Why do you wish to remove the head?

 

from what i was told when i took the car, the head gasket is blown. when the car starts up it shoots a plume of smoke, so it sounds about right. I also wanna inspect it to make sure it wasnt warped or anything. he says it started overheating and he would let it cool down and keep driving. he did this on the way somewhere and then on the way back so he definitely made things worse, i just want to know how much worse.

 

that link appears to be for a 2.3 4cyl. I've done this job a few times, no pics or write ups though. Pretty much take out all the bolts and pull The timing is the hardest part of the job. If it hasn't been done recently, replace the t belt and idlers/tensioner, waterpump and t-stat (it's expensive, do it anyway). The down pipe is a bitch as well as the spot on the front head where the t stat pipe, dipstick guide and engine hook all bolt up. If you run into problems post them up, we'll get you through it

 

if you scroll down theres a version for the 3.0! use ctrl+f and search 3.0 , its there. but thanks for the advice! im gonna get started this weekend and make sure to document it and hopefully get a good write-up out of it. any more advice would be greatly appreciated!!

edit: is there a basic list of tools ill need so im sure ill have them? thanks

 

set of those e torx sockets, and the t-belt tools. Read thru this for timing http://www.saablink.net/forum/general-9-5-posts-information/42806.htm

 

besides the obvious, like a hydraulic jack and stands, my friend tells me i will also need a breaker bar, pickle fork, and a couple of torque wrenches?

 

Torque wrench yes, not sure on jack stands, pickle fork, and jack if your only pulling the head. I would look into an engine lift to assist in pulling the head.

You will need a large socket, don't recall size, to get the chain tensioner off. In addition, you will need some way to turn the main crankcase to bring the piston's to top dead center.

 

Once it is off, good to send the head to a machine shop to get looked over and possible skimmed.

 

definitely getting it looked at once its off. thanks everyone for the advice, like i said, im starting this weekend, so ANY advice beforehand is all being taken into consideration and like i said i will try to take as many pics as possible and hopefully ill be able to make a good write up out of this!

You will need a large socket, don't recall size, to get the chain tensioner off. In addition, you will need some way to turn the main crankcase to bring the piston's to top dead center.

I think in the aforementioned link it says 15mm for the tensioner.

 

...And more expensive, since you have to get both heads surfaced, and there are 3 (I think 3) different gaskets for the intake manifold, plus the seal for the automatic transmission cooler cover place, plus cam and front main seals if you decide to do them, plus two cam cover gaskets, etc.

Read up about how you need to mark the timing belt before you take it apart since you won't have the cam lock tools to position the cams for re-installation. Put a mark or white-out or similar across the belt and the three pulleys so the belt can go back on in the same position.

 

I have some pictures on my profile over this job, it is not in any way a step by step picture write up, just a couple of pictures.

You have to remove 1 cam per head to be able to get to one of the rows of head bolts.

I found two advice about tightening, and it was something like 3x90 degres? Chilton said to put another 15 degres after this, I did not do that, after 3x90,(please check the torque, in case I remembering wrong) my arms where gone, and the bolts where squeling like crazy(lubed). So thought that this must be enough, I have never tighten a head this hard before.

Dont forget to check the oilcooler since it is so easy to take it out when the heads are off.

I bought the kit for the timing belt, I think a generic camholder would work fine. You need a big torx socket to move the crank.

Here is my write up how to put timing belt on, but the kit comes with a pretty good instruction to. Burnsides instruction is realy good to.

