Cylinder Head Freeze Plugs

[longjos]

I bought a 92 Tracker very cheap as a summer project.
Initial inspection reveals coolant in the oil and all through the engine. Previous owner says cracked block, I'm hoping head gasket.
I've removed the cylinder head and have not yet found any noticable cracks in the block however while cleaning out the gunk in the head I notice two freeze plugs are out.
This is as far as I have gotten for now as the rocker arm shaft retaining screws seem to have been loctite'd in.
Can I drill the screws out to remove the rocker arm shafts then either repair or replace the shafts or are the screws tapped into the head?

Here is the mess I'm cleaning up.

[jtgh]

heat the loctite , this is standard practice. good to loctite.com and read which type and what temperatures are needed.
factory started STAKING the bolts, but loctite is better than that.

freeze damage, the freeze plugs didnt fall out (course)
id pressure test the head after you fix that. (any head shop or machine shop can do that cheap)

for $9 ,get a motorcycle case impact screwdriver.
or less at harborfreight.
the torque on these is tiny inch lbs, DO NOT GUESS.

torque-all

[longjos]

I have tried an impact screw driver with no luck.
That is what makes me think it is loctite.
I've also tried heating with a propane torch with no results either.
Which makes me think its Red loctite.
I'm not sure the torch will get the threads up to 500 degrees F with all that aluminium around it to pull the heat away.

[jtgh]

ouch, not the dreaded, 500 deg.stuff , it says only for perminant usage.

i agree , safest is the drill.
no damage to alum. that would not nice to wallet.

suz pn for screw is: x10
02122-06123

that taper on the counter sink is unknown. making it hard to match.

[jtgh]

they are infamous for coming loose.
up to around 92 and the factory started staking them.
no TSB the day they started this practice. (A major FU from SUZ not telling that)
only rumors here on date of when they started.
we get post , hey, mines a 9x and its staked.... mid year. 90s sometime.

[longjos]

This one is a 92 and no stakes.
I will drill the screws out and see where things go from there.
As long as the screws are actually threaded into the lifter shafts, things will be easier to replair or just replace the shafts if the threads get too mangled. I was afraid the threads were in the aluminium head and the hole would get to large to get the screws back in.
Any suggestions for cleaning the oil/coolant goop out of the block?

[jtgh]

i think its just in the shafts.
but now that i think about this, you will never get the last bit out of screw and
then have saft pull out.
like impossible. so shaft will be destroyedk but i worry about drill wobblin on top and messing up cast in caps.

sorry , i think think heat the hell out screw is best.
i think the danger point for aluminum is 650F deg. 500 is dangerously close to this.
varies by alloy. elements.

[grc1]

Hi, I don't know if this will help, but in the past I had to take out a few broken screws and a few bolts. When ever posible I will always use a drillpress. You can one a cheap one for about a hundred bucks. what you will need is the drillpress and a center cut drill bit.(usually its about 3/8 to 1/2 round with a two flute 1/8 cutting end ---worth about five dollars) This will allow you to be prciece in placing a pilot hole if you have to drill out a bolt or scew.

The other thing you can try ,which should be first is to place the head in the drillpress and put your impact bit in the drill chuck . Now press down hard and rotate the drill chuck by hand . There should be enough room on the impact bit to put a wrench on it to help turn. If all is done right one of three things will happen 1)out comes the screw 2) you broke the screw head clean off 3) you just destroyed a cheap impact bit.

Hope this helps

[grc1]

Forgot to mention and that is to use the box end of the wrench on the impact bit , that way you can aply a lot of pessure without the bit sliding up into the chuck.

[longjos]

Sounds like it's time for a visit to my Grandfather. A retired machinist with all the tools required.
I'll set the head aside until the weekend and spend this week cleaning the goo out of the rest of the engine.
Thanks for the help. I'll post updates as I progress.