03 5.4L (2 valve) head gasket replacement - Disassembly questions

[Hamfisted]

Ok, but give the valves the leak test anyway. If they're sealing good I wouldn't worry about them. Or if you want to hand lap them yourself you can do that to save some money. The resurfacing is required with new MLS head gaskets. Yes, mine were completely overhauled for $375/pair . I guess your town has limited machine shop support. We have several head shops down here. They all do 3-angle valve jobs on all their work as well.





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[Eric M]

What is the secret to pulling off the passenger side valve cover? It seems to me that the two metal AC lines coming out of the bulkhead won't allow me to lift the cover high enough to clear the camshaft. I've been at it for some time with no luck. Any suggestions?

 

[Hamfisted]

Did you pop the heater hoses off the firewall ? If you didn't, it will probably take an assistant to pull the hoses out of the way enough to remove the valve cover. You can use Super Glue to hold the new gaskets in place during reassembly. If the intake is off you can roll it that way.




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[Vincent Vega]

@Eric M its a PIA for sure. You gotta have all the stuff out of the way to get it off. Yeah you can either have someone hold the heater hoses out of the way, or remove them. They are a weak point and will eventually leak and leave you somewhere, so consider replacing while you are at it. For the AC crap in the way, just loosen the accumulator (that small shiny metal device) from the firewall and it will give you enough play in the lines to make it happen. Also, remove the plastic inner fender skirt (bunch of 7mm bolts and a few pushpins) and unbolt the transmission dipstick tube. You cant pull the RH valve cover without unbolting the dipstick tube.

 

[Eric M]

Thanks Hamfisted and Vincent Vega for the input. I actually removed both heater hoses and have all other hoses and wires tucked well out of the way. I was wondering about that tranny dipstick tube. I am going to unbolt it and hopefully I can then shimmy the cover by those AC tubes. The accumulator doesn't seem to be an issue here, just those two metal AC hoses that sit right above the rear of the valve cover.

Thanks for the super glue tip. I was already thinking about how in the heck the gasket was going to stay in place when replacing this pesky valve cover. Stay tuned....

 

[Eric M]

I'll (finally!) pull both heads off tomorrow. As I was wrapping up, I realized that I would need to completely remove the oil dipstick tube before pulling the driver's side head, because it snakes down between the manifold and the head.

Just to confirm: to remove the oil dipstick tube you just pull it straight out of the oil pan, right?

Thanks!

 

[Hamfisted]

I'll (finally!) pull both heads off tomorrow. As I was wrapping up, I realized that I would need to completely remove the oil dipstick tube before pulling the driver's side head, because it snakes down between the manifold and the head.

Just to confirm: to remove the oil dipstick tube you just pull it straight out of the oil pan, right?

Thanks!

Yes . May take a little wiggling but it just pulls up and free.

The tranny tube you can remove the bolt ( 19mm ? ), and push the tube away from the head and have enough room.
You don't necessarily need to fully remove it. But the oil tube has to come out.





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[Eric M]

The tranny tube you can remove the bolt ( 19mm ? ), and push the tube away from the head and have enough room.
You don't necessarily need to fully remove it. But the oil tube has to come out.

Thank you. Will do on the oil tube.

Removing the tranny bracket bolt was what finally allowed me to get the valve cover off.

Now, all I need is for my lower back to not give out when I pull the heads today!

 

[Eric M]

Finally got the heads off. Fortunately for my lower back, they weren't as heavy as I thought they would be.

Driver's side came off no problem.

Passenger side was a bit ugly. I pulled a rookie maneuver and forgot to remove the bolts (fastening the braided ground wire and coolant tube bracket) and Christmas tree attachment behind the passenger side head. This means that I had to abandon the removal two separate times and was unable to cleanly set it back down each time. I managed to slip a tarp underneath when I realized there was a problem.

I did notice some very tiny scratches but nothing too deep in the head mating surface. We'll see if the machinist thinks they are salvageable.

Removing those rusted on manifold nuts and studs should be fun....

 

[Hamfisted]

Marvel Mystery Oil and a rag seem to do pretty good cleaning up the carbon from the intake manifold runners. I didn't try it on the heads 'cause I had mine rebuilt anyway and the shop cleaned it all off. Did you say you had a head gasket leak ? I might've missed it.