so some of you might remember that i had some engine problems with my 01 durango (given to me). i decided i was sick of troubleshooting and decided to just pull the heads and find out for sure what is up.

i got a haynes manual and dug in. i followed the manual and also kept notes on exactly what i took apart and in what order. i am about ready for the machine shop and will keep this thread updated.

1. get a few boxes of ziplock bags (the ones you can write on) and a permanent marker. you are going to want to bag everything.

2. get a permanent area set up as this is going to take some serious time. i probably have more than 20 man hours in the tear down as i was being very slow and methodical. i did this in my driveway with the grill right up to my garage door. i set up a large table just inside the door (behind me) so i could organize parts and tools.

3. get the inner fenders out of there as soon as you run into trouble. just plan on replacing the clips that hold them in as you will break them all. i have not gotten to this step yet.

4. if possible, degrease and hose down as much of the engine as you can before hand and let it dry. i tried to get mine clean and still had a ton of crapp falling onto everything.

5. take notes if you need to, and have your digicam ready so you can get pictures of things you know you are going to forget (hose and wire routing, etc). don't pretend you are going to remember and assume you are not going to revisit some of this for 10 years and you will remember NOTHING.

here is what i have spent so far:

Haynes Manual (autozone): $25
Zip Lock bags and marker: $10
Random sockets, extensions, special tools, etc: $100
(yeah i was a bit short on tools, and used this as an excuse to load up on some stuff i have needed for a while)

 

here are the notes i took while working (pics to come):

1. removed air cleaner assembly
2. removed coils and plugs
3. relieve fuel pressure as per manual
4. removed throttlebody sensors and cables (i had to bend my bracket out of the way a bit)
5. removed upper dipstick bracket and throttle body bracket (note: i did not remove the dipstick tube as per the haynes instructions. this did not cause any problems and that bolt behind the passenger head is damn near impossible to reach)
6. removed the hood seal (not sure why i did this actually)
7. removed the serpentine belt
8. removed alternator plugs and bolts
9. removed a/c compressor
10. removed injectors (not 5 & 7 at this time as i couldn't get to them)
11. removed fuel line to rail (get the cheap tool in my pic which worked just fine)
12. removed fuel rail (at some point i must have removed 5 & 7)
13. removed water temp sensor, front of intake sensor (whatever that means. my notes might suck to some degree)
14. loosened intake manifold bolts (they stay in the manifold)
15. removed intake manifolds (get a friend to help hold wires out of the way when you start removing the big stuff)
16. loosened fan (see pic for the tool i made)
17. removed fan shroud
18. removed fan
19. pulled lower radiator hose from the radiator (note: i let my coolant leak all over my cement. it can't get to dirt and soak into the ground so it just evaporated. it did not stain my cement. i did not remove any radiator hoses and just disconnected them from whatever needed to come out)
20. removed power steering pump
21. pulled heater hoses (this is the first time i really needed the inner fenders gone!)
22. removed driver side breather at the back of the head (i had to unthread it from the head as the hose would not come off)
23. removed driver side valve cover (remember: get a friend to help. the wires will really make this hell) with light prying pressure around the circumference of the mating surface. take your time and do not pry hard. DO NOT USE THE BLOCK AND HAMMER METHOD!!!!!!!!
24. removed air cleaner box from passenger fender (mine didn't have screws and i had to just pull it off the fender. it did not break the clips)
25. removed passenger valve cover (FRIEND!!!!)
26. unplug the cam sensor and remove it (please please please be careful with this thing)
27. removed idler pulley
28. put the engine at top dead center (the crank has a mark, and the heads have a mark as well. consult the manual)
29. removed the crank pulley (i bought the cheap harbor freight puller that came with 4 or 5 different sizes. i ended up using one of the smaller ones and it came off no problem
30. removed timing chain cover
31. removed the timing chain tensioners (i broke one of these doing it the way the manual told me to do it. i can't tell you how to be more careful. i am going to have to replace some part of it but i didn't write it down)
32. removed secondary tensioner (see the manual for pics. come on man, go buy that damn Haynes manual!)
33. loosen the cam gears
34. removed the oil filler tube
35. removed upper timing chain guides
36. removed necessary access plugs to get to the guide bolts
37. removed the timing chain gears (note: you need a second man again, this is going to be easy. do one head at a time and have someone hold the cam shaft with locking pliers (not on the cam lobe of course). once you slide the gear off you friend is going to feel that cam want to move to a neutral position. do not worry, because this is not a big force so your friend doesn't need to brace himself like crazy. once the gear is off he will rotate the cam slowly until it feels neutral. the driver cam is supposed to go clockwise and the passenger cam counter-clockwise. my driver cam didn't want to move at all so we didn't move it. my passenger cam moved counter-clock (looking at it while standing in front of the grill) a little bit and then became neutral)
38. removed the exhaust from the exhaust manifolds (you are going to pull the heads with the manifolds attached)
39. loosened the head bolts in 1/4 turn stages until i could get them with my fingers, while following the correct order stated in the same manual you are going to buy (AREN'T YOU!?!?)
40. removed the heads one at a time

