94' 3.0 Head Gasket Job

[94' Ranger]

For the next 2-5 days I am undertaking a large project on my truck. I've had steady bubbles coming from my radiator for over a year now (thankfully my oil has always been clean) and my front engine cover leaks. My fan clutch just went out and my water pump started leaking so I figure it's time.

I'm replacing my timing chain + sprockets, front cover gasket, water pump, fan clutch + fan, head gaskets, and depending on the condition of my heads I may need to re-surface/replace those too. (If there's anything else I should replace while I'm there, I'm all ears).

Remanufactured heads at O'Rileys are 300$, new are 400$. The brand is "Power Torque".

Remanufactured heads at Autozone are 250$, new is 375$. The brand is "NuTech" by ATK.


I was curious what you guys have heard/experienced with these brands or with remanufactured heads in general.
I like the idea of resurfacing my heads and keeping everything original if possible because I have had varying degrees of success with aftermarket parts in the past. My main concern is that I'll pay a similar amount for resurfacing and not get as much life or performance out of them compared to if I bought new/remanufactured heads, not to mention the added turnaround time.

What would you do? Is it worth buying new instead of remans when it comes to heads or is it the best bet to resurface your original heads if at all possible?

This is for my 1994 3.0 5-Speed Ranger with 207,000 miles.

As always, your advice is much appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Aaron Powell]

I'm currently, literally, putting power torque heads on my 94 Mazda b3000 5 speed. I got them from O'Reilly (my wife is an employee so I got a good price). I've heard a lot of things wrong with power torque, so I inspected the heads upon arrival before I gave them my cores. New valves, seats, springs, retainers, guides and stem seals from what I can tell. Crossing my fingers I won't have any issues with them.

Why can't you have a machine shop rebuild yours? Or is it just a matter of you don't have the time

 

[94' Ranger]

I'm currently, literally, putting power torque heads on my 94 Mazda b3000 5 speed. I got them from O'Reilly (my wife is an employee so I got a good price). I've heard a lot of things wrong with power torque, so I inspected the heads upon arrival before I gave them my cores. New valves, seats, springs, retainers, guides and stem seals from what I can tell. Crossing my fingers I won't have any issues with them.

Why can't you have a machine shop rebuild yours? Or is it just a matter of you don't have the time

I won't know the condition of my heads until I pull them this weekend, hopefully I don't have to do anything to them. However, I believe that these are the original heads so I wouldn't be too surprised if they're slightly warped or a valve or two isn't quite up to specs. I need to do my head gaskets so I'm asking about my options on cylinder heads ahead of time, I have a good place in mind that's not too far to do the rebuild if that's feasible. Turnaround time is somewhat important, I have a second car to get around in but I use my truck to make most of my money. I took off Sat-Tues so I should have time if a rebuild is my best option.

Tomorrow morning I will run a compression test before I start taking things apart, will report back with any new questions or if I run into anything strange during the job.
Thanks.

 

[Bgunner]

Since you are getting bubbles you may want to send the heads to get checked for cracks and mating surfaces are flat. This is if your compression test comes out uneven. Heads can be done without taking the timing cover off so you may want to stop the leaks and see what happens then.

The timing covers are a common leak spot on the 3.0's. I need to do mine this spring to so while I'm there I'll replace most of what you are but not my fan clutch as mine is good. I have a parts pile waiting for this job.


EDIT: You can put a rubber glove over the radiator filler neck and see if it blows up/flops around. This will indicate a bad head gasket/head letting compression into the cooling system.

 

[94' Ranger]

Since you are getting bubbles you may want to send the heads to get checked for cracks and mating surfaces are flat. This is if your compression test comes out uneven. Heads can be done without taking the timing cover off so you may want to stop the leaks and see what happens then.

The timing covers are a common leak spot on the 3.0's. I need to do mine this spring to so while I'm there I'll replace most of what you are but not my fan clutch as mine is good. I have a parts pile waiting for this job.


EDIT: You can put a rubber glove over the radiator filler neck and see if it blows up/flops around. This will indicate a bad head gasket/head letting compression into the cooling system.

Just ran a thorough compression test, here are my results.

