265K on my '00 Dakota 4.7...replaced the headgaskets this weekend
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From: central Illinois
265K on my '00 Dakota 4.7...replaced the headgaskets this weekend
I just replaced the headgaskets on my Dakota this weekend. It had developed a crack in the material of the gasket between the #7 cylinder and the waterjacket and was pressurizing the water coolant.
Anyway, since I did one headgasket, I decided that it was just easier to go ahead and do both.
Believe it or not, the engine was pretty clean inside. There really didn't appear to be much a ring ridge on any of the cylinders.
I did discover two issues that were addressed.
On the right bank, the gear on the end of the camshaft had shifted slightly on the dowel pin...about half of the width. Not sure why but replaced the camshaft and gear with one that I had on hand. The valves weren't hitting but it sure was out of pure luck. It could have been a catastrophic event if that pin had sheared off. The cam bolt was tight.
The second issue was that I had a cracked injector body. I just went ahead and replaced them all with a set that I had on hand out of a 4.7 HO engine that I just got done rebuilding for this truck. The "O" rings were the biggest pain in the whole exercise.
And now, it runs like a champ. It is nice and quiet...and seems like it is definitely running smoother. It was getting around 18 mpg running on a leaking cylinder and now I am curious to see if the higher pressure injectors will make a difference or not.
While I had it apart, I also swapped the heads with a spare set that I had but used the original cams, lifters and arms. There wasn't anything wrong with the original heads other than they are dirty. I also lapped the valves and replaced the valve seals on the spares and figured since I had the original heads off, I might as well go ahead and swap them out with the rebuilt set.
One thing that made it "easier" was that I had a friend of mine draw the freon out of the air conditioning system so that I could completely remove the compressor and hoses so that they wouldn't be dangling in my way.
The whole process took me about 15 hours total with about 2 just dinking around with those stupid "O" rings. That was from the time that I removed the hood to pulling it out the shop and driving it down the road.
I have a 4.7 HO that I just got done rebuilding and a tranny/transfer case with 34k on them to swap in but since the truck was still running fine, I figured that I would see how long it would survive before the swap is made. It was getting around 18 mpg...wonder what it will get when it is actually running properly on all 8 cylinders.
Anyway, since I did one headgasket, I decided that it was just easier to go ahead and do both.
Believe it or not, the engine was pretty clean inside. There really didn't appear to be much a ring ridge on any of the cylinders.
I did discover two issues that were addressed.
On the right bank, the gear on the end of the camshaft had shifted slightly on the dowel pin...about half of the width. Not sure why but replaced the camshaft and gear with one that I had on hand. The valves weren't hitting but it sure was out of pure luck. It could have been a catastrophic event if that pin had sheared off. The cam bolt was tight.
The second issue was that I had a cracked injector body. I just went ahead and replaced them all with a set that I had on hand out of a 4.7 HO engine that I just got done rebuilding for this truck. The "O" rings were the biggest pain in the whole exercise.
And now, it runs like a champ. It is nice and quiet...and seems like it is definitely running smoother. It was getting around 18 mpg running on a leaking cylinder and now I am curious to see if the higher pressure injectors will make a difference or not.
While I had it apart, I also swapped the heads with a spare set that I had but used the original cams, lifters and arms. There wasn't anything wrong with the original heads other than they are dirty. I also lapped the valves and replaced the valve seals on the spares and figured since I had the original heads off, I might as well go ahead and swap them out with the rebuilt set.
One thing that made it "easier" was that I had a friend of mine draw the freon out of the air conditioning system so that I could completely remove the compressor and hoses so that they wouldn't be dangling in my way.
The whole process took me about 15 hours total with about 2 just dinking around with those stupid "O" rings. That was from the time that I removed the hood to pulling it out the shop and driving it down the road.
I have a 4.7 HO that I just got done rebuilding and a tranny/transfer case with 34k on them to swap in but since the truck was still running fine, I figured that I would see how long it would survive before the swap is made. It was getting around 18 mpg...wonder what it will get when it is actually running properly on all 8 cylinders.
Last edited by Paints-n-cows; Jun 21, 2010 at 03:19 PM.
