Well, the gaskets blew and I have mess on my hands!

[ikessky]

I am not a happy camper. Started getting a ticking noise today on my lunch hour. It went away after the engine warmed up, so I really didn't worry about it any more. Went to my in-laws for a while after work and noticed the noise again when I left. It did it the whole way home (about 10-15) minutes and my temp gauge was going up and down. Popped the hood in my garage and looked at the oil dipstick. Half way low and milky. Checked the coolant and it was basically dry. I finally took of the oil cap and was greated with a mass amount of white gunk in my valve cover. Great, the gaskets finally took a crap. So now I'm left with changing the gaskets.

Here's some questions. The car is a 1995 Buick Skylark with a 3100.

1) Do I need the gaskets with the pushrod guides on the intake gasket?

2) Should I also just go ahead and get a new water pump and t-stat since I will have this thing completely torn down?

I'm sure something else will come up in the next few days. Thanks for the advice (in advance).

[Rhedalert]

Get the revised gaskets that came out in 2003, they are all black in color and have a couple metal buttons by the coolant ports to prevent damage from overtorquing. Otherwise with the old style gaskets you'll be having the same problem in a few years. All 3x00 gaskets have the plastic guide plates. Don't worry about the water pump, you won't need to take anything apart in that spot for the gasket job.

[ikessky]

Hmmmm..... Every site I look at either has a set with pushrod guides and one without.

[ikessky]

Well, here. Look at this page and tell me which one you recommend.

http://www.pickproparts.com/PartsList.aspx?SubCategoryID=91

Also, I'm assuming I need to flush the engine. What will I need to use and do to accomplish this? Kerosene (sp?)?

[Rhedalert]

These are the revised gaskets, straight from GM. If you have the time, get them on ebay, otherwise the set from the dealer is in the $70 range

[ikessky]

So they are with the pushrod guides. Looks like I'll end up spending the extra cash. I'm going with a Fel-Pro set off of pickproparts.com. It is like $173 for everything.

[ikessky]

I found in some service manuals a little deal talking about the gaskets. There is a Design 1 and Design 2. Design 1 is with out the pushrod guides and are for the non-roller rocker engines. I went with this one since my '95 doesn't have roller rockers. Besides, this thing only needs to last probably less than 2 more years. I don't want to spend the extra $50 for the pushrod guides if this one will get me 1-2 more years of service.