 

this is the tool i bought to remove the fuel line from the fuel rail (cheap at autozone)



this is the tool i made to loosen the radiator fan. you can get one of those chain wrenches but i didn't have one and didn't want to buy one when i could whip this up in a few minutes with scrap. i did buy this 12" adjustable wrench from lowes though (lifetime warranty and cheaper than a craftsman or crescent. it worked prefectly)




alright, when you loosen the cam bolts all you need to do is get a friend on the crank bolt (put it back in as you have already pulled the crank pulley) with a good breaker bar. you get an impact gun or another breaker bar on the cam bolt and break them loose. as long as you don't remove the cam gears right now you won't have to worry about your cams spinning. i did not have such a friend at the time so i made this tool to hold the cam gear while i broke the driver side cam bolt loose. by the time i got this done my friend showed up and we did the passenger side with the breaker bar method and a impact gun. it was much easier and this stupid tool ended up only barely working and it took a long time to make (which sucked). here is a pic of this stupid thing:




i knew my passenger head was the problem, so i wasn't surprised when the driver side looked good. here are some pics:






this is the passenger head.... uh, is there a problem here?






and as you can imagine, there WAS some piston contact. luckily it was a very very small amount. not enough to worry about luckily!!! the truck has actually been driving with these bad valves for over 100 miles (but it idles really rough).

 

at this point i took both heads to my machinist and he told me the passenger one was garbage. he said these valve seats are cast into the head and can not be replaced or repaired.

there happened to be another guy in the machine shop having head work on the exact same heads and told me that i can get them easily from a junk yard for much less than a reman online or through the machinist's vendor. the machinist concurred.

i called a wrecking hard near my house and they told me the had a passenger head in good shape that was already pulled for $125 (no core charge and cam is in it). i had to go to work so i sent my wife to get it. i got home tonight and found out the GAVE ME A DRIVER SIDE HEAD!!

now i get to take it back tomorrow for an exchange. if they don't have one then i have to find another yard and probably pull it myself.

more to come!!!!!

 

Looks Great!

However you were supposed to put the engine on TDC on #1 cylinder BEFORE stripping it down for timing. You can fix this buy ensuring that the piston is at TDC and the Harmonic Balancer pulley is at TDC. If it is off 180 degree's then you are on exhaust stroke at TDC so make sure both the pulley marks and piston is at TDC BEFORE putting it back together.

As for side notes, as I see the cylinder walls look to be in good shape for the most part. This cylinder that your seat fell out and was tapped has a little scoring but in pretty good overall shape. Make sure you get REALLY GOOD head gaskets and have the replacement heads checked for flatness before installation. Most shops will clean em up and check for flat for like $100 or so last I checked (long time ago).

Now you can check for true flat with a straight edge and feelers but I would let the pro's clean out the valves and everything which will make that motor pur. Looks like that motor has about 100k on it....IMHO.

I do see some carbon build up (which is normal) but you can tell the plugs weren't changed in good intervals thus the extra carbon. This is why i like to change out the plugs at least every 15k on normal plugs. Platinum or Iridium I would change out at 60k or before.

 

you are right. i had the crank at TDC early in the game but once i saw the markings on the cam i knew it was an easy tell.

i showed the machinist (already been down there) some pics of the piston in question and he said it was not enough to worry about. he will tear down and valve job for $200 for the pair. it goes up of course if i need valves, guides, etc. once i pull the junkyard head i will take the heads down for teardown and inspection

it has 170k on it and a lot of that is towing! i was shocked at how good the cylinders look as you can still see the factory hone job.

1. should i clean that carbon off the pistons some how?
2. where do i get good head gaskets (someone link me please)?
3. the machinist told me to pull the cams. i have some stamps to mark the caps but do i need to mark the rockers or can they go back in any random location?

junkyard head on saturday and machinist next week!

 

www.rockauto.com

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SOHC engine; Head bolts not incl.; Head bolt replacement recommended
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Leave the pistons alone. You need to clean all the contaminates out of the cylinders. Suck them out with a shop vacuum and pay very close attention to the area between the cylinder walls and the pistons (this is the rings area) but I'm sure you knew that. As for cleaning the pistons, the only way is with a cleaner cause you can't use anything abrasive as it can find it's way down on the rings scaring your cylinder walls. I'd just leave it or maybe soak them with Seafoam and wipe them off with a clean cloth.

I saw the hone marks on the motor and that's why I said the motor looks good. Mark the rockers and place them in the same spots.

Replace the timing chain set!

 

Rusmannx, how many miles are on that engine?

 

Hi guys, Nice thread. I am about to do the same thing except take it a step further and replace the crank.

I just bought the 2003 Durango with a motor knock due to over heating. Not sure why over heating would cause a knock but I know for sure the water pump is bad.

Does anyone happen to know the part number for the rob bolts?

Thanks
Dave

 

Why would overheating cause a knock?


Cause it heats up the rings and melts em then the pistons can't hold compression!.....ug


<------Hydra showing drunk attitude.