Vanner in Los Angeles needs help

Whalemstr, Dan,  is 600 miles from home, at his sisters house. Looks like he has a  head gasket problem on his Dodge van,,,,,,,he sure could use a friend,,,,,,,,


https://vintage-vans.forumotion.com/t53459-sunny-frickin-beaches-batman-trouble-has-reared-it-s-ugly-head

A guy named Carl has a place and some tools so I have a place to work on it myself if it comes to that!!! Thanks Carl!!!

With a little help, I know I could do this in my sisters garage in an afternoon!
I just will have to come up with some way to lift the head if I do not have any help!
Build a hoist of some sort over the engine...

maybe lay a 2x4 or something across the seats and use a ratcheting strap to lift it out to save your back if no one is around,,,,,,,,,but let us know when you are ready,,,,maybe someone can stop by,,,,,like what streets are you by?

I'm near chapman and prospect...
I have the passenger seat out and the passenger side of the doghouse out already - just to do what I have already done. Been looking at it trying to figure out how to make some form of a hoist above the engine. Looks like a lot of work to figure out how to lift it enough to put the gasket in and set back down. Plus, I have to buy whatever I need - don't have any ratchet straps on me! lol
Nor are there scrap lumber piles like up at my place!
hahaha

,,,you are going to need to pull the head out and scrape the old gasket off the head and block,,,,,

It's going to a shop..

thanks for the help anyway guys!

getting hauled there later today or tomorrow...

,,,,,,,the right thing to do is have a machine shop magnaflux the head for cracks, mill it flat, grind the valves,,,,,,,replace the guides and seals,,,,,,,IF,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,you can afford it,,,,,,you say the engine uses a lot of oil,,,,,,,

NO - it uses ZERO oil - I had an oil leak - found it finally and fixed it!

this thing runs 55 pounds oil pressure all the time - has since I rebuilt it.
never uses any oil - I change it often - has only had Mobile 1 in it since I did the break in on it... new radiator and never uses water either...

I over heated it just before I left town -and had forgot about that!
I remembered it last night - I forgot to turn the fan on when I was hugging and saying good bye to my sons and it started boiling over - I fliipped the fan on and took off through town at a slow pace and it cooled right down.

Been thinking that may have been the start of this royal pain in the ass!
Hoping that nothing more than the gasket is bad because of it...

HA!,,,,,and you were blaming the carwash,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Just got off the ohone with the shop - two burned valves - he says it is probably from the gas I gout down here and the additives they put in it - and my unit wass doen 13 years ago and was not set up with the new stuff - because it wassn't available back then!.
1600.00 to fix it!

Ouch...damn additives!!!   only took one filling of this gas to do all that damage??? Sorry, we feel your pain!

I'm so pissed off and screwed now I can't spell or type properly...
sorry...

Put fuel in twice while down here at two different places.

He entioned methanl and something else for pollution I think...
I was too upset and wondering WTF to do now that I didn't pay close attention...
Just pissed off - something I didn't have any control over or was unaware of - bites me hard in the ass...

What part of I'm a broke SOB does the planet not understand???

I dont believe all that,,,,,even without hardened valve seats, my van ran over 100,000 miles,,,,,$1600 for a valve job???? and you brought them the head????? have some other place put in 2 valves,,,,,,,,put it back together,,,,,,,did the van run ok down here in San Diego, then mess up 100 miles away in Los Angeles,,,,seems like you overheated the engine and the head gasket just went bad, rather rather than burnt valves causing the problem,,,,,,I would take it somewhere else and get another opinion,,,,,,,call the wrecking yards,,,see if they got a head,,,,,,,settle down a little,,,,,let it soak in and things will look clearer and see which way you can go,,,,,

Thanks mr donivan!!!
I am going to do just that!
Breathe..... dammit I said BREATHE - son of a beeeoooch!!!

Yeah, f*ck those guys. $500 tops. Valve job and light resurface and put it back together. That's the thing though, things are getting so out of control expensive. A damned 6 pack of descent beer costs $10+. Either you're rich, dumb, or self sustaining in today's America.

This is sounding like the trip from hell!

we need to get him back to Heaven,,,,,,Northern California,,,,,,,,I am sure the valves were leaking,,,,a bit,,,,,,,,you hot rodding it low gear didnt help,,,,a LONG hard road trip on the Freeway did not do you any good as well as who knows what the actual timing was set at,,,,,,but we need to get you back,,,,,I think the real problem is the head gasket,,,,,,and you really need to check that it did not warp or it will blow again,,,,,get it surfaced if it needs it,,,those other valves will last until you get home if you take it easy,,,,,,and like I said, get the 2 valves fixed, if they REALLY are that bad,,,,,,tell them you just want it to hold together to get you home,,,,,

OutofSight wrote:This is sounding like the trip from hell!

As of Monday at around 10 - it became the trip from hell for sure!
LOL

It was a perfect trip until then!!!
I was so proud of how the van ran and acted the whole time!
Then a frickin Monday hit!
LOL

My sister and I just got the garage ready for me to back the van into it.
Now I have to have the tow company bring it back - another 65.00 and make sure the shop has it running enough like I left it with them so I can back it in here.
Then I will take it apart and see what's up with it.
He did a leak down test is what he said - so I am hoping it will still run?
Not sure what's involved in a test like that?
Anyway, the saga continues - and 1600 frickin dollars is not the road I even thought about taking at all!!!

so he did not take it apart,,,,,,,,,a leak down test is just shooting air into the spark plug hole and listening where it comes out of,,,,,,tailpipe if the exhaust valve is leaking, carb if intake valve is leaking, oil filler hole if piston is leaking, and radiator if head gasket is blown or out the next plug hole if the head gasket is leaking,,,,,,are you going to pull the head and test it,,,,,,,you can just check the valves by tipping it over, put the plugs in and pour water on the valves and see if it leaks out the intake/exhaust ports,,,,,put a ruler across 4,5 and 6 cylinders and see if it looks flat,,,,and look at the head gasket , see if it is torn between #5 and 6 cylinders,,,,, unless you win the Lottery Saturday, this looks like your best way to fix your van,,,,have another machine shop PATCH the head to get you home,,,,,,,