TheSamba.com :: View topic

Fri Jul 25, 2008 10:33 am

Hello, my wife has managed to overheat her 2001 3.9l v6 Dodge Dakota. The truck went through a whole system of coolant in under one day. THe exhaust pipe has a lot of moisture in it. There was no water in the oil and it was not misfiring so I figure it is the head gasket (someone correct me if they think this is the wrong direction to go). So I am wondering what manual I could get that would explain this procedure step by step on replacing the head gaskets. Thanks in advance.

Fri Jul 25, 2008 10:40 am

Icy is your man on this one.
He just rebuilt the 5.2L in his Dakota, and had overheating problems to sort through after he got the engine together.

Fri Jul 25, 2008 10:49 am

Not sure on the step by step, but I would pull the plugs first to try to identify the bad hole(s). If that doesn't help, the maybe a compression test will. After you get the correct head off, look closely. Hopefully you will see an obvious bad head gasket. Could be a cracked block or head, hopefully not though.
By finding the right hole, you will not be wasting time looking for something that is not there.
I learned an old trick from Thomas that was new to me and is real helpful when looking for a crack. If you spray carb cleaner on the suspected area, a crack will show up because the chemical on the flat surface will dissapate faster than that in the valley of an unseen crack.
Hopefully this is NOT the case, good luck.

Fri Jul 25, 2008 11:09 am

First do a compression and leak down test. During the leak down test open the raiator cap and watch for bubbles. If you get bubble the head gasket is gone somewhere. The compression test may tell you where but regardless the head is coming off.

As for a manual go here:

http://search.ebscohost.com/Community.aspx?communi...p;return=y

and look it up. I checked and the Dak is there. Actually that link contains manuals for almost anything. If it asks you for a log-in and password use library for both.

Sarge

Sat Jul 26, 2008 5:10 am

Hi,

IF you were lucky, you need a head gasket,
Not so lucky the head is warped and needs surfacing
Unlucky and the head cracked
Really unlucky, the block is trash

I agree, isolate the offending cylinder before yanking off the heads. It will make finding the leak source so much easier. Saying that, replace both gaskets while you are in there and closely examine everything before reassembly. Might be money well spent to send the heads out to a shop for professional crack check and flatness check.
The offending cylinder/s will have spark plugs with no carbon on them, the water steams any build up right off.

Too bad it happened, there's a lot of work ahead of you no matter what is wrong.

Dave

Sat Jul 26, 2008 7:58 am

Ya since there was no water in the oil I thought that ruled out cracked block or head. I already figured they would need resurfaced and I will get them checked out for cracks. I planned on putting in all new gaskets. Going to be expensive but not as expensive as having a shop do it :wink:

Sat Jul 26, 2008 7:53 pm

Russ Wolfe wrote: Icy is your man on this one.
He just rebuilt the 5.2L in his Dakota, and had overheating problems to sort through after he got the engine together.

Spook is also knowledgable with the dakotas

Sun Jul 27, 2008 5:38 am

dirty_73 wrote: Hello, my wife has managed to overheat her 2001 3.9l v6 Dodge Dakota...

I wouldn't go blamin' the wife. When a head gasket goes, (if it's a leak into the water jacket) it acts like you just overheated the engine.

Before you get too drastic in your actions, head to your FLAPS. There are products on the market that can seal a crack in a head gasket. If the instructions are followed to the letter, it can save you a lot of time and expense. For less than $15, it might be worth a shot.

Good luck!

Sun Jul 27, 2008 1:04 pm

Sunshine_the_bus wrote: dirty_73 wrote: Hello, my wife has managed to overheat her 2001 3.9l v6 Dodge Dakota...

I wouldn't go blamin' the wife. When a head gasket goes, (if it's a leak into the water jacket) it acts like you just overheated the engine.

Before you get too drastic in your actions, head to your FLAPS. There are products on the market that can seal a crack in a head gasket. If the instructions are followed to the letter, it can save you a lot of time and expense. For less than $15, it might be worth a shot.
Good luck!

yes, you are right but...... and a big but it is.
Any product that can seal a water passage way that shouldn't be there because of overheating and the damage that resulted, can also seal the passage ways that SHOULD be there. The bypass hole in the thermostat, the radiator cooling channels, etc.
This is mostly a lot of snake oil that will sometimes work but at what cost to other items?
Locate the leak, take it apart, fix it right. If you are going to dump the truck on some car dealer as a trade in very soon, go ahead snake oil away. If you're going to keep and drive it for a few years, do the right thing and fix it properly.
BB

Sun Jul 27, 2008 3:06 pm

Depends on the sequence of events:did it overheat and take out the head gasket, or did the head gasket coolant loss cause the overheat?.Hard to tell, now.Overheats are TOUGH on an engine.How many miles on it? Over 90K I wouls streer clear of head gasket/head reconditioning on a 3.9.You may have to consider rebuilding it, especiaaly if it got REALLY hoe:even if there's no visible bore damage, the ring tension may be destroyed.

Sun Jul 27, 2008 7:55 pm

Just my .02 here.... Replace the t-stat, hoses, send the radiator out to get checked and rodded out, send the heads out for pressure testing and surfacing, etc. for sure. Check the fan clutch and fan shroud for cracks etc. (just like a VW, it will cool, but not as good as it could....). Check the water pump while you're there and replace the belt(s). It's only a few more $$$ and easier to get to while the top end is apart....