96 Nissan Sentra... Bolts off but I can't get head off....

I am trying to remove the head on my 96 Sentra with a 1.6 liter
engine, and 120k miles. I have an overheating problem and I have
determined that a leaking head gasket was the cause. I plan to bring
the head to my machinist to check it out.

I have all of the bolts off the head as indicated on my shop manual,
but I can't get the head to budge. I also removed all attachments to
the head that I could observe including electrical and hoses. I am
being very careful about banging anything to get it off as I realize
the aluminum head can break easily. I would appreciate any thoughts
you might have in getting the thing off.

Thanks, Al Kondo

Did you take off the timing chain, intake and exhaust manifolds?
You might have already. I just removed a 91 1.6L but I removed whole
engine with transmission, didn't take off head. But procedure is
usually pretty straight forward, especially on a Japanese 4 cylinder.

"Al Kondo" > wrote in message
...
> I am trying to remove the head on my 96 Sentra with a 1.6 liter
> engine, and 120k miles. I have an overheating problem and I have
> determined that a leaking head gasket was the cause. I plan to bring
> the head to my machinist to check it out.
>
> I have all of the bolts off the head as indicated on my shop manual,
> but I can't get the head to budge. I also removed all attachments to
> the head that I could observe including electrical and hoses. I am
> being very careful about banging anything to get it off as I realize
> the aluminum head can break easily. I would appreciate any thoughts
> you might have in getting the thing off.
>

If you are ABSOLUTELY sure that everything is unbolted, then the
gasket is probably stuck to the head and the block. Trying to hammer
them apart is of course, the wrong thing to do. Instead use a giant pry
bar, and be prepared for when the thing cuts loose. Or another trick
is bolting on some hook eyes to the head and attaching that to your engine
hoist
then trying to lift the engine out while it's still bolted to the car. The
key
here is steady, not pounding, pressure.

Ted

I've found a scisor jack pushing horizontally between the head and the
side of the engine bay does it easily.