[alfa] 164 Head Gasket & Valve Job(long)

[Robertone <Robertone@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello Alfisti s,

My 1991 164L has been using about a pint of water every 100 miles or so.
Less if used on the freeway. It has a very thin film of oil(?) around the
coolant bottle, non actually visable in the coolant. The car has about 103K.
I am assuming the headgasket is leaking, because coolant does not appear to
be leaking anywhere. There is no coolant in the oil. Also I hear a slight
popping (missing) in the exhaust at idle.

I am wondering if it is worth a try to re-torque the heads? If so which
method (as per the manual remove each nut and oil)? Or should I just grin
and bear it and replace the head gaskets?

On replacing the headgasket, any tricks I should be aware of? Especially on
the matter of removing the heads if they're stuck and re-torqueing after
replacement.

Besides a valve job, is there any thing else that should be done or checked
with the heads off?

One last question, anyone know of a good machine shop on the San Francisco
Bay Area Peninsula experienced with Alfas?

Thanks for your time. Any info would be appreciated.

Robert
91 164L 5 Speed
--
to be removed from alfa, see /bin/digest-subs.cgi
or email "unsubscribe alfa" to majordomo@domain.elided