Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) Surprise- removing cylinder head requires removing a wiper first!

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

I have pulled a head on a 12-valve a few times and never had an issue getting the pushrods out for cylinders 5 and 6 after popping the cowl plugs out. But not so much the case on my '98.5, stated pulling it but ran into a snag. I hadn't tried pulling the head on a 24-valve before. One of the pushrods for cylinder #5 will not come out for anything. The first one for cylinder 5 (toward the front) came right out, but the other one hits on the plastic cowl cover under the wiper. Which wouldn't be such a big deal but I've spent a half hour trying to remove the wiper from the stalk which is utterly refusing to come off, must be corroded on. The retaining sliding clip took some effort to pop out, but the wiper still refuses to come off. I've removed wipers several times on these trucks but since I really need to get this one off it's refusing to budge! LOL

Anyway felt like venting, been having my share of truck misery lately!

 

[Bob4x4]

a batt terminal puller will usually work to remove the arm from the pivot.so far i have never had to remove any wiper likage to get a push rod out but some require a bit of finesse

 

[Joseph Donnelly]

My experiences mirror Bob's. I have never even had to move the wiper blades up onto the windshield to adjust the linkage for clearance.

 

[turbo torque]

Same here, done quite a few of these and never had to mess with the wipers. Good luck.

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

Yeah it was pretty weird! I finally got the pushrod out. I removed some of the plastic cover retaining screw pieces, then pulled the rubber trim piece off that butts up against the hood, then used a prybar to force the cowl cover up about an inch and then was able to pull the pushrod out. Maybe I have a motor mount that's deteriorated and caused the engine to shift a little. But the other 3 pushrods back there came out piece of cake.

 

[NIsaacs]

Why are you pulling the head?

Nick

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

To install a ported head I have, and to hopefully figure out the heavy blowby issue I have, which has been getting progressively worse over the last 30k miles. It used to never drip and not much vapor out the blowby hose, underside of truck was clean and dry. Now there's a lot of oil leaking (mainly rear seal) and coating the underside of the truck and vapors gushing out of the blowby hose at idle. It uses a quart every 700-1000 miles, used to go 3-4k easy. I ruled out the turbo and vacuum pump, head gasket looked great and cylinders look awesome, so I'm not sure what the deal is. Issue came on gradually starting at around 165k miles and now has 204,000. One day I did an experiment by opening the oil fill hose, inserting a large hose and ran it to the back of the hood and stuck it under the wiper and then blocked off the regular blowby hose. I then went for a drive, as soon as boost came up the blowby vapors were shooting out under quite a bit of pressure, and pulsating. Which made me think it was the head gasket. So maybe I have broken rings on one cylinder (does that happen on a truck running less than 100hp over stock??) or badly worn valve guides (how does that happen)? I noticed too after oil changes the oil gets dark way way faster, and you can sure smell oil vapor when the truck is idling, stinks like an old worn out diesel. Next try is I'm going to make up a plate with pressure gauge and fitting to bolt down over one cylinder at a time and do a leakdown test of sorts.

 

[NIsaacs]

Issue came on gradually starting at around 165k miles and now has 204,000. One day I did an experiment by opening the oil fill hose, inserting a large hose and ran it to the back of the hood and stuck it under the wiper and then blocked off the regular blowby hose. I then went for a drive, as soon as boost came up the blowby vapors were shooting out under quite a bit of pressure, and pulsating. Which made me think it was the head gasket.

If a head gasket blows a fire ring there is no doubt and you will be lucky to get home, it is not a gradual thing. Blowby/oil consumption is usually rings, pistons or cylinder related. Since your cylinder walls look great, rings will probably fix you up. Keep us posted.

Nick

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

If a head gasket blows a fire ring there is no doubt and you will be lucky to get home, it is not a gradual thing. Blowby/oil consumption is usually rings, pistons or cylinder related. Since your cylinder walls look great, rings will probably fix you up. Keep us posted.

Nick

So as an update, regarding my blowby issue: when I pulled my original head the head gasket looked perfect, no sign of leakage. Head looked fine too, no visible cracks anyway. I put the new head on and torqued it down and put everything back together and have driven it about 350 miles. Blowby has diminished dramatically, lust a lazy stream out the tube instead of the gushing pulsating vapor cloud at idle. The oil drips have stopped and after cleaning the underside of the truck it's not coating it with oil anymore. So something was afoul with the head. Is it possible for valve guide wear to cause a lot of blowby, and with only 205,000 miles?? I have read a time or two 24 valves can have guide wear issues, then I hear of them going a million miles without ever pulling the head.

 

[NIsaacs]

It would be interesting to see what the exhaust valves/guides look like. Any chance of you pulling some out to see? Glad you fixed the issues.

Nick