How to do a Pt cruiser head gasket repair?

Answer 1

First off this is not a fun job to do, expect 2 days to do it and a lot of patience. Here is a list of tools that you "have" to have to do the job:

Good quality torque wrench

1/2" breaker bar as long as you can get 18" plus

Heavy Duty quality 3 jaw gear puller, if it says made anywhere but USA it won't work.

6" long 1/4" extension for a socket set

drain pan for antifreeze and 6-12" of 1/4" rubber hose

A good quality socket set that is metric and metric wrenches.

A set of car ramps to run the car up on.

Start by running the car up on the ramps. This helps eliminate some of the bending over if you are over 5'5" tall plus you have to get under the car to unbolt the exhaust and some other things. Next locate the radiator drain plug that is on the bottom of the radiator on the drivers side. Put the drain pan under it and loosen the plug, it helps if you have a short piece of 1/4" rubber hose that you can slip over the end of the drain to direct the flow in to the pan instead of letting it run off of the frame and make a big mess. While the radiator is draining go back up top and start taking the top of the intake manifold off. There are 2 pieces to the manifold, upper and lower. You only need to take the upper off. After it is off take the coil pack off of the valve cover along with the spark plug wires. Next take the valve cover off. This can be tricky as you have to slide it out from under the plastic timing belt cover. Sometimes you get lucky other times you have to wait until you get the cover loosened up. If you can get to the exhaust pipe bolts from the top remove 4 of them. They are on square flange on the end of the manifold. You do not need to remove the exhaust manifold. The bolts are easier to remove from the bottom with a long 3/8"extension. After this is done remove the belts from the front of the engine. The outside one is a serpentine belt and is on a tensioner or is tightened by sliding the Power Steering pump back and forth. There are 3 bolts on the front of the pump you have to remove with a deep 13mm socket. The pulley has to be rotated around to the correct location to access them. You can do this with a19mm socket and ratchet on the crank. There are also 2 bolts on the backside of the pump you have to remove also. Once the pump is loose move it out of the way but leave all the hoses connected if you can. With the intake removed you can get to the tensioner bolt for the alternator. There is a 15mm nut on the top front of the alternator you have to loosen and a bolt on the bottom. You only have to loosen the bolts, not remove them. Once they loose you can loosen the 13mm tensioning bolt on the top of the alternator to get the belt off.

