hey_obie Posted December 26, 2009 Report Share Posted December 26, 2009 I am working on my daughters V6 1994 Lebaron (no jokes please). The car is eating water so I am replacing both head gaskets. I know if time and money are not an issue, you send the head out to get it milled to remove any warping. I am running on a tight time frame and would prefer not to send the heads out and save the time and money. I have cleaned both head surfaces and tried to see if I can identify any warping. I took my best carpenter level and ran it across the heads looking for warping. I ran a light behind the level looking for light to shine through. No light ever shone on the flat spots. So to me, the head looked perfectly flat. Is it not this simple? Obie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave-O Posted December 26, 2009 Report Share Posted December 26, 2009 If the car doesn't have a history of being overheated, you should be fine. Very rarely have I ever had to have a block or head machined when replacing a headgasket. Then again I'm a junkyard mechanic and my tolerances of "good enough" and "replace it" are very blurred. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vbrad511 Posted December 26, 2009 Report Share Posted December 26, 2009 Just make sure to use a quality gasket set (felpro), and get things clean before reassembly. Never hurts to retorque after a few heat/cool cycles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craig87 Posted December 26, 2009 Report Share Posted December 26, 2009 it should be good if your straight edge is straight. Replace to two o-rings on the end of the water pipe in the valley of you may have an unpleasent surprise.and like vbrad said dont cheapout on the headgaskets, most places sell felpro anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hey_obie Posted December 27, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 27, 2009 (edited) Craig87, Obviously, you are familiar with this engine. What a job to change the water pump. Who the hell designed this one. You say there are two O rings? So I guess I have to remove the water pump to get to the first O ring and then remove the long pipe to get to the second O ring. Does that sound right? Thanks, Obie Edited December 27, 2009 by hey_obie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killtodie Posted December 27, 2009 Report Share Posted December 27, 2009 water pump? it was one of the easiest thing to replace for me. a bit of a pain to have to redo all the belts but fairly straight forward.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hey_obie Posted December 27, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 27, 2009 Killtodie, This thread started talking about a Chrysler Lebaron head gasket. The water pump on the Lebaron is an ungodly job. To get to the water pump, you are dealing with a sideways mounted engine. You must unbolt the engine from the car, unbolt the AC compressor and remove the bracket (not easy), remove the serpantine belt, remove the engine plate that bolts to the engine mount, remove the belt tensioner,remove all timing belt covers and then the timing belt and then you can remove the water pump. It was a bout a 5 hour job for me to get there when I did it about 4 years ago. I just had to do it again to get the heads off. If the Conquest had the water pump behind the timing chain, that would be a lot easier to replace than it is on the Lebaron. Obie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killtodie Posted December 27, 2009 Report Share Posted December 27, 2009 my bad, missread that. working on any transverse mounted engine is a pita Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelby Posted December 27, 2009 Report Share Posted December 27, 2009 yes the 3.0 has a coolant connector pipe,, the orings should come with the pump,, clean any corrosiion on the pipe , and rtv the inside of the pipe and oirng , LIGHTly rtv , mainthing is rotate the engine several times and recheck belt tention the 3.3 v6 is real easy ,it's on the lower left frt of engine,, 6 bolts and it's out 3.8 s a bit more of a pain replae those steel band clamps with real clamps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad Posted December 27, 2009 Report Share Posted December 27, 2009 I'd have a shop look at it. Not only do you check for warp but you need to look for any "etching" of the surface from the gasket. I know time is of the essence so just be sure the surface is flat and no etching or pits. Dad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Hincher Posted December 27, 2009 Report Share Posted December 27, 2009 I am working on my daughters V6 1994 Lebaron (no jokes please). The car is eating water so I am replacing both head gaskets. I know if time and money are not an issue, you send the head out to get it milled to remove any warping. I am running on a tight time frame and would prefer not to send the heads out and save the time and money. I have cleaned both head surfaces and tried to see if I can identify any warping. I took my best carpenter level and ran it across the heads looking for warping. I ran a light behind the level looking for light to shine through. No light ever shone on the flat spots. So to me, the head looked perfectly flat. Is it not this simple? Obie take your straight edge ( level) and use a feeler guage to find any depth in the surface of the head, just lay the straight edge across the head and see if you can drag the feeler guage between the head and the straight edge,( just like adjusting valves) anything over .003 thousands is too much, .0015 is usual, make sure and pay close attention to the bridge between cylinders because thats the weakest point. Aviod milling heads if you can, always have heads straightened instead, Pay attention to the head bolts and make sure the treads are clean before assembly, stretched head bolts or distrorted head bolt holes will give you bad torque readings dont forget to check the deck of the block for warp too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hey_obie Posted December 29, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 29, 2009 I went and got the felpro head gaskets. Check both heads very carefully and they look good. Cleaned the valves and replace the valve stem seals. Replaced the orings on the water pump tube, cleaned the tube first. The heads are back on and torqued to 85 flbs. Replaced the orings on the distributor and have the timing belt back on. Now I just have to put the whole car back together. Lot of gaskets left to replace, mostly on the exhaust To be continued Thanks for everyone's help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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