Head gasket replacement question

[Redranger45]

I have to replace driver side head gasket on 1999 V6 3.0 ford Ranger.

Do I have to mess with timing on this?

I think it is just, wires, plenum, fuel rails, valve covers, intake and heads then in reverse. Is that right? I just have never done timing and am trying to deduce if I should do myself or have mechanic do it. I'l be fine so long as I don't have to mess with timing or anything like that.

 

[adsm08]

You don't have to play with the valve timing, which is extremely simple on an OHV engine. For Fords at least it is literally take the two dots on the crank and cam sprockets, point them at each other, and install the chain.

You may have to touch the cam syncronizer, at the back of the engine. I believe it has to come out. The easy way to deal with that, without having the tool, is to turn the engine to where the vane lines up with the window, before removing it. Then you can pretty reliably spike it back in easily.

FWIW I would not do just one side. The gasket set will come with both head gaskets, so all the extra parts you would need to buy is head bolts for the other side. Don't half-ass such a large job. Do it right the first time, do both sides, and be confident in the quality of your repair.

 

[jscraiderfan]

When I did my heads a few months back I had originally planned on doing just one side too, I had low Compression on Cylinder 6 so I had just intended to have that head reworked.. I ended up doing both sides and i'm glad I did. Once I got both heads off the engine I realized I had multiple bad exhaust valves on both sides and 1 bad intake valve on the passenger side.

 

[Redranger45]

I hear ya. That makes sense. The engine was completely rebuilt a year ago and the misfire is only in cylinder 3. As it was just rebuilt I thought maybe just do the one side? What do you think?

 

[DeathRanger]

Why replace heads for misfire? have you changed plugs, wires, coil?

 

[Ranger850]

Check the gap. I replaced mine with a plug that said the gap was set. Developed a skip/sputter and one of the plugs was gapped too big. Set the gap and all was good.I would do that Before I pulled the heads off of a motor that was freshly rebuilt.

 

[Redranger45]

I hear ya. Thanks all for your response. I have a longer post that went into all that has been done to the engine. But everything has been replaced. Plugs, sensors, coil, plugs triple checked and gapped. Engine rebuilder could not find the problem and felt it was something external to the rebuild so I took to another trusted mechanic. He has been testing for 3 days now. Says there is coolant in cylinder number 3. They are now testing to see if it is coming from head gasket, intake or exhaust. Good news is engine rebuilder has assured me they will replace any of these under warranty if it turns out to be the case. The misfire seems to have everyone stumped so I hope this mechanic can come up with something definitive. I will let you know. Thanks Again.