Removing front cylinder head?

[ikessky]

OK, I'm stumped here. How do I remove the front head off a 2001 Buick Century? I have the torque strut undone from the radiator support, but I cannot get the actual bracket off the car so the front head can be unbolted. How many more bolts need to be loosed up before the bracket can be moved or removed? My Haynes manual is 0 help with this topic.

[3100 MPFI]

you need to remove your AC COMPRESSOR.

There is 3 bolts that hold it in. They go straight into the block from the front of the car. With the bottom one, make sure that you get the right one. It is on the VERY BOTTOM, not the one in the middle of the compressor.

When the compressor is down, you can get to the bolts that are on the underside of it.

Here you can see the BACKSIDE of the AC compressor (this is the side that faces the block). You can see the 3 holes that the bolts that hold the compressor go through:


Here you can (barely) see the 1 bolt that the compressor covers. It is over the 2 bolts, but the compressor still has to come out.



I will try to hunt up a better pic, but I don't think I have one. This should still help you.

[3100 MPFI]

Here you go. Found a better pic.

Just so you know, there might be some differences, seeing the pics I am showing you is a 1996 3100 SFI from a Grand Prix, but they will still be SIMILAR.

[ikessky]

And the AC compressor lines can remain hooked up right?

Taylor, if you ever make it to northern Wisconsin, stop in and I'll buy you a beer!

[3100 MPFI]

yes, you can leave the lines hooked up. they are rubber/flexible off to the side of the car.

I am in south texas, but I do like to travel. No beer though. Don't like the taste. When I do drink, it is usually hard liquor. By me a Martini, or daquari, or something fruity.

LOL

If you need anything else, just let me know. I am doing an OBD2 swap to my car, so I have LOTS of pics. Photobucket alone has 550+ pics and 99% of them are car stuff.

[ikessky]

I greatly appreciate the help. Part of me wishes the engine would have just taken a crap and then I could have pulled it to rebuild instead of taking the heads of with the engine still in the car. It gets frustrating when I'm moments away from having all the necessary parts off and then hit a roadblock and it's already 10PM.

Something fruity huh? Well, a lady at work is always giving people homemade wine and I've got a few bottles in the cabinet. It is something like 16% alcohol, but it tastes pretty good. Plus I've got a bottle of Kesslers in the garage which is just waiting until the car is running again. After that, I plan on cleaning out the garage while killing brain cells!

[3100 MPFI]

sounds like fun. I know the feeling about something always turning up. I ran into that while rewiring my cars interior. Right when I thought I had it finished, something else showed up.

[ikessky]

The car is all buttoned back up and running great. The only problem came when I was burping the cooling system. The SES light came on for some reason. Tried disconnecting the battery while I changed the oil, but it's still there. I'll stop by AutoZone this weekend and get them to scan it. I need to pick up a new air filter anyway. I don't even remember when I changed it last and it's filthy.

[DEI37]

Hey, guys! Taylor, if you come up, we can get the three of us together. I'm like an hour or so from him, so that would be a WOOT!

Hope that you can get this SES light figured out, and it's either a DOH! or a no big deal.

[ikessky]

I have a new air filter and plugs coming in today because I'm still not happy with the mileage. I drove about 50 miles on 1/8 tank of gas. Then again, I guess that could be a product of driving in cold/windy/snowy weather, a little city driving, numerous stops and starts, idling, etc. I'm such a worried person it's pathetic! I'm taking a 1-1/2 hour trip this weekend, so I guess I'll get to see what my highway mileage really is and then I'll take it from there. I had the car on the hoist last night and cannot detect any fuel leaks.

As for the SES light, I'm going to disconnect both battery cables when I do the plugs tonight. It probably won't do the trick, but it's easy to at least try. If it doesn't go away, I'll stop at AutoZone this weekend and have them pull the code. Here's hoping it's just a fluke and everything goes back to normal after this weekend.

[DEI37]

Yeah, for sure. If you were closer, I'd hook up the PowrTuner to it, and retreive codes.

[ikessky]

I went home for lunch and when I was coming back to work, the engine wants to idle down real low and then stall. It is only happening when I come to a stop and each time it did it, it started right back up and drove fine. I have a feeling my battery is taking a crap. It turned over hard yesterday and since then I've only done city driving. A couple weeks ago, I stopped at my in-laws for a few hours and when I went to leave, the battery was completely dead.

This is getting really sickening. It idled just fine last night except for one time. I had just changed the oil and restarted the car and was braking down the driveway. Again the car started right back up and drove just fine.