bandscustom

I haven't had chance to work on the fire ring mystery until this afternoon. With the information you provided, the sleeve just didn't look right. Well guess what... the original fire rings were still in place. The guy I hired originally to do the work never pulled the rings and installed new ones on top of the old. No wonder the head gasket wouldn't seal. Even though this is my first encounter with cylinder sleeves and fire rings, boy, do I feel like an idiot. Thanks again for the help you provided. Your comments and suggestions helped me better understand what to look for. Brian

Thanks for the replys - We pulled the heads again. How can I tell which set of rings I need. I looked at the liners and I can't tell by looking what type of fire rings are required (I am going to get a magnifying glass today to see if it helps). I checked the rings that came in the package and they are all the same. If a liner did get dislodged, how can I check them? Wish I had all the old parts that were originally pulled off to compare with new but, the guy who did the work originally tossed them in the trash. No, he isn't my son in law... Thanks again for all the help, Brian

I was told he needed to remove the heads to drop magnets on the lifters to keep them in place as he pulled the cam. Not knowing any better myself, I took his word for it. The first time - oil leaked from both heads between the head and the block on the exhaust and manifold side. It wasn't just a small leak, it was a steady stream. One leak was about 3 inches wide. Second try - after getting everything bolted back up, we added water to the radiator (before adding oil, thank goodness) and it came out from both heads between the head and the block on the intake side. The gasket kit - The kit I got from Mack had rings that had 2 ridges with 2 separate hights. There was a sheet with the kit that explained pre 1993 cylinder sleeves had offset grooves and in 1993 they changed to grooves of the same depth. We installed the set with 2 different grooves. So, am I sure I installed the right ones? Not really.

A little background - I hired someone to come onsite and replace the camshaft in my 1990 EM7-300. After 4 weeks of taking me for a ride, he finally got everything back together and was never able to get the engine to fire up. He wanted me to give him more money to continue finding out the problem. Needless to say I asked him to pick-up his tools and leave. With the help of a friend, we re-timed everything, reset the valves and the engine fired up. Here's the problem - When the engine started, oil began pouring out through the head gasket. So we pulled the heads (by the way, while pulling the heads, we found where the mechanic didn't tighten all the head bolts). I had the heads serviced at a machine shop, purchased the head gasket kits using the VIN, installed the heads, torqued to the book specs in the order recommended and … when water was put in the radiator, it started leaking through the head gaskets. HELP!!! What are we doing wrong? Thanks in advance for any help.