OK here's the layout. I have a 1991 GMC Sierra C/K 1500 4.3L V6 with 140k miles on it. It was using about 1-2 quarts of oil a week and would smoke oil as well. So I decided to take the heads off and take them in to have a valve job done on them. I just got the heads back and they look purty. Now I have a couple questions.
The top of the block looks plain nasty. There's dried up oil deposits all over the lifter valleys, around the tops of the pistons, just all over. So I cleaned that up. I scraped off the headgaskets and got some of the material in some of the water holes. Also a bunch of crap fell down this really large hole towards the back of the block. I assume that is for oil? Will any of this stuff damage anything inside? I should just flush the coolant after so many miles and change the oil a couple times frequently to make sure I get it all out right? Also when putting the heads back on...do I need to use any gasket glue? Or do I just lay the gaskets down and walla. I have never done motor work before and this is good practice for me for when I do my Buick someday. I found out that the old head gaskets had a couple rusted areas like water was leaking somewhere. 2 of the piston bores have evidence of rust trails...this means that water was leaking into the piston chamber eh? Will these new heads clear up this using of oil and smoking oil? The only other thing it could be would be piston rings but someone told me that these 4.3L motors are widely known to have valve problems...
The top of the block looks plain nasty. There's dried up oil deposits all over the lifter valleys, around the tops of the pistons, just all over. So I cleaned that up. I scraped off the headgaskets and got some of the material in some of the water holes. Also a bunch of crap fell down this really large hole towards the back of the block. I assume that is for oil? Will any of this stuff damage anything inside? I should just flush the coolant after so many miles and change the oil a couple times frequently to make sure I get it all out right? Also when putting the heads back on...do I need to use any gasket glue? Or do I just lay the gaskets down and walla. I have never done motor work before and this is good practice for me for when I do my Buick someday. I found out that the old head gaskets had a couple rusted areas like water was leaking somewhere. 2 of the piston bores have evidence of rust trails...this means that water was leaking into the piston chamber eh? Will these new heads clear up this using of oil and smoking oil? The only other thing it could be would be piston rings but someone told me that these 4.3L motors are widely known to have valve problems...
