I went to change my coolant today and it came out brown and with an oily sheen to it! Used a combustable gas block tester and the fluid changed from blue to yellow so have a blown head gasket somewhere.

Any advice on the parts needed, figure I should replace the water pump and timing belt while it's apart since they are original with 130K on the car. Or advice on the repair itself? I've done a few head gasket jobs before but this one looks like it won't be much fun.

Thanks,
Scott

 

Just did one myself on a 3.5L. Not sure how similar they are but the head gasket kit I purchased had all necessary gasket with the exception of the two O-rings that went on the back of the rear timing belt cover. These were the two water passages next to the water pump itself. Also, had to buy the cam lock tools that go on the back side after you pull the cam shaft thrust plates off. I'll probably never use them again but needed them. The procedure I followed had me take the heads off with the exhaust manifold still attached, which requires removing the V-Band clips in order to separate the other end from the catalytic convertors. Those boys are $40 and cannot be reused. Chrysler says not to reuse the camshaft bolts that hold the camshaft sprockets on. You have to remove the sprocket in order to get the rear timing belt cover off. So I had to buy new cam shaft sprocket bolts. Not sure why, they seemed fine to me. Hope this helps. Good luck.

 

Thanks for the help! How long did it take you to do? About how much did you have in parts total? And did you get the heads machined at all to make sure they were flat? One last question, do you have a link to the cam lock tools you bought? Just trying to see what all is involved.

Thanks again,
Scott

 

Hey guys. The 3.2 and 3.5 are pretty much the same. Like the 3.3/3.8. Not a big deal to do it just looks intimidating first time. All the ones I did, I never replaced the cam bolts. I would put some thread goo on them when you go back together. I think it has blue kind on it. Yes, get some new exhaust clamps, water pump and timing belt. IF the timing belt idler pulley is a plastic one replace it with the metal one. The inner timing cover is a bit tricky getting the o-rings to set. I use the red high tack spray adhesive and let them set up for a while periodically looking and making sure they don't pop out while they dry.

 

Thanks for the advice. Looks like it's going to be a fun project next weekend! Should I take the heads to machine shop no matter what or should I measure it how chrysler says in the repair manual and might get lucky?

Thanks again

 

a machine shop will pressure check them and clean them for u better then u can =)

 

Makes sense! Thanks

 

Just had a shop fix the head gasket on my 2002 Concorde which has a 3.2 engine in it. The water pump was faulty in this car and filling up the engine with water. I would suggest you replace yours while you are tearing everything apart.

 

The water pump on a 3.2/3.5 is on the outside of the block. You sure yours isn't a 2.7?

 

TNtech

You are right. It is the 2.7 in my car. This engine has the water pump inside of the engine. Sorry, my bad.