself with chemical treatments but it's still drinking antifreeze. Mine is the front head. So there's room under there to work. Lol. Any tricks ? Also did u use ur heads or did u get them shaved or serviced ?
 
Hey Steellcity good to hear from ya. I actually live in southern York co. Pa. I needed to get this van in shape to go move my Daughter out of an Apartment in Pittsburg later this month. I know I need to add my location, but haven't done so.
Pulling just the front head is still going to be 90 percent of the entire job if not 95. The worst part is the coil packs. Once you get them off there is room to get at stuff.
I exchanged my heads with rebuilt ones mail order. That didn't save me any money. I got them from J and C enterprises. It was $322 shipped with return shipping for core. They were waiting on my porch so I didn't have to do any leg work. I used them years ago for a Saturn sc2 and they seem to have a quality product. New valves ,seals ect. Not sure what it would cost at a local shop. , but I am sure a quick resurface would be a lot less. No experience with having this kind of job done t a local place. If you are in a rush for turnaround time exchanging would be the way to go.
Have only put 53 miles on it so far. Hope it holds up. Greg
 
Thanks for the reply not sure what I'm doing fixing/selling/trading in.Good luck with moving ur daughter.
______________________________
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Back
Top