How many hours to change head gaskets in a 97 Chevy Venture van?

Answer 1

I'm working on this project right now. Just to get all the electrical, vacuum lines, and fuel injection lines out of the way took me about 5 hours. I do not do this kind of work on a regular basis but I've done more than my fair share of auto repair work so I'm not exactly new to this. It took another 2 hours to get the alternator and the Power Steering pump out of the way and then another 2 hrs to get down to the to the cylinder heads. I was able to get the back Cylinder Head off but I took the exhaust manifold off before I took off the cylinder head. I learned that you can leave the exhaust manifolds on the heads! Don't take them off. For the back exhaust manifold, just take off the bolts that connect the rear exhaust manifold to the exhaust pipe and middle manifold pipe that connects the front and the back manifold pipes. By leaving these on you will not have to buy new exhaust manifold gaskets. Unfortunately for me, I still did not get the front Cylinder Head off because I cannot remove the front passenger side Engine Torque Strut Bracket. There is an extended Cylinder Head bolt that this bracket slips down onto. The bracket will not budge. I'm Considering leaving the front Cylinder Head alone for this reason. I'm about 11-12 hrs into this job with out putting things back together. I'm thinking another 6 hrs to put it back together. This is a massive job that can go bad with stripped out bolt heads. Make sure you have a set of Irwin Bolt Grip sockets or some equivalent set to remove the rounded out bolts, you'll need them! I have the Irwin 5/16'-8mm to 3/4"-19mm set. They worked great. Be careful with the aluminum heads.

Good Luck.

Mark