I am spending my Thanksgiving weekend replacing head gaskets on my '91 Loyale (or at least pulling the heads to take to the machine shop next week). I've made pretty good progress, but I've hit a stumbling block. On the driver's side I have removed all eight of the bolts holding the cam case to the head, but it is stuck fast. The passenger side just fell right off in my hands, separating as the bolts backed out. What gives? - is this thing just stuck to the sealant, or is there some hidden bolt(s) I'm not aware of? I tried searching the forum, but I didn't have any luck. Any ideas are appreciated. Thanks.

make sure you have all the bolts out, there should be bolts even inside the valve covers i believe. put two bolts back in, one on each side of the cam case but just turn them a few turns, just enough to keep them from falling out. then take a piece of wood and a hammer or a rubber mallet and bust it loose from the head. i've seen them stuck on there quite well before as well. but have those two bolts in that way it doesn't fly off when it finally breaks loose. so yeah, they stick sometimes. tap on both sides, if you missed a bolt you'll notice one side trying to bust free and the other sticking tight.

Thanks, Gary. I did try bracing a piece of 2x4 against it and whacking the end of it with a two-pound sledge, but I'll try again. Your idea about leaving a couple of bolts in is a good one - maybe I should count my blessings it *didn't* break loose earlier, because it could have gone flying. I do believe I got all the bolts - four inside the covers and four outside. I guess I'll go give it a few more whacks in the morning.

There are 9 bolts on the disty-side head: 4 inside and 5 outside. Did you remember the one at the pointy end aft of the disty?

 

Edit - There are only 8 bolts. See later post.

2 pound sledge should have certainly done the trick! i think northwet has you covered, i'd bet you're missing a bolt.

2 pound sledge should have certainly done the trick!...

 

But, you know, life's oddities would dictate that a bolt that will snap if you try to remove it would survive an assault be a 2-lb sledge. :-p

 

Pretty sure that aft bolt is still in place. I sure am glad that I have never forgotten about it... twice.

I hate to seem so thick, but I just went out with a flashlight looking for the bolt near the distributor and fully expecting to discover the cause of my woes, but I can't find the darned thing. There was a fifth bolt in the cam (valve) cover near the disty (as opposed to the passenger side, which only had four bolts), but there doesn't seem to be an extra one holding the cam case to the head. There appears to be only eight - four inside the cover, and four outside. Also, Haynes has a pretty good picture (Page 2B-8, fig 8.6) showing the same thing. Where is the last bolt hiding?

OOPS!!! (sheepishly wipes egg from face) There are only 8 bolts. The "9th" that I saw was for the cam cover.

 

Cause of the sticking is probably just a combo of the sealant and the big locating dowel pins.

 

Apologies for the bogus info.

Rubber mallet. About $3 at harbor freight.

 

GD

Correction: There is the water pump pipe bracket with the ground connection that needs to be disconnected from the top of the cam tower.

Rubber mallet. About $3 at harbor freight.

 

GD

+1

As long as all 8 bolts are removed, it shouldn't be too difficult to separate.