What have I gotten myself into?

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[–]fred_red_beans 4 insightful - 3 fun4 insightful - 2 fun5 insightful - 3 fun -  (1 child)

Looks like a foreign made 4 banger without an intake with tight spots for tools and hands

[–]Zapped[S] 4 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

I tried to tag the pic. 2000 Nissan Frontier 3.3 V6. Head gasket replacement time. I now have lower intake off, but the dreaded timing assembly needs to come off before I can even start on the head removal. I am waiting back to hear from a friend of my sister who may come out and finish what I start for cheap. It wasn't worth me taking it to a shop because of the cost/return ratio. I replaced the timing and water pump while stranded in a parking lot several years ago in about 4 hours. The problem now is that I'm in my garage behind the house and I get distracted easily.

[–][deleted] 4 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 2 fun -  (3 children)

How's it going now? I felt like a mechanical god when I changed my starter, probably wouldn't try head gaskets.

[–]Comatoast 4 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

Dude, starters aren't shit compared to head gasket replacement. Working on cars is rewarding as hell though, especially when you realize how much money is being saved from paying labor.

I guess I should stay and pay attention since our other car has a leak in the headgasket, despite not being the same make/model.

[–]Zapped[S] 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Yeah, with the price of used cars right now, I find repair can be cheaper than getting something newer. It hasn't always been that way, though. Plus, you don't always know what the newer car has been through or if the previous owner did the routine maintenance.

[–]Zapped[S] 3 insightful - 3 fun3 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 3 fun -  (0 children)

I have everything out of the way now. Just need a few hours set aside to get the heads loose from the block and exhaust manifold. I always feel good starting and finishing a car repair project. It's the middle parts that I tend to get "distracted" during. I'm at the point in my life where I don't have to do my own car repair, but I need to know I still can. Starters can be a PITA. I had a 1976 Mustang II that needed the engine lifted off the motor mounts to change the starter.

[–]Zapped[S] 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (3 children)

So the timing assembly was a breeze. I've found that I have to take the exhaust manifolds off to get to the heads. To get the exhaust manifolds off, I have to take off the catalytic converters. The nuts and bolts on the rear flange of the cats are rusted solid. I'll be buying parts once I have a list of what I break or have to cut apart.

[–]Comatoast 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (2 children)

How much overall do you think you'll end up saving with this project vs what's been quoted before? How different would you say the process has been do far, and if it's worth it?

[–]Zapped[S] 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

I'll save about $1500. I'm trying to only use free time on this project so I can justify not paying a shop to do this. Projects like this are fun to me and very satisfying as long as they don't drag out due to me getting distracted.

[–]Comatoast 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

I get it. They wanted over half the cost in labor alone to do some repairs on mine a bit back. Outside of getting an alignment there and something else I can't remember, we ended up doing everything at home. If you've got the gift of figuring out what to do, there's pretty good rewards to diy'ing it.

[–]Zapped[S] 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

https://imgur.com/a/jGJwPRg

I got the driver's side head off the block without having to take the catalytic converter out. It looks like coolant was blowing out the two end exhaust ports. I'll check the head for square and decide where to go from there. It also looks like the previous owner knew it was leaking and used some sealer that has gummed up some of the coolant holes.