audijim113

getting ready to take the head off (92 100 CS) and was looking at the head bolts. i thought they'd be internal splined bolts, but look like some kind of external star shape. what is the correct tool?

also, bently says if you are taking only one head off, that putting the intake manifold back on can warp a head? any thoughts on this.

last, should i really replace the headbolts especially since i'm only doing one head?

4Driver4

The bolts can be one of three different types used over the years. What you find will be determined by when the bolts were last replaced. The external spline bolts were original on your 1992; the correct socket is cheap and easy to find (NAPA or equivilent). The bolts should absolutely be replaced; they are stretch bolts and must be replaced (not sure what replacing only one head has to do with your question).

Not sure what Bentley is talking about with head warpage due to intake removal, and again not sure what this has to do with working on only one head.

Edd W

the head is probably 50x more rigid that the manifold so I doubt there is any way that it could cause any problem with the head.

You "should" always use new bolts but I would probably just torque them up to about 80ft/lbs in three stages and I very much doubt you would have any problems with that. The 2.8 is not exactly a high performance engine. You must use a new head gasket and any inlet gaskets must also be new.

jschick

I did not replace both of mine and now have about 15k on it now. I did however have a 1 headgasket go out 2 months ago, either from a cheap gasket or possibly since i did not replace the bolts. not sure, but I would not worry about warpage, if you can get the bolts you may want to replace them, I got the wrong ones and could not wait for a new set so I reused them, I have never heard of one busting though. if they fail you would probably have to replace the gasket again, which is about a 3 hr job after you do it once...