c_salsaman wrote:
Is there a way to tell which thickness head gasket the engine came with, without having the previous head gasket? Or could one just use the thickest gasket for replacement with no negative effects?Thanks
Should always just reuse the same thickness head gasket (1,2,or 3 hole) that came off the engine from the factory unless the head was machined which is not recommended due to it having a very thin nickel coating on the mating surface. Using the wrong thickness head gasket
Going thicker does nothing for improving clamping force as these are
steel shim gaskets and they are NOT compressible!
These are highly technical diesel engines and there are engineering design considerations and reasons why these engines came from the factory with different thickness head gaskets. They are not at all like the old school overhead valve gas engines that just get it close is good enough!
If "one size fits all" as some proponents encourage, these engines would have all came from the factory with the same thickness head gaskets and the factory service manual would not have went into all the explanations and instructions of precise measurement details to establish the correct thickness gasket when servicing the engine. And the factory would have only supplied a single thickness gasket.
When you change the
head to top of piston relationship by altering the thickness of the required head gasket, you are also changing the compression ratio of the cylinders and the valve to piston clearance relationship and the very important and critical injector protrusion to top of piston relationship which can affect combustion timing, exhaust gas temperatures (EGT's), cold engine starting, and engine power curves.
Not following factory recommendations can have consequences....
In your case where you don't have the original gasket to know what thickness the engine came from the factory with,
Only correct way is to take measurements of piston protrusion for each piston at TDC with the head off as outlined in detail the FSM, average the measurements and use the table in the FSM to determine which is the correct thickness head gasket to use.
FSM> 2005JeepKJServiceManual.pdf
http://www.colorado4wheel.com/manuals/Jeep/KJ/Starts on page 9-194 - 2.8L COMMON RAIL DIESEL ENGINE,
"STANDARD PROCEDURE - MEASURING PISTON PROTRUSION"
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