God 2, Skeet 0

 

Got the wagon on the lift today. The leak isn't infact coming from the oil pan gasket thing like I had thought, its a head gasket.

 

Oh, how I did rejoice at discovering this magical and fantastical news. The clouds parted open, bathing me in pure, holy sunlight. And doves flew out of my rump roast.

 

And then, of course, we looked at the carb. Which was my problem in Montana. Still idling at 2k, blah blah blah. Mechanic (who is going to let me watch him work so I can learn all of this hoopla) says its going to be best to just replace it. Which I was going to do anyway, once I found a Weber.

 

So anyways, he said it would be $240 worth of labor for the head gasket, and I don't think that includes the carb work. He mentioned that kind of as an afterthought.

 

What should I do? Is fixing this something that I can be talked through? Is it worth attempting, or should I just fork over the cash and let the professional have his way at it?

 

I wish I lived in Washington

 

Also: Anyone have a Weber for sale? I have a week before he's ready to work on it.

Glad to see you have kept your sense of humor(I love that part about doves flying out of your rump roast!)

 

How mechanically inclined are you? can you follow directions? do you have a tool set, including a good torque wrench?

 

if you think you have the ability, go for it! its the only way to learn. If you have more money than ability, pay someone else.

 

either way, give Andy a sound spanking next chance you get:D

So are you stranded somewhere? Or are you back home now?

I'm back home alive and well

 

I can follow directions, and I have access to ALMOST every tool ever made. How tough of a process are we looking at here?

prolly not as hard as the doves out of your rump roast

Not bad man - few bolts out, remove old gasket, clean, inspect head for major cracks, new gasket, install, torque bolts to specifications in correct order. Get an underwear manual, and follow the directions. All you really need is a little patience.

 

GD

How long does the process usually take?

Depends on how many times you have done it

 

But I would imagine that even someone who has never done it, with moderate mechanical ability could do it in an afternoon. Carb swap would take a few hours probably.

 

GD

Oh yeah, carb too, heh.

 

Someone dig me up a Weber =/

There's another board member here from Kentucky, up in Midway, which is by Lexington. Thinking his handle is 4wheeling2, but haven't seen him on here in awhile. Thinking he may be able to give you a hand, if you can contact him. Might go back to the old board and see if you could locate a thread with him in it, get his bio info, then send him an email. Couldn't hurt...

$240 ain't THAT bad, but paying a mechanic sux anyway.

oh crap!

I'm going to see if I can get some money back on the engine in light of this news..

also, you might consider doing both head gaskets at once instead of one at a time.. cause sometimes it turns out that way. which side has the bad gasket? passenger's side?

how sure is he that it's a head gasket leak? could you SEE the oil coming out of the HG or something?

give me a call..

Going to class now, a friend there is gonna look at it with me too. I'll call you tonight.

I watched a driver's side head gasket replacement today, on a '86 sedan turbo. Once you get the PS, A/C, and all the intake and pipes/hoses out of the way, and the whole front of the engine (timing belts, covers, fan clutch) out of the way, oh, and try to move the turbo crossover pipe out, it didn't look too bad.

 

Took a professional mechanic most of a whole day, more or less. In a shop full-o'-tools. I was impressed -- but then, I'm easily impressed.

 

If you don't have to deal with the turbo stuff, it's likely a whole lot easier. If it's the passenger side HG, you don't have to mess with the distributor.

 

BTW: I didn't know before, but I know now. The o-ring for the camcase, if purchased from Subaru, is a special "stiff" o-ring. I think it's reinforced somehow. Wish I'd thought of that before I glued a regular o-ring in when I did mine.

 

The '86 above was being re-gasketed for a severe oil leak from head gasket. You know where. $800 later . . .

 

Yes, $240 is pretty reasonable for this job. But if you've got the tools, the work area, the time and inclination, you're better off doing it yourself. The gotchas are things like stripped holes, broken bolts, and you almost always have things that are worn out or need to be replaced that you didn't expect. The upside is that you have total control over the quality of the work done.

Hey Skeet,

How bad is it leaking? It's not uncommon for a little oil to seep from the head gasket. There is always oil on it because of the horizontal configuration. The cam cases can and do leak alot. Sometimes oil from the cam cases can look like it's coming from other places. It's funny how much oil can leak from there since there are no GASKETS!

 

Did the mech do a compression or leakdown test? Any water in the oil or oil in the water? Exhaust gas coming from the radiator? Has it been overheating or loosing coolant? Excessive steam in the exhaust?

 

It sounds like you know the mech but they are trained to turn carb gaskets into carb replacements and carb replacements into engine overhauls...Good luck

I took a good long look around the gasket today and I can't figure out where its leaking from. Cleaned it, drove it around, nothing. Looks like JUST the oil pan gasket to me.

 

I'm going to go talk to the mechanic on Monday.

 

Anyone have any luck digging up a Weber?

i hope it's just the OP gasket..

you might consider getting the weber from someone who supplies Redline.. someone else here might have the contact info for a source; it's been in a fairly recent thread..

http://www.carbsunlimited.com/Weber/Dataresults3.asp?Kit_Nbr=K731&Model=ALL%20,%20INCLUDING%20BRAT This be where I ordered mine from.....

i'll bet you would know more than the mechanic about soobs, but you wouldnt realize it till you got your hands dirty!

 

if its an ea81, that would be real easy, no timing belts or annoying plastic covers to worry about.

 

you can do a head gasket for under 50 bucks, and that includes intake, exhaust seals, and oil.

 

if you got the tools then do it. you gotta take the intake off, so the carb caould be serviced before it goes back on.

 

i personally would pull the motor out, but i would change both head gaskets at the same time.