Pontiac Repair: head gasket, head gasket, head gaskets

Question
QUESTION: 1998 Transport Montana 3.4L engine, 130,000 miles. I have a bad head gasket. 2 questions:
1. Do dealers have something that is called "goodwill recall/warranty" because of the known problem with the plastic gasket?
2. Can the back head be done without removing the engine?
I guess I have more questions. If it can be done without removing, what do you do to get room to get to the back one? What else would you suggest to be done while I'm all the way there?
Thank you for any help,
Tony

ANSWER: Hey Tony:

Yes the dealer does have some leway when it comes to warranty repairs called good will money. But your van is way out of milage and time on the warranty that they can help you out. As a rule of thumb it's about 60,000 miles and an extra year past the base warranty. Each dealer has ther own rules. Yours it way way out. Head gaskets do go bad on those vans but it's not a super common problem where they automatically make good for the repair so your really out of luck there sorry. as for removing the head in the van, Yes we do it all the time when we have 1 go bad. You just have to work "Blind" because the back side of the engine you can't see. There is no way to get any more room to work on it It's just the nature of the beast. Good luck :)


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Anything else I should be doing while all the way back there with the heads off? Anything you can tell me to be careful of?
Thanks,
Tony

Answer
No not really just make sure you hook up all the vaccum hoses correctly ther is a vacuum solenoid in the back for the emissions system and you can hook them up backwards. when you clean off the engine block and the head do not use any kind of super abrasive grinder/sander and try to keep everything out of the engine block. Dump the oil before you start it up and put in fresh oil and maybe dump it gain after it runs for an hour or so. Just to make sure ther is no dirt and ebris floating around in there. Also you may want to change the plugs and wires while you have that head off it makes life easier. Use only ac delco spark plugs!  that's about it good luck and more power to you that job sucks if you don't have nay power/ air tools. P.S. use good quaility gaskets EG" felpro or factory stuff. The dealer will have a head gasket kit which will include the upper and lower intake gaskets and valve cover gaskets. You will only need to get the egr valve gaskets and the o-ring seal for the coolant bypass heater pipe that runs across the front head.