Head gasket on 1993-1995 holden calais, 3.8L

motorboy2011, Apr 19, 1:20am
little oil in the water so the gaskets prob not healthy, plan is drive it till it dies. how hard is the head gasket to do! have a cam belt or chain! cheers

opos, Apr 19, 1:23am
don't they have pushrods

motorboy2011, Apr 19, 1:25am
thats also what I did wonder.would make a head gasket job easier

1ollie, Apr 19, 1:41am
Drive it untill it dies is just stupid as then you are allmost gaurented to wreck more stuff like warp the head etc! fix it now and save yourself some money and effort

kingfisher21, Apr 19, 1:50am
Be cheaper to buy another whole engine rather than redo the current one, good runner can be had for as little as $300.

elect70, Apr 19, 2:14am
Head setsare cheap asAClV8Rovercomptete with themanifoldoil /galllerygasket$180. so v6 cheaper stillDont trust second hand motorsDo it in an 1/2 day

kingfisher21, Apr 19, 2:26am
Gasket set cheap yes, but if the heads are warped, cracked etc you'll be up for a lot more than a 2nd hand motor, heads should really at least be surfaced before they go back on so add that cost as well.

motorboy2011, Apr 19, 6:00am
so its a push rod motor or what! how hard to do the gasket myself!

kingfisher21, Apr 19, 6:08am
Pushrod, dead easy to do, the worst thing is probably the intake manifold and associated bits.

motorboy2011, Apr 19, 6:11am
cheers. its the inlaws 2nd car so will inform them

msigg, Apr 19, 6:15am
Pushrod, I think you need to change your user name.

a.woodrow, Apr 19, 6:17am
That's a bit mean. He's claiming motorboy, not motorman.

realtrader1, Apr 19, 7:34am
Let's keep coming back to first principles.A little oil in the water could mean anything.It could even mean that someone inadvertently tipped a little in!If it's an auto, could be getting in that way.Someone may have put in a cheap additive in the radiator too.Need to do some tests to ascertain if there is actual leakage before determining what to do but driving it into the ground.Well if it was a lower milage unit eg, that wouldn't be my suggestion even if there were actual issues.

treachug, Apr 19, 8:18am
When you start doing the head gaskets, stop once the inlet manifolds have been removed & have a good look at the inlet gaskets & inspect them for leaking/blown gaskets - mind you wont be hard to miss.
9 times out of ten it will be that & not head gaskets - V6 commodores are reknowned for it.
Easy fix & repair.the gaskets blow out around the inlet ports at the ends leaking oil into water or vice versa.

phillip.weston, Apr 19, 10:46am
^^ what this man said!

elect70, Apr 20, 2:38am
i justput atraight edge acrossdiagonaly& see if can getfeeler blade under. only skim ifneeds it , these days of thin wall castings, if its been cookedneedhardness testtoo

kingfisher21, Apr 20, 2:59am
On a Commodore V6 this will NOT cause oil in the water, water in the oil yes, but not oil in the water.

kingfisher21, Apr 20, 2:59am
On a Commodore V6 this will NOT cause oil in the water, water in the oil yes, but not oil in the water. Is it an auto! Trans cooler in the radiator would be another suspect to look at.

motorboy2011, Apr 20, 6:39am
yes its auto

bubbles244, Apr 20, 6:43am
replace the radiator first

motorboy2011, Apr 20, 6:44am
what about an external trans oil cooler!

realtrader1, Apr 20, 9:02am
Bars Leaks product can give an oily look.you probably need someone to look at it and do some checks.

motorboy2011, Apr 20, 9:27am
thats my job, hence asking here.fix it, sell it or swap it!