yup white plugs and coolant loss usually signs of a bad head gasket or cracked head... I'm still fighting a misfire issue as well...

 

I had white on the plugs but the ceramic was amber which meant there were firing correctly other than the one cylinder which would be expected. I just hope my heads are fine and all I have to do is get them done and put new gaskets in it. Odds don't seem great but maybe some luck will come my ways.I should know by the end of the day. I will let you all know.

 

Still waiting on shop with heads but its Friday so nothing will get done till beginning next week anyway. My friend who does both motors and fix machines came by to drop me off some tools I would need and offered any help if need took a real good look at the head gaskets seals and pointed out that the head gasket was in fact leaking on the #8 cylinder. He said from what he has looked at and the motor along with the oil inside he thinks I might get lucky and not have a cracked head but thats just his opinion he says. He felt the walls on the cylinder says they felt good. he said that all the other cylinder and walls felt and look decent for the amount of miles on it. I told him I would let him know what they say on the heads. Just giving you any updates as I go.

 

Update: I didn't hear anything from them Friday. I told them if they were fine then go ahead and do them so maybe I go lucky? I dont know. he said they had a couple of jobs before me bad had a set of same heads that one was cracked. I walk out with a low feeling but hopefully thats not my case. he made a statement saying if I didn't hear anything, thats good. crossing fingers again. just longer. lol I will update this as soon as I know. Thanks

 

Great news. The heads were fine. I have them do everything down to a valve job, so they are like new. Man I was relieved. He said they look real good but asked If I wanted to do the works and I thought might as well since they are off and already there. I forgot to ask but since its had a valve job. do I still put the push rods back in the order I took them? I have them lined up as they came out.


Also, does anyone want the heads I found in Alabama? His name is Troy Smith and his number is 251-454-8494 He works from 8 to 5 pm. They are for a 318 5.2. He said he bought them new at Oreilys Store.paid over $700 but he is willing to sell them for $200. he bought and put them on and did a test run and still have tow low cylinders so he just replaced the motor. Also he did put in used pistons but no luck. just tell him you got the information from Steve.

 

Glad to hear that they were not cracked! Good Deal!

 

So do you know what your problem was? Were the valves bad enough to lose compression.

I'd get the heads and out them on a shelf...but the freight will be a killer!

 

They didn't say anything was wrong with the valves and he said they were pretty good so I am taking the gasket was the whole problem. My buddy showed me that it was leaking. he saw it in a seconds. I myself couldn't tell but I didn't know exactly what to look for either. I thought it would be real obvious. my buddy also checked the walls and said they felt real good. there was some water in the valve assembly and intake but was very small amount. looked like markings to me but he said it was water spots.

I wonder if UPS would be cheaper on cost, they are heavy though. From the way he talked. he got frustrated when he still had low compression even though he put used pistons in there as well. He said he had them in Craigslist off and on and now just wants to get some of his money back. I'm sure that loss hurts.

 

Still need to put the rockers and pushrods back in the positions you took them out of.

 

Ok, Thanks. They took off and put back on the rockers so all I have to do is the push rods. I wasn't for sure since they got valve job so I thought I would ask here first. I should start the assembling tomorrow. I have everything cleaned up and ready. I have a question that maybe somebody has dealt with before? The vacuum lines ( real thin black one that has tee in it. anyway, one of them broke but I cant find the destination of one. I have looked and thought maybe it ran towards the back but didn't find it. dang thing a mystery at this point. lol. I took a lot of pictures so hopefully I have a picture of it and how it ran. just thought I would ask. Thanks