Dry Run
#1 -- 155psi
#2 -- 160psi
#3 -- 153psi
#4 -- 148psi
#5 -- 155psi
#6 -- 152psi

Wet Compression test (~1tsp of 5W-20)
#1 -- 170psi
#2 -- 178psi
#3 -- 170psi
#4 -- 148psi
#5 -- 153psi
#6 -- 160psi

Also, I noticed a good amount of what I assume is gas coming from valve 5 near the end of the test. Surprise surprise, #5 is the one that had the lowest compression.

I uploaded a short 10-second video showing what valve #5 looked like at its worst during the test ⤵
**EDIT** Just Realized my key was in the "on" position during the compression test resulting in my fuel pump being active.. probably explains that gas.

It seems to me based on these test results that my left head (valves #1, #2, and #3) is still holding up fairly well but my right head (4, 5, 6) is starting to need some maintenance. Is that a good assumption?
Based on these compression test results, what would you reccomend I do to my heads?

I am going to start taking everthing apart to do my timing chain, water pump, fan job right now and will probably not have time to start on my heads until tomorrow. Any advice I can get before then will be greatly appreciated.

 

[94' Ranger]

I've made good progress the last two days, I just dropped my heads off at a good machine shop this morning for any necessary rebuild/resurfacing. I'm going to replace my timing chain today and clean the hell out of my accessory brackets and whatnot.

My pistons look clean enough, probably better to just not touch them. I'm afraid cleaning their tops will probably just knock more debris into the sidewalls.
My head gaskets showed no evidence of coolant mixing into my oil but I did find some areas where I suspect exhaust gas was entering my coolant.

My front engine cover and front valley seal were not holding up very well. Plenty of grimey oil to clean up before exposing my block and timing chain. I used gasoline and a couple of brushes, I stunk up the whole block with this one.

Pushrods all look straight and unobstructed. Rockers all appear to be uniform, found no unusual gouges or dents.

Everything is going well, this is the first time I've ever removed cylinder heads from any vehicle so I am happy with my rate of progress. I'm keeping everything as organized as possible and am confident that I'll be able to get everything back together in a timely manner.

Time to take my timing chain out with my heads are at the shop and start cleaning all my oil-soaked brackets and parts.
Hopefully the turnaround time on these heads isn't too bad, I'd like to be driving again by Wednesday or Thursday.

How's everything looking so far? Anything worth noting from these pictures? I'm debating doing my freeze plugs today, is there anything else I should look into replacing while I'm this far along?
Thanks for all your advice and recommendations guys, it helps a lot

 

[Angie]

looking good. here is a quick article i wrote last year. just in case you need a tip or 2. place in rolled shop tissues to collect any coolant/oil in the bolt holes. and use some never seize in the exhaust bolts. cheers and this might help.

Blown head gasket replacing 4.L

This takes off from upper intake removal. As I didn't take any pics before this section. I have the driver head off this is how I left it last night. The clean piston top is the blown head gasket. So after the head is removed a look over the gasket shows the problems. After the heads are...

www.therangerstation.com

 

[94' Ranger]

I ran into a hangup, my oil pan gasket.

I am currently doing research as to whether or not I have to lift my engine to remove my oil pan and I am getting conflicting answers. I am hesitant to pull the bolts holding the pan until I am fairly sure I have clearance to remove it so it's not dangling around getting dinged up. I see other people saying they had to jack up the engine and transmission together with two jacks in order to get the pan out, and even then they had to do some cutting with a Dremel. However, they did not specify if they had a manual or automatic transmission and I assume that is important in this situation.

Does anyone have experience with removing the oil pan gasket from a 1994 3.0 with a manual transmission? Can I rock the engine up a few inches with a jack on the upper timing chain sprocket shaft to get enough clearance?

My heads will not come back until Thursday morning so I have today and tomorrow to replace my oil pan gasket and seal up my front engine cover.

Got a call from the machine shop today, turns out I had a small crack in one of my heads. They're fixing the crack, reseating the exhaust valves, rethreading one of my exhaust manifold bolt holes that's stripped out, and resurfacing everything for under 400$. Sound like a fair deal?

Thanks

*EDIT I found THIS VIDEO, gonna use this as a guide for now unless I find something better.
He says he unbolted the tranny from its mount to the frame, the mounting bolts from the block to the frame, then jacked up from the transmission until the engine and tranny lifted up enough to free the studs from the bolt holes in the frame, then he was able to wiggle to entire tranny/engine around enough to remove the oil pan.
Wish me luck.