Stop.

Do not use shop air, too strong too quick. Use a pressure tester that fits in the coolant bottle from a parts store, they usually rent or loan them out. Pump up by hand to 18 PSI and wait for weeps. Coolant stays in the system. 18 PSI is the vent pressure for a good coolant cap, a bad one can squirt out at lower pressures and leak as you motivate down the highway. Some have zip tied a paper towel around the vent line to detect leaks over a short period. Mine was venting on the top of the coolant bottle, which was wet.

 

thanks for your help ill give it a try

 

Go rent an actual coo;ant pressure test kit from your local parts store.

 

well im not getting that far i checked my oil today and my oil level is higher and and looks like chocolate milk. so i ordered a new head gasket kit and the bolts do i need any other parts or special tools i have a decent selection of wrenches and sockets and extensions. ill get new rotella t oil with a mobil 1 oil filter and new anti freeze, any tricks of the trade that i need to know about? i hear that is a 5-6 hr job for pros so ill be able to get it done in 4 right haha im planning all day so 10 plus if i need it, now the new kit is comming with a lot of small gaskets are they pretty easy to find where to put them or do i have to dig to try to find them and how tight should i make the bolts on the engine? thanks for your help guys id be lost with out it!!

 

Well, that narrows it down.

Many DIY guys do it in two weekends, with a trip to machine shop for the heads between ($200 but ask before you drag them over there). Many indy repair shops get about 12 hours for the whole HG job. The RAVE shop manual (free links below) has the procedure in it along with torque settings. It also has the specs for the head flatness, which is .002 inch. Your printer paper is about .0038 inch. If you don't plan on skimming the heads, at least have them checked, you may change your mind. And avoid Bubba and his belt sander.

Many are able to lay AC compressor to the side and not change refrigerant. Will need a breaker bar as well as a torque wrench.

If you can't get the RAVE to download, here are the basic pages for the HG. Also plenty of posts on this site by those who have done it. Don't forget to use sealant on the four corners of the valley pan gasket where the water channels are.

And keep up with your tools, don't leave any behind like this "tapping" cause.

 

What kind of sealant should I use and if I have a slipping sleeve would the new head gasket help with that, and will my slipping sleeve leak coolant into the the engine or is the sleeve just a liner

 

well guys here is how it went. 16 hrs i replaced both head gaskets and air intake gasket put everything back together added oil and antifreeze. the gasket on the throtlebody started leaking down on the valve cover and down on the floor, today i tore it apart again and cleaned it and added gasket sealer, that didnt work but then white smoke came out of the tail pipe and the engine is very sluggish im guessing that is because im burning antifreeze, i torqued everything to spec im guessing that my intake is leaking into my pistens do you think that my intake gasket is leaking again

 

Did you have the heads machined or at least checked for flatness? The "flat spec" is 0.002 inch, or about 1/2 the thickness of a sheet of printer paper.

 

I did not they looked perfect no pitting, the old gaskets looked in good shape. On the intake manifold the one side had some pitting and the gasket was in pretty bad shape and the coating was cracking off and I think that was where my problem was.

 

Did you even check the heads? If you only eyed it and didn't clean the surfaces you might be doing the heads again shortly.....