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1988 chevy camper with a 454 engine. A friend is taking it apart. I really just need the torque specifications for the head bolts.

1988 chevy camper with a 454 engine. A friend is taking it apart. I really just need the torque specifications for the head bolts.

What vehicle,engine and year?
Like Re-tired said, get a manual and follow it. Do you have the tools or experience? Some are easier than others. Some I even hate doing lol. get a manual (or go to local library) and research it before you attempt it. Make sure you have the tools, materials, time and patience to do it. Not trying to discourage here. You can save a lot of money doing it yourself (just price of gaskets and misc. little items, and no labor charges).

I am a novice with no expierence do you think I can mess up my car attempting to do the head gasket myself, following a manual?



Everyone has to start somewhere......
I would strongly advise having someone else there with enough experience to do the job in an advisory role. You do the work or you're not going to learn, doing & watching are 2 completely different things.....

What type of vehicle is this???

I am a novice with no expierence do you think I can mess up my car attempting to do the head gasket myself, following a manual?
Possibly but possibly not. What vehicle is it (year, make, engine etc..). Some are easy some are a pain in the a&%. I just recommend researching and planing ahead to see if you can do it. I rebuild my first engine (not completly but close) at the age of 12 using just a manual and no help. But that was back when, and the engines were not as complex as today (but the theory is still the same).

By far the easiet way for you is to have a shop do it for you . All kidding aside the BEST and least hardest is to buy a manual and follow it.

Sounds like the whole engine will need a rebuild or just get another engine.
With a 174k miles I'd just get another engine..

Another thing I had noticed before when I had pulled over was that in Park it would Rev and sound perfectly fine only in motion did it act up. I cant afford a new motor. I want to fix the spark plugs first so I can hear it on all cylinders

Oh.., so maybe it can be saved after all.

Compartment fire recall. The valve covers leak oil on to the intake manifold which under heavy braking or acceleration drops it down onto the exhaust manifold and the spark plug wires catching them on fire. Now I know why it burnt out. I changed the plug wires last night and started it up. From the cold air intake I could hear an almost shearing metal sound but it vanished after a little time at idle. I test drove it and it seemed fine at first but as I came back up a hill it bogged down and the engine again couldnt keep above 2K RPM's and was obnoxiously loud. Now the Supercharger didnt kick in like before but I think its only because its running on all cylinders now. When the car was running fine the supercharger would only engage around 3500 to 4000 RPM. I can't even get it to that point to see if it works normally. When I parked it and throttled it a little I could hear what sounded like a miss but only when the RPM came down.

I called Pontiac and that recall is active and has never been performed on this vehicle.

see if they will perform the recall for you, i woudlnt be usrprised if you spun the bearing for the supercharger also, just a guess as to why it doesnt kick in anymore, considering youve been hearing a metal on metal grinding noise.

Yeah the dealership is going to fix the valve covers and re-route the plug wires tomorrow morning but I don't know if they will fix anything that happens as a result of a fault in the vehicle. I called the parts department just to price the supercharger coupling and they claim GM only sells the entire Supercharger....yeah as if Im paying 1000 for that. Im sure there must be a kit. It's an Eaton M90 charger.

I don't know if the boost meter in the cab is dead on either, I just wish I could get it up to those RPM's in motion to see if the supercharger is working. Or I can take the belt off it and try to turn it with my hands to check.

Alright a little update here. We thought the noise may be attributed to the coupler in the supercharger and now have it apart however there is no give in the coupler and it seems fine. The pulley doesnt rattle and seems solid enough but when I spin it the bearings inside sound almost like the noise I heard through the cold air intake. Could crapped out bearings really cause the motor to stay in the low RPM's? Going up hill its almost like driving a manual and not down shifting when you should; it has no balls whatsoever. I need help guys and thanks for everything you have suggested thus far.

But I don't see how bearings that still turn and spin fine would cause it to lose all that RPM. My other thought was if my cat convertor is junk. It over-heated only once to the point where smoke came up through the shifter and burnt out one of the spark plug wires(Cylinder 6)... It makes sense :/ If the exhaust cant escape then the airflow is screwed and I would have no power right? The only thing is the guy before me had it inspected two months ago and it passed emissions, could it really plug that fast? Or maybe something crawled in there and made a home haha

Reason you would have no power is because you had one cylinder not firing(because of damaged wire). If you suspect a plugged cat you can get a back pressure test done on it. Megnaflow direct bolt cats free up few hp and are relitivly cheap. There is a way to check for backpressure with vacuum gauge, but since it's supercharged the boost will mess up your readings. I don't know under what conditions the supercharger makes boost.

I figured that was it zmame but we replaced all the wires and plugs and its still gutless and all cylinders are firing :/

test for backpressure, after that is verified make sure supercharger ismaking boost..

if you have been driving with a dead cylinder for a while the cat is probably damaged

Thank you all for your help. We were right on about the Cat convertor. It was completely blocked. We first removed it from the manifold and drove it and it ran fine. Just installed a new one tonight and it runs better than ever. Again thank you all for your advice :)

If the bearings are making funny sounds and feel worn they are.

Pices of rubber??.. good possibility the supercharger might of piled up and sent stuff into the combustion chamber.. I would check that..

Did you actually do a compression test yet? or do you think there is no compression?

Thanks for your help by the way. I just looked into recalls on this vehicle and there is a compartment fire recall that applies to this exact problem. Maybe they will fix it for me haha

Do you know if the problem was fixed after 1998? This is slightly newer. I have yet to perform a compression test but where Im noticing the oil ontop of the intake manifold is possibly either from the actual seal with the supercharger or the front valve cover due to the location. Im going to grab a Spark plug wire set and then perform the test tomorrow hopefully

regardless if it is a headgasket or not the engine has to come apart if there is no compression. Once you take apart the engine you will know what it is. If there was knocking I would suspect mechanical failure, but you won't know for sure untill you inspect.

But what would cause a spark plug to literally catch on fire? The rubber was charred white and black.

Maybe: If you are leaking coolant out to ground you might. Less chance with leaking coolant into combustion and burning or if coolant is getting in oil and almost no chance is combustion gasses under pressure are getting into cooling system.

This really isn't a fix or a dependable delay of the real job and will make flushing out sealer more troublesome. Watch carefully for mixing of fluids or overheating as it just adds to the problems later,

T

It's a maybe IF very little coolant is/has been consumed only by getting into oil. Change out oil when good and warm + new filter. Add your coolant sealer if you must do this at all while somewhat warm and get it into the radiator not just the recovery tank. Don't use tons of it - 1/2 what's suggested or this isn't a solution anyway.

Check coolant and oil for milkiness daily and all gauges like a hawk. This is a maybe to buy some time as you were looking for. Don't get cocky if it works and you see it works nicely but plan now for the real fix.

Hey? Is this a head gasket at all? Milky oil can be from low mile short trip wet weather and really just condensation. Certainly diagnose a head gasket is for real before just doing one without some real knowledge that it is the issue,

T

thank you so much!i might have over reacted to the oil being alittle milky.from what i was told. if your oil looks milky its from water in it...and the only way water is getting to your oil is though your head gasket.i'll try just a oil change for now and keep my fingers crossed.thank you again!