16v head gasket Q

[amalventano1 at tds.net (Allyn)]

>  they are streached bolts so can't reuse them.

I know this comment will go 'against the grain', but I've re-used head bolts with no ill effect (and many thousands of miles
afterwards).

> headgasket is a one time use only one unless its metal then u 
> "might" be able to reuse it.

Umm, all head gaskets have metal rings surrounding the cylinders, and as those rings are compressed upon torquing of the head bolts,
successful re-use would basically require that everything went together *exactly* as it was before removal.

> pull the head get it decked and 
> clean the surface on teh block and re install.

Be advised decking will raise the compression ratio.  The impact is more severe on engines that have higher a pre-decking
compression ratio.

HTH
Al