Cylinder Head Assembly: Service and Repair

Before installing cylinder head, wipe off engine block gasket surface and be certain no foreign material has fallen into cylinder bores, bolt holes or in the valve lifter area. It is good practice to clean out bolt holes with compressed air. Some cylinder head gaskets are coated with a special lacquer to provide a good seal once the parts have warmed up. Do not use any additional sealer on such gaskets. If the gasket does not have this lacquer coating, apply suitable sealer to both sides. Tighten cylinder head bolts a little at a time in three steps in the sequence shown in the illustrations. Final tightening should be to the torque specifications listed in the Engine Tightening table. After the bolts have been torqued to specifications, they should not be disturbed.




1982 V6-232
1. Disconnect battery ground cable, then drain cooling system.
2. Remove air cleaner, air intake duct and heat tube.
3. Loosen accessory drive belt idler and remove drive belt.
4. If left cylinder head is to be removed, proceed as follows:
a. Remove oil filler cap.
b. If equipped with power steering, remove pump bracket attaching bolts, then remove pump and bracket assembly and position pump aside with hoses attached.
c. If equipped with A/C, remove compressor bracket attaching bolts, then position compressor and bracket assembly aside with refrigerant lines attached.
5. If right cylinder head is to be removed, proceed as follows:
a. Remove Thermactor diverter valve and hose assembly.
b. Remove accessory drive belt idler, then remove alternator.
c. Remove Thermactor pump pulley, then remove Thermactor pump.
d. Remove alternator mounting bracket. On models equipped with Tripminder, the fuel supply line from the fuel pump to the fuel sensor will have to be disconnected to gain access to the upper alternator bracket bolt.
e. Remove PCV valve.
6. Remove intake manifold, and exhaust manifolds.
7. Remove rocker arm cover and attaching screws, then loosen cover by using a putty knife under cover flange and remove cover. Do not use excess force when loosening rocker arm cover as cover may become damaged.
8. Loosen rocker fulcrum bolt enough to allow rocker arms to be rotated to one side, then remove pushrods. Tag pushrods so they can be installed in the same position.
9. Remove cylinder head attaching bolts, then remove cylinder head and gasket.

Fig. 13 Cylinder head tightening sequence. 1982-88 V6-232:

10. Reverse procedure to install. Apply a thin coating of pipe sealant D8AZ-19558-A or equivalent to the shorter cylinder head bolts which are installed on the exhaust manifold side of the cylinder head. Do not apply pipe sealant to long bolts which are installed on the intake manifold side of the cylinder head. Tighten cylinder head bolts in four steps to torque listed under Engine Tightening Specifications using sequence shown in Fig. 6. Loosen cylinder bolts approximately 2 to 3 turns, then retighten bolts in four steps to specified torque in sequence, Fig. 6.