Hey guys hows it going? Im new to this site and just registered and have a little question. Im replacing the cylinder head cover gasket on my legend and its supposed to be easy to do but im having troubles with the gasket staying in the grove of the head cover. Im wondering if im supposed to use some kind of bonding agent or if theres a secret to it. If anyone can help me out please post. Thanks.
Changing cylinder head cover gasket
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on the block where the head gasket rest there is 2 small cylinder shaped dowel pins, they fit into 2 of the holes and you have to slip them in fat end first so the tips will protrude, then the gasket has holes that slip over it to hold them in place. Mine is a 90 and yours is a 98 right? they should be the same.. make sure you didnt drop them and lose them while pulling the head off, they arent attatched to anything. just sitting in holes like lash adusters or somthing.
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see that thing sticking out the corner of the gasket holding it it place, thats a dowel, the c27a engine has 2 of them, if you dont have them then look everywhere under your car and stuff for them, they are easy to just fall out when the head is pulled.
Even if your a very strong person its a good idea to have 2 people lift that head on if you have the engine in the car. the heads a little heavy and it somtimes takes a few minutes to line them up with the dowl pins.. DONT SLIP cause if you do and anything hits that gasket its like butter and will get dented or gashed up. make sure you check that gasket well too, i had to return 3 of them before i got one that didnt have scratches on it.. one little scratch or dent will ruin all your work. unhook the coolant line that runs right along the head where the O2 sensor used to be, it gets snagged while trying to put it in, also push as much hoses ect away cause its a PITA to move them while trying to position the head.
I dont know of any sealants or anything you would want to use on somthing as critcal as a head...
Also make sure you clean the threads of the head bolts good and clean out the bolt holes with compressed air or a wire brush because one little grain of dirt can make the bolt look more torqued than it actually it. also clean out any oil or coolant that has gotten in them... and you must dip each bolt in oil before putting it in to get correct torque accuracy but just enough to wet them.. you put too much or there is oil or coolant or anything inside the hole then the bolt will have hydrolic lock when it gets to the pool of liquid at the bottom and throw torque lbs off... correct torque lbs is very critical and you must have it to spec.. I torqued mine 10lbs over.. if you want to go over dont do too much since head bolts have a strectch limit while the heat up, if it goes beyond the limit from too much torque they wont return to normal size and losen the head upon cooling. oyea, make sure the mating surfaces are clean! i wiped mine with a vertical razor blade, not good to go at a angle with the razor cause it can scratch the head. also wipe those heads with napkins untill you dont see any more dirt, anything on that surface can lead to failure.
the hardest part of my head job was taking off that crank pully.. i broke 2 half inch breaker bars pulling well over 300lbs of tq and it never came off, I eventually just losend the tension pullys screw on the outside of the cover and pulled the belt onto the crank and turned it on like you do a bicycle chain but later i realized that the belt slipped half way off the tensioner and ripped a hole in the center of my belt after driving it but luckly it didnt break so now i gota cut the timing cover to get it off the pully to change the whole belt.
Its not reccomended to do it this way since it can damage the belt but so long as you look down in that cover and push the tensioner pully with a long wrench or somthing while you tighten it then it can be done if you have to.
its alot easier to position that head straight if you undo the hood lifts and push the hood straight up and stand on top of the engine while lowering it.
make sure to put some assembly lube on all lifters, rockers, ect or pour oil all over the tops of your cams before putting the valve covers back on, then rotate your engine a couple times by hand with the crank to make sure nothing is contacting or locking and to get the parts lubed up before start up.. try to do this right before you plan on starting it before all the oil drains back down to the pan.
if you have any questions torque specs or anything just ask, i know just about everything by heart since ive already torn mine down 3 times.. the head bolts have to be tightened in a specific order and in torque increments like 36lbs first then 56lbs, if you overheated your car consider getting new head bolts or atleast give them a good look each, torque lbs is essential when changing the head gasket.
double or tripple check that your coolant is full and all coolant lines are connected when your finished. there may be a little smoke when you first start it up for up to a hour from oil or coolant that has drained into the exhaust, on the pistons or got on exhaust valves while the head was off but it shouldnt be too thick, if there is a extreme amount of white smoke thats not good, keep a eye on your coolant levels and heat levels too, when i first started mine it started overheating so i turned it off, and the bottom radiator hose wasnt very hot, so i turned it on again and it ran fine, must have been the thermostat stuck for a bit after sitting without coolant for so long.
see that thing sticking out the corner of the gasket holding it it place, thats a dowel, the c27a engine has 2 of them, if you dont have them then look everywhere under your car and stuff for them, they are easy to just fall out when the head is pulled.
