S10 2.2L Head Bolt Preperation

buff 'em on a wire wheel, use 'Indian Head' gasket sealer on them (HOW LONG HAS THAT STUFF BEEN AROUND ???????)

The head bolts on that motor are torque to yield!

Replace the bolts also, and use a teflon based pipe sealer available at a hardware or home improvment store.

GM didn't make a teflon paste for those bolts just to waste research and development dollars. There was a legitimate problem with seepage from the threads.

I hope this helps.

Refinish King

The truck was purchased used so it's possible this isn't the first time its been apart. Didn't want to put it together without sealer but was afraid putting sealer in if it was supposed to be assembled dry would cause the head to be overtorqued. The bolt holes in the block have bottoms and don't go into the water jackets like a smallblock.

I bought new bolts since the parts store carries them (didn't want to take a chance) but the manual said to clean the old ones with a die. That was another reason not to trust the manual.

"Jake" wrote

No, you can trust the manual. Those head bolts on that engine do not have to be replaced. I'm not sure why the manual is saying anything about the sealer, as you are right, the holes are blind and don't go into the coolant or oil sections of the engine.

There is a big difference between "torque to yield" and "torque/turn" head bolts. I'm not a fan of Haynes manuals, but in this case they are right about not having to replace the head bolts. A GM manual will always tell you in the instructions whether or not you are required to replace the head bolts...again...depending on whether the head bolts in the specific design are "torque to yield" or "torque/turn" bolts.

On the other hand, I'm also a big believer that it "never" hurts to replace head bolts when replacing a head gasket. No matter what kind of head bolts are in there.

Ian

Whats important is to clean bolts and then lubricate them well and torque exactly to what the book says. Also use a pickle fork.

A pickle fork??????

A pickle fork?? Is he doing the balljoints too?

use a WHAT ???????????????????//////

4cylinder engine. The only manual I could find locally was a Haynes manual. I don't have much confidence in this manual. When the head bolts were removed they did not appear to have anything on them except oil. The manual says to put teflon sealer on them for reassembly.

Can somone tell me the correct way to prep the bolts? ======== ======== snipped-for-privacy@excite.com (Strudelsmith) confused a lot of folks with his last statement when he wrote.......

Whats important is to clean bolts and then lubricate them well and torque exactly to what the book says.

Also use a pickle fork. ======== ========

okee.....dokee.... I'll bite.

What's the pickle fork for?

marshmonster ~waits fer a lively answer~ ===== =====

Can someone explain "Torque to Yield" vs "Torque/Turn" ? JR

I hate being number five but what the hell...

A pickle fork?

You would be getting me into trouble with the wife if I had any idea what to do with the pickle fork.

I was unable to find an 11mm tap/thread chaser so I sacrificed one of the bolts for that purpose. So replacing the bolts was a moot point.

I googled old message threads on this engine and it seems to be a common problem. One message even pointing to the bolt that loosend on this engine. Saying it was the usual point of failure. I was hoping to find somone who has successfully performed this reapair on this engine.

I'm still unsure as to what to do about "lubricating" the threads to get the correct pressure on the head. I'm leaning towards sealer unless somone tells me why not to. I really need to get this job done.

torque to yield bolts are bolts that are tightened to a tension high enough (as a part of their design)that they cannot be reused.... in the construction industry this is called a slip critical connection. you'll find these most often in vehicles with iron blocks and aluminum heads.

a torque/turn bolt is just a method of tightening called "turn of nut" it allows a much more uniform clamping force than using torque alone. how you do it is tighten the bolt to the specified torque and then turn the fastener the specified number of degrees.

HTH, Bret

The pickle fork is used to pry the head up from the engine block. You have to line it up to straddle the bolts before pounding it or might bend the bolts or mash the threads if you just used a crowbar instead. I think thats what he was referring to here.

Bud Lite

Bud: I am no mechanic, but I found a good way to remove a head was to loosen the bolts a few turns and then crank the engine with the starter. The compression busts the head loose without the need for a pickle fork, although that might work also.

Regards' Steve

OK gotcha, thanks. JR

Don't use teflon, paint the threads with pipe dope and they'll never leak or break loose.