Blown head gasket 3.7l -help

[Hanna]

How are you getting on with it Mark??

The silence is a little concerning.....

[Hendrous]

Hi Hanna,
I'm plodding along after taking off for the weekend. I've got the air compressor out of the way, couldn't move it up enough so had to get the gas out and move it to the passenger side. I then got the fuel lines and injectors out in one assembly and also set that to the passenger side out of the way.
It took a lot of time working out how to disconnect the wiring harnesses because some of the clips have broken lugs etc. The mechanic who did the long block install appears to have snapped off quite a few wiring clips and so they're just jammed on with the locking pins engaged but there is no release button (if that makes sense). I've also discovered the supports for the wiring harness for both left and right heads which sit on the inlet manifold studs are snapped off and missing in action. Not sure if this is a big deal but it means the wiring harnesses are just resting on the valve/rocker covers. That's about all I have done after getting the alternator and tensioner thingo off.
Atm I'm stuffed if I can work out how to remove the accelerator cable and idler cable from the throttle body so I can get the black manifold set up that out of the way. There seems to be a clip or slide which holds both cables into the plastic inlet manifold frame but I can't figure out how to get them out free so I can lift out the inlet manifold. Any ideas? Or can I just raise this up and tie it to the bonnet to get at the heads?
My cd workshop manual simply says- release cables and remove throttle body but provides no info on how to do it. Still waiting on a Haynes manual from the UK to hopefully explain some of these details.
Chrs
Mark

[Hendrous]

Further to that..I got the accelerator cable off and then separated the throttle body with the idler cable still attached. Guess I'll just cover this and sit it out of the way as I can't see how to separate it. At least I can remove the inlet manifold now..
Chrs
Mark

[Hendrous]

I finally got the rocker cover off the left head looking from the front and I've found a rocker arm has come adrift. It's the one nearest the firewall. Guess that explains why it started running really rough on the day I stopped driving it! Can it explain the coolant overpressure or the other symptoms I had of a blown gasket like water in the exhaust pipe...no guess not..
Any suggestions on what caused this rocker arm to be thrown?
I suppose I carry on stripping it down and get the head workshop to check the valves.
Also the manual mentions a 'special tool' procedure when removing the camshaft- do I need the special tool or is there a way to just pull the camshaft without it.
Still have quite a bit to do before I get either head off. Exhausts need to be disconnected and I'm hoping I can separate them below the cat and bring them out with the head which a blog suggested is the way to go.
Apologies for the blow by blow description which I know is a bit lengthy, but I'm hoping someone reading this log with prior knowledge will let me know if I'm off track or overlooking something obvious.

Chrs
Mark

[Hendrous]

Had a feeling I'd hit a snag with the balancer removal.

I started trying to remove it with a puller I bought from autoone and the first thing I noticed is there isn't anywhere I can see to anchor the bolts which are supposed to hold the triangular shaped object in place. Tried just lining this up square and wound the centre bolt in but it started to get hard to turn and on reversing it I found some ground out thread from the crankshaft on the last cm of the bolt (that is furthest in).
I'm guessing it might be a bad idea to press on with this.
Do I need a Mopar puller set?
Are there any other tricks I can try?

[Hanna]

G'day Mark,

Sorry for the late reply - I typed out a detailed response at work today on my phone only for the connection to crash and lose everything!!

As you have found, you can't use that type of puller due to the lack of holes in the balancer to screw into. I tried the same with my old puller from my Falcon days.

You need to get a generic reverseable 3-jaw puller from your local auto or tool shop. The jaw hooks will be able to grab onto the lip where the slots in the front of the balancer are. Just make sure that you measure the inside and outside diameters of your balancer and take a photo of it before you buy the puller as I bought mine on a whim and it turned out to be a bit big. It was fine for the first 2/3 of the way, but then the jaws started to bind on the inside of the balancer and as I kept going they forced further apart and I ended up cracking the balancer.....

You definitely don't need the genuine Mopar puller (probably worth more than the car!), but it might be a little fiddly with the 3-jaw. Just be careful with the crankshaft thread as you don't want to damage that! If it threaded in normally most of the way and only got hard near the end I wouldn't worry too much. Shine a torch down there with a mirror or take a photo/video with a smartphone to make sure the thread still looks good. You only need to make sure the first 20mm or so of the thread is undamaged so there's enough meat there for the puller to work properly.

Let us know how you get on.

Cheers,
Hanna

[Hendrous]

Thanks mate,

Well I have capitulated on the balancer and called a mobile mechanic who has the correct tool. Best price I could find for a 3 jaw was $150 from the states and all the ones in the shops around my place have threads going into the crankshaft and I'm concerned they can strip the thread if not perfectly centred. The mobile mechanic is probably going to set me back about $150 but if that gets me moving forward it is how it has to be. My wife is starting to look a bit miffed about my car being off the road this long! Can't see how it is effecting her and in reality she is relaying the 'I told you so' look because I ignored her advice about trading in the jeep for something new, reliable and ultimately very expensive.

I digress! I did manage to get those weird clips off the exhaust pipes so when I finally do get the head bolts out I should be simply pulling them with the exhaust manifolds on.

I'm not 100% on how I should go about getting the camshafts out and chains off the pulleys without special tools x y z. I'm hoping I can quiz the mechanic when he gets here.
All fun and games...hopefully the mobile guy is quick and gets out of here before my wife returns and I will simply forget to mention he was ever here and then it will be time for a beer I guess.

Chrs
Mark