Even if your a very strong person its a good idea to have 2 people lift that head on if you have the engine in the car. the heads a little heavy and it somtimes takes a few minutes to line them up with the dowl pins.. DONT SLIP cause if you do and anything hits that gasket its like butter and will get dented or gashed up. make sure you check that gasket well too, i had to return 3 of them before i got one that didnt have scratches on it.. one little scratch or dent will ruin all your work. unhook the coolant line that runs right along the head where the O2 sensor used to be, it gets snagged while trying to put it in, also push as much hoses ect away cause its a PITA to move them while trying to position the head.
I dont know of any sealants or anything you would want to use on somthing as critcal as a head...
Also make sure you clean the threads of the head bolts good and clean out the bolt holes with compressed air or a wire brush because one little grain of dirt can make the bolt look more torqued than it actually it. also clean out any oil or coolant that has gotten in them... and you must dip each bolt in oil before putting it in to get correct torque accuracy but just enough to wet them.. you put too much or there is oil or coolant or anything inside the hole then the bolt will have hydrolic lock when it gets to the pool of liquid at the bottom and throw torque lbs off... correct torque lbs is very critical and you must have it to spec.. I torqued mine 10lbs over.. if you want to go over dont do too much since head bolts have a strectch limit while the heat up, if it goes beyond the limit from too much torque they wont return to normal size and losen the head upon cooling. oyea, make sure the mating surfaces are clean! i wiped mine with a vertical razor blade, not good to go at a angle with the razor cause it can scratch the head. also wipe those heads with napkins untill you dont see any more dirt, anything on that surface can lead to failure.
the hardest part of my head job was taking off that crank pully.. i broke 2 half inch breaker bars pulling well over 300lbs of tq and it never came off, I eventually just losend the tension pullys screw on the outside of the cover and pulled the belt onto the crank and turned it on like you do a bicycle chain but later i realized that the belt slipped half way off the tensioner and ripped a hole in the center of my belt after driving it but luckly it didnt break so now i gota cut the timing cover to get it off the pully to change the whole belt.
Its not reccomended to do it this way since it can damage the belt but so long as you look down in that cover and push the tensioner pully with a long wrench or somthing while you tighten it then it can be done if you have to.
its alot easier to position that head straight if you undo the hood lifts and push the hood straight up and stand on top of the engine while lowering it.
make sure to put some assembly lube on all lifters, rockers, ect or pour oil all over the tops of your cams before putting the valve covers back on, then rotate your engine a couple times by hand with the crank to make sure nothing is contacting or locking and to get the parts lubed up before start up.. try to do this right before you plan on starting it before all the oil drains back down to the pan.
if you have any questions torque specs or anything just ask, i know just about everything by heart since ive already torn mine down 3 times.. the head bolts have to be tightened in a specific order and in torque increments like 36lbs first then 56lbs, if you overheated your car consider getting new head bolts or atleast give them a good look each, torque lbs is essential when changing the head gasket.
double or tripple check that your coolant is full and all coolant lines are connected when your finished. there may be a little smoke when you first start it up for up to a hour from oil or coolant that has drained into the exhaust, on the pistons or got on exhaust valves while the head was off but it shouldnt be too thick, if there is a extreme amount of white smoke thats not good, keep a eye on your coolant levels and heat levels too, when i first started mine it started overheating so i turned it off, and the bottom radiator hose wasnt very hot, so i turned it on again and it ran fine, must have been the thermostat stuck for a bit after sitting without coolant for so long.
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638 Posts
wait a min.. did you mean the valve cover gasket? lol the thing that goes on top of the head? yea.. use some kind of silicon sealant like RTV, they sell the stuff everywhere. i dont think it matters if its oil resistant or not, you just need it to hold the thing in place. just about anything thats not gona harden like glue or somthing that may eat away rubber
You should do a DIY on this man, its good. Oh and to take of the crank pully. put 2 bolts in 180 degrees apart through the holes in the crankpully, then put a large metal pole accross the 2 bolts and turn it so the pole touches the ground or the crossmember then take a torque wrech and take the bolt off. My dad also broke many breaker bars trying to take it off and that simple gismo helped alot.cigarettcancerman said:on the block where the head gasket rest there is 2 small cylinder shaped dowel pins, they fit into 2 of the holes and you have to slip them in fat end first so the tips will protrude, then the gasket has holes that slip over it to hold them in place. Mine is a 90 and yours is a 98 right? they should be the same.. make sure you didnt drop them and lose them while pulling the head off, they arent attatched to anything. just sitting in holes like lash adusters or somthing.
![]()
see that thing sticking out the corner of the gasket holding it it place, thats a dowel, the c27a engine has 2 of them, if you dont have them then look everywhere under your car and stuff for them, they are easy to just fall out when the head is pulled.
