I will be very disappointed if the water pump is all jacked up at this point, since I just replaced that thing less than 10 months ago. However, as ugly as the coolant was, I may just go ahead and put a new radiator in at the same time, since it looks a bit rusty in there too. I wouldn't be too surprised if the water pump is corroded too, but I am being optimistic that it is in good condition. We'll see when I remove it.

 

Replace the plenum gasket on the intake manifold.

If you have a warranty on the water pump replace it as well as a new bypass hose. During refill use 50?50 or distilled water and antifreeze.

If you have the $$$$$ get the heads ported and polished if not get all the high spots removed.

Use a good head gasket set like Mopar Performance or Perma-torque from Fel-pro.

Do both head gaskets!

 

yup +1 on all of this

 

Thanks, I will definately get the best gasket, for sure. Also, I was told by a friend to get aftermarket "heavy duty" cylinder heads instead of using the originals. Are there any specific brands that I should look into, or recommendations as well? Any information on the matter would definately help. I am interested in doing whatever I can to make the Dodge better, while I am at this point anyway. Thanks in advance!

 

unless the heads are cracked or damaged there should be no need to replace them, no issues that i am aware of with the heads, the issue is that the gaskets dry out, and you need the gaskets to make up for the dissimilar metals that meet there and will expand at different rates so the gasket is there to compensate for that and provide a better seal

 

Well, we should have the cylinder heads off this evening, tomorrow at the latest. I don't think anything has happended to the heads, since the vehicle only overheated slightly, but we do have an obvious head gasket issue. This was the first ever compression check I had done on a vehicle. Compression test showed:
1) 0 3) 30 5) 30 7)55
2) 100 4) 100 6) 50 8) 100

Driver side has obvious significantly bigger issues that passenger side. #1 sparkplug also had oil residue on it, but none on the others, as they all seemed fine. I did not put any oil into the cylinders and do another compression check, which I probably should have done.

It looks like I will have the cylinders heads checked at my local head shop for about $80, and they talked about cleaning up the intake/exhaust ports for about $300 bucks (is this reasonable for a port/polish job?) They indicated that the biggest benefit would be in the exhaust side by increasing the flow and I could expect slightly better gas mileage. Any other suggestions at this point?

 

Sounds right priced (if anything cheap)!


As for the compression, they don't look good! 1-7 are **** and I don't like the 2-8 either. What is the kicker is the #6 at 50....WTF? I would have done the oil test as you talked about but oh well, too late now. Replace the head gasket and pray!

 

where should the compession be hydra??

 

Hydra...yeah, I'm all about the WTF on #6. It's pretty amazing that it didn't really overheat that much, at least, not to the extent that I have read all over the forum. I mean, it never got over 240 max, at any point. I'm just really bummed that all this looks to be a result of an air bubble, something that was fairly preventable. That pretty much sucks, but, it's all in the past, now. It still drove fairly well, with the intermittent miss at idle (well, I'm sure the miss was still there, but of course, it was just more obvious at idle). I made sure there was plenty of water before I made the 15 minute drive to my mechanics garage, and the temp only starting getting past 160-170 as I arrived. I'm optimistic the head gasket is the only issue, but I will continue to pray.

Additionally, to elaborate on the cost of the port/polish, again, it's $300 bucks for the port/polish work, not the resurfacing & such. They just said "IF" I wanted them to do it, it would cost that much more. They used to be sponsor's for our late model's my dad used to build, so maybe they were giving me a slight break, I don't know. That will be in addition to the $1,200-$1,600 the mechanic is charging me to do the repairs (which is the total price for the R&R of the cylinder heads.)

I think I'm gonna invest in a new radiator & hoses too, since there is a little rust inside the current one, despite the fact it seems to work fine. Water pump will be inspected once the head are off. Should there be anything else I should consider?

 

$300 bucks is a good deal. Don't go over 1.60" on the intake and 2.00" on the exhaust valves. I think you have the cooling system covered if you want to do a radiator.

Good numbers are 120+ to about 155+ on a good motor. Anything under 120 is concitered low in my book and anything under 100 you got issues. 90 and under, kiss it goodbye!