The worst part is removing the crank damper from the front of the engine. You really need a 1/2" impact to get the bolt loose but if you don't have that you can put a long breaker bar on the bolt, make sure it is against the ground or the frame in the direction of rotation of the motor. Next get in the car and just bump the key a time or two. As long as the socket stays on the bolt it will break the bolt loose. This is very dangerous, do not hold on to the bar or be anywhere near it when you do this. It can fly off. Do this at your own risk. Once the bolt is loose, loosen it until there is about a 1/2" gap under the head of the bolt. Make sure the bolt is screwed in at least 5 full turns. Next, install the 3 jaw gear puller. The jaws go between the spokes on the center hub. DO NOT put the jaws on the outside of the damper, you will break it and then you have bigger problems although still fixable with a new part. Tighten the puller up and pull the damper off until it hits the bottom of the bolt. The dampers are a press fit and are pressed on pretty tight. Some are really tight. A cheap puller will break or strip the threads on the main bolt on the puller guaranteed. You will probably need a long prybar or screwdriver to help keep the puller from turning as you tighten it. Once you get the damper to the bottom of the bolt remove the puller and remove the bolt. Replace the bolt with the 1/4" x 6" long extension in the hole. This allows the damper to slide over the head of the extension and be fully removed. Now that you have the damper off rmove the plastic covers. They are held on with 8mm bolts around the outside edge, usually 2 at the bottom and 1 in the center at the top and then it just lifts off. There are tabs around the top that hold it on so you have to lift straight up. Next you need to loosen the bolts that hold the cam gears on. They are usually 18mm but sometimes 17mm. You can loosen them by putting a wrench on them and hitting the end of the wrench with a hammer in the counterclockwise direction. It will take a few tries but it will work. An easier way is to get a small prybar or big screwdriver and insert it between the spokes of the timing gears. They are 2 small bolts that hold the back plastic cover on and you can put the screwdriver or bar against them to hold the gears. Put 2 wrenchs together or use a long ratchet to loosen the bolts. Be careful and don't bounce on the wrenches or ratchet. Bouncing can break the sprocket of the gear and that's not good. Do not remove the gears just yet. Make sure that you run the engine up on Top Dead Center. There is an arrow on the crank and on the block that you line up. Check to make sure that the timing marks on the gears line up also. They should line up in the middle. If the lines are on the outside turn the engine one more time around. Next, remove the tensioner in the middle of the belts. Several years and models use different types. The older versions had a hydraulic cylinder at the bottom. There is a small pin hole in the top of it that you stick a small drill bit or nail in to hold it. Most of the time you can't get a nail in it. If you can't just unbolt it and lay it aside. Make sure that you mark the direction of the timing belt. It has to go on just as it came off or it will most likely break. It would probaby be a good idea to replace it if it has some miles on it. 60,000 miles is the standard replacement on it. Also, if you car has about 120,000 miles or more on it make sure you replace the water pump also. They like to lock up, eat the teeth off of the timing belt then crash the valves into the pistons. Pretty much game over unless you want to spend another $1500 on repairing the engine. a $50 water pump is cheap at that point. Remove the gears from the end of the cams and remove the 2 bolts holding the cover to the head. Now, remove all the little bolts holding the cams in the head. Be sure to keep them in order. Most of the times they are numbered but in later years they decided to cut cost and not number them. These bolts are very easy to strip out, be very careful when reinstalling them. Snug is good, super tight and you strip out the head. A torque wrench that read in-lbs is probably best here. They do make heli-coil kits for these but don't expect to get right now or next day since they are metric and small. A kit is about $70 and will do about 5 holes. I have had to do 8 holes in one head. The aluminum gets soft over time and heating and doesn't take much to pull threads. Remove the cams, they are different so you can't mix them up but pay attention as to which one goes where. Remove all of the rockers and keep them in order also. They must match back up with the cam and valves. If you drop one and forget where it went it is not a big deal if it is not in the correct location but it is best if you can keep them in order. Now you are ready to remove the head bolts. They take a 15mm socket and a long break over to break loose. They are different lengths so make sure you know which ones go where. Shorter bolts go on the ends and are tightened less. Once they are out make sure all other wires are disconnected and get a friend to help lift the head out of the car. Do not lay the head upside down as all the lifter will fall out. You can stand it on the end of the head. Inspect the head gasket to see if you can tell where it is leaking or blown. Some times material will be missing or there will be a burnt area on the gasket. Remove the gasket and using a single edge razor blade scrap any debris off of the block. I like to use carburetor cleaner and a paper towel to remove any oily residue or antifreeze that may be on the block. It is extremely important that both the head and the block be clean or the gasket won't seal. If the car has been overheated severly or several times it probably warped the head. You can check this with a long straight edge or steel tri-square bar from Sears and a set of feeler gauges. Place the straightedge diagonally across the head and using a .004" feeler gauge try to slide it between bar and the head, mainly in the middle between the 2 center cylinders. Check several other places too. Turn the straight edge the other way diagonally and check again. If the feeler gauge slides under the head needs to be resurfaced before being reinstalled. The intake and exhaust manifolds will also need to be removed to have this done. Sometimes the intake can stay on. Leave it on if you can, it makes for a lot less work. Make sure you take it to a reputable shop to have it surfaced. It should be very smooth when done. Aluminum heads are different from cast iron heads and not all shops can do them. If the head is ground and is very rough it will blow the head gasket again shortly. It should be about tabletop smooth with very little abrasive marks in it. Some heads are line sanded with a fine belt and it will leave fine scratched in the head. This is okay because they are inline with the way the head expands and contracts. Deep circular scratchs are not okay and will destroy the head gasket quickly. Once the head is straight it is time to put everything back together. Make sure you get a Felpro head gasket #9946PT. This is what is called a Multi-Layer head gasket and is about all that will work on these motors. Anything less will fail shortly and you will be back doing this all over. These gaskets have a special coating on them and are specially sealed to prevent dirt from sticking to them. Do not touch the surface of the gasket anywhere. Handle only from the edges. Do not take out of the packaging until immediately ready to use. Dirt likes to stick to the surface of this gasket and wreak havoc. Align the gasket on the dowel pins in the block. If they are not in the block check the head. Sometimes they like to stick in the head. Take a pair of vise grips or pliers and pull them out and put them back in the block. Be sure and have a friend help set the head back on the car. You have to set the head straight down on the gasket and line it up with the dowel pins in the block. Do not slide the head around trying to get it to lign up. Pick up the head and look down the bolt holes to see where it needs to go. Makes sure it is down on all the way and not sitting up on a dowel pin. You can reuse the original head bolts if the car has not been overheated badly or repeatedly. If this has happened definitely use new head bolts, it is worth the extra cost. If you reuse the original bolts pay attention when tightening them down. If they never seem to get tight they are stretched and you will need new bolts. Most of the time it is only 1 or 2 of the bolts but if they are weak so are the others. It is best to get nw bolts and save headaches down the road.

Put everything back togtether in the reverse order you took it apart. If you have one with the hydraulic tensioner you need a large vise to recompress the plunger where the pin lines up. You then need a pin to hold it there until you get it installed. NOTE: when installing the cams make sure that they are orientated correctly. The pins should be facing down that mate up with the cam gears. Also, rotate the engine a few degrees backwards so that the pistons are about an 1" below the top of the block. This keeps the valves from hitting the pistons when you install the cams and bending the valves. Install the cams and the bolts fingertight and line up the marks and install the timing belt in the proper direction. The damper can be hammered on most of the way with a 2 lb hammer but needs to be tightened up with an impact wrench to be tight enough. Before you get all the accessories put on start the car to make sure it is running right. It is easier to start over at the halfway point than after you are totally done. Hope this helps.