Even if your a very strong person its a good idea to have 2 people lift that head on if you have the engine in the car. the heads a little heavy and it somtimes takes a few minutes to line them up with the dowl pins.. DONT SLIP cause if you do and anything hits that gasket its like butter and will get dented or gashed up. make sure you check that gasket well too, i had to return 3 of them before i got one that didnt have scratches on it.. one little scratch or dent will ruin all your work. unhook the coolant line that runs right along the head where the O2 sensor used to be, it gets snagged while trying to put it in, also push as much hoses ect away cause its a PITA to move them while trying to position the head.
I dont know of any sealants or anything you would want to use on somthing as critcal as a head...
Also make sure you clean the threads of the head bolts good and clean out the bolt holes with compressed air or a wire brush because one little grain of dirt can make the bolt look more torqued than it actually it. also clean out any oil or coolant that has gotten in them... and you must dip each bolt in oil before putting it in to get correct torque accuracy but just enough to wet them.. you put too much or there is oil or coolant or anything inside the hole then the bolt will have hydrolic lock when it gets to the pool of liquid at the bottom and throw torque lbs off... correct torque lbs is very critical and you must have it to spec.. I torqued mine 10lbs over.. if you want to go over dont do too much since head bolts have a strectch limit while the heat up, if it goes beyond the limit from too much torque they wont return to normal size and losen the head upon cooling. oyea, make sure the mating surfaces are clean! i wiped mine with a vertical razor blade, not good to go at a angle with the razor cause it can scratch the head. also wipe those heads with napkins untill you dont see any more dirt, anything on that surface can lead to failure.
the hardest part of my head job was taking off that crank pully.. i broke 2 half inch breaker bars pulling well over 300lbs of tq and it never came off, I eventually just losend the tension pullys screw on the outside of the cover and pulled the belt onto the crank and turned it on like you do a bicycle chain but later i realized that the belt slipped half way off the tensioner and ripped a hole in the center of my belt after driving it but luckly it didnt break so now i gota cut the timing cover to get it off the pully to change the whole belt.
Its not reccomended to do it this way since it can damage the belt but so long as you look down in that cover and push the tensioner pully with a long wrench or somthing while you tighten it then it can be done if you have to.
its alot easier to position that head straight if you undo the hood lifts and push the hood straight up and stand on top of the engine while lowering it.
make sure to put some assembly lube on all lifters, rockers, ect or pour oil all over the tops of your cams before putting the valve covers back on, then rotate your engine a couple times by hand with the crank to make sure nothing is contacting or locking and to get the parts lubed up before start up.. try to do this right before you plan on starting it before all the oil drains back down to the pan.
if you have any questions torque specs or anything just ask, i know just about everything by heart since ive already torn mine down 3 times.. the head bolts have to be tightened in a specific order and in torque increments like 36lbs first then 56lbs, if you overheated your car consider getting new head bolts or atleast give them a good look each, torque lbs is essential when changing the head gasket.
double or tripple check that your coolant is full and all coolant lines are connected when your finished. there may be a little smoke when you first start it up for up to a hour from oil or coolant that has drained into the exhaust, on the pistons or got on exhaust valves while the head was off but it shouldnt be too thick, if there is a extreme amount of white smoke thats not good, keep a eye on your coolant levels and heat levels too, when i first started mine it started overheating so i turned it off, and the bottom radiator hose wasnt very hot, so i turned it on again and it ran fine, must have been the thermostat stuck for a bit after sitting without coolant for so long.
Joined
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638 Posts
I use a chain wrench to hold the pully still, it simply wont budge.
As for a DIY, heres a quickie, Take out your alternator, power steering pump, intake manifold, timing cover, valve cover, cam pully, inner timing cover, cam bearing, cam, lifters and lash adjusters, downpipe from exhaust manifold, then the head. Then realize that a couple hours of your time wasnt worth working 40hrs 1-4 weeks to pay some one else do it.
As for a DIY, heres a quickie, Take out your alternator, power steering pump, intake manifold, timing cover, valve cover, cam pully, inner timing cover, cam bearing, cam, lifters and lash adjusters, downpipe from exhaust manifold, then the head. Then realize that a couple hours of your time wasnt worth working 40hrs 1-4 weeks to pay some one else do it.
Joined
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42 Posts
$$ much does something like this cost to have someone else do? also if i did it myself how much will parts/tools cost me and also what tools will I need. Does the car need to be on a lift?
I'm technically/mechanically saavy but have not done anything like this before, is it advisable for me to do it myself.
Anyone in the tampa area that can work on this with me? I'll make it worth your while. Plus im a fun person to hang out with, thats always a plus
I'm technically/mechanically saavy but have not done anything like this before, is it advisable for me to do it myself.
Anyone in the tampa area that can work on this with me? I'll make it worth your while. Plus im a fun person to hang out with, thats always a plus
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