Yeah, all of them on that side do not make continous contact.

 

This would indicate that they were starved for oil. That means that an oil passage is blocked or is leaking. As you say you did not dismantle the head that leaves a clogged gallery as the only plausible explanation. You said that the head had oil in it when you removed the cover. Did both sides look like that had the same amount of oil.

JMC

 

carF150 - I just had a thought. Is it possible that you put the head gaskets on the wrong sides or possibly got two of the same head gasket?

I triple checked which gasket I was putting on each side since they are side specific.

If the wrong gasket is installed, that could be blocking all the oil passages into the head????

 

jmc, i'm curious. how do these work when you first start your engine and there's no oil pressure?

 

A lash adjuster will stay pumped up beacuse of the spring and the oil inside it. Oil is fed through a passage in the cylinder head. As long as oil is sent to the lifter it will stay inflated. When the supply of oil is stopped the action of pushing against the follower will push the oil out of it and it will deflate.

JMC

 

I got my head back off and here is what I found. The gasket has an R on it and it doesn't seem too fit any other way.

 

When you replaced the gasket the first time did you reuse the old head bolts?

JMC

 

No, I used new head bolts.

 

Was that coolant in there the first time you took it off?

Do the pistons have any damage like they hit the valves?

 

The pistons look ok. I cant just pull any of them out, so I know they are broke. Should I start taking apart the lash adjusters? What should I check on the head ?

 

You need to remove the lash adjusters to see what is wrong with them. Oil is fed to both the lash adjusters and to the cam bearings through a passage. At both ends of the head it is capped off by a plug with an allen key. The oil is supplied to the passenger side head from a feed hole at the firewall end of the head on the passenger side head. The cam cap with the 3 bolts is the end that has the oil feed coming up from the block. If that feed hole is blocked or restricted it will starve the bearings and also the lifters for oil and they will collapse.

JMC

 

What is all that stuff floating in the liquid in the cylinders? What is the liquid, antifreeze?
There is a mark on the # 2 piston in the middle that looks like a crescent. What is that? On the head the #3 combustion chamber has something covering the exhaust valve near the bottom. Is that a shadow or something that is actually there? I recommend you take the head to a shop and have them look at it.

JMC

 

carF150 - how is it going?

 

Well, I am in my first year of pharmacy school and finals are coming up and am getting my butt kicked. I haven't done much since I got the head back off. I emailed my dad and brothers some of those pictures and they said they didn't think those valves on the head should be open. They thought the valves should all be closed, so maybe I have some bent valves through there. I am going to wait until the 17th when finals are over and start taking apart the valves and lash adjusters and checking them all out. Thanks for all of your help along the way.

 

It looks like the valves hit the pistons more than likely because it was out of time. In cylinder #2 I can see an indention on the piston that looks like the shape of the valve. This will bend the valves and cause no comperssion on the cylinders affected which would explain why it wouldn't stay running.