While I'm remembering it I will write down here how I put the Timing belt on. Locked the camshafts with the loking tool, front head easy, because the cams did not "flip" from the right position, they were perfectly still spot on. Rear head harder because the cam's wanted to "flip", I had one finger on a wrench trying to hold 1:st cam in position, holding the loking tool with 2 other fingers (getting ready to push the tool in).
While doing this with my left hand, my right hand was moving the 2:nd cam in position. This was the hard part of it, a third arm or a helper would have been nice. Then moving all 3 pullye's in a position where they are "furthest away" from the belt. (Make sence I hope). Next install the belt, I never had cared about the marks on the belt. Someone might jump on me for that, but that's the way I do it. I thinks it's harder to install the belt, if you have to think about, NOT only to get the belt on there right, if you also have to think about which specific cog on the belt, has to be on a specific cog on the sprocket. Ok, the belt is on, and luckily all is aligned, and I start with adjusting the upper (middle) pulley. I move it slowly with the wrench that come with the tool kit, until it almost moves cam 2, tighten. Move on to front lower pulley, turn it until it almost starts moving cam 4, tighten that one. Go on to the tensioner/pulley, and move that one with an allen key, until the 2 marks are aligned on the tensioner, tighten. Take out the sparkplugs, and move the engine carefully 2 full turns, check that mark are correct, on all cam's, and check the tensioner. Probably you have to aligne the 2 marks again on the tensioner, turn the engine 2 full turns, check the tensioner again. After this I left the car overnight, and when I come back this morning I turned the engine again, and one last time I had to align the marks on the tensioner. I guess it stretched a little during night. This is something that you shouldnt' have to do, but since I had to leave the car overnight anyway, I just went ahead and did it.

 

Sometimes a blown oil cooler on these engines is mistaken for a bad head gasket, just check that first before you start al lthis work, you may save yourself a headache

 

There is a marks so you can put the crankshaft on TDC, and also a second mark for turning the engine about 30-60? degrees conter clockwise. This is a "safe position" so you can work on the engine without any danger of bending valves. Go back to TDC when you put the belt on. Volvo has an engine where all marks for timing the belt is in a "safe position", not TDC, it's good and bad. If you are used to work with an engine and do all timing at TDC, it is very confusing.

 

Hi all,

I have just begun tackling this project. My car is a '01 SE 3.0 V6.

History: A couple days ago, I noticed a bunch of white smoke from my exhaust as I drove in to work in the morning. I took a whiff but the exhaust didn't have the burnt oily odor but it also didn't smell 'sweet' like coolant would. There was some oily looking condensate in my tailpipe but it didn't feel oily and felt like like water. Given all that, I suspected one of my head gaskets was compromised.

Anyway, the condition deteriorated rapidly when I drove home and my immediate concern was getting home from work before I lost compression. Unfortunately, I work 40 miles from home. The last 10 miles were grueling in terms of the smoke screen I was laying down behind me and what I could tell was a worsening loss of power/compression but I did finally make it home.

I started the car up the next morning to investigate/listen but not to drive. While it was running and billowing, I could hear a lot of tapping that I never heard before. Could I have damaged something else or was that the sound of water impinging the valves?

Anyway, I just started the job today in my garage and have the valve covers off so far. Haven't progressed further because I need to figure out how I will support the engine before removing the left engine mount arm.

Anyone have some info for me about situation #1 above with the tapping I was hearing now? What should I look at once I have the head off in response to that latest observation?

How about #2 with respect to a simple way to support the engine when I remove the left engine mount?

I'm not much of a motor head. Turned some wrenches in an engine room a long time ago in the Navy as a secondary duty but not as my primary duty. Therefore, I know one tool from the next but don't have much experience with a modern automobile engine... so forgive me in advance if I need a little hand-holding since I have now gone past the point of no return with this project and have to get it right. Plus I love my SAAB 9-5 and can't wait to get back on the road with it.

 

The opel 3.0 is not a DIY engine, I suspect a turbo failure & not a head gasket from the string of posts. Unless you can find some one who has genuine 2.5/3.0 experience & a timing kit for the opel v6's. It will probably never run again. Jaguar v12's & porsche flat 6's are much easier to service/Rebuild than a opel v6's. I don't meen this to be a cynical post. But i do have 18 years of experience with the opel v6 replacing pistons & doing valve jobs., Its not a DIY engine.