i decided to make my own thread, because well i think i blew my head gasket but im not sure. so if that is what it is, i will be posting here a lot, including a lot of pictures for you guys!


it started smoking the other night when i got home. i put her in the garage and popped the hood. there is A LOT of antifreeze dribbling right under the head, straight down from between the cam towers on the drivers side of the engine.

im thinking it might be that plastic piece that has the multiple hoses going into it, but i need to check. it sure looks like it isnt leaking, but it drips occasionally.

its wierd because it never overheated. is this normal for a car with 80k miles on it?

anyways, to my questions:

1) can i buy a tube of high tempature gasket sealer and pile it on around where it is leaking? will that hold it for a month or 2?

2) if i do the head gasket, must i get the head resurfaced?

3) where can i buy a copper head gasket? i know they are expensive but i dont want this happening again, if it is the HG that i blew. i know there is some site that sells that kinda stuff.


thanks for all the help guys!
ill keep you updated




- Cameron (CaliforniaCavalier)
- www.csc-motorsports.com

and i forgot to ask:

4) if i do the HG, and have to pull the cams and timing chain, how do i re-time the car after so the timing is correct? im a total newb to this timing and stuff.

and if it means anything i have pulled and installed a 2.4L LD9 before in another z24, so i do know my way around. but pulling an engine and doing a head gasket is totally diffrent...

thanks again for the help!



- Cameron (CaliforniaCavalier)
- www.csc-motorsports.com

Youre best bet is to get Haynes manual, In which you will have reference too. Ive done about 8 HG jobs on 2.2L engines, Never did one on 2.4L yet, In which 2.2L is pretty easy. 2.4L has little bit more stuff to remove, I am pretty sure its going to be little bir rough, Well if you got coolant leaking out of the corner of the HG, Could just be the gasket shot, I know machine shop can pressure test done, That doesnt always work, months down the road you could have another leak possibly crack cyl had. I had a problem with 2.2L, I got cyl head pressure tested, They said it was fine, Then 3 months later cracked cyl head, In one of the coolant channels on the cyl head hair line crack. Sure it wasnt a big deal with 2.2L, But all the hard work wasted. Now 2.4 I would have been really Pee'd. All I can recommend is to take youre time with a good job. Get remanifactured cyl heads. Then you should be in good shape.

Good Luck

keep us updated.