I just replaced my head gasket and realized I didn’t put the dowels back on the cylinder head. I used the head bolts to hang the gasket off of when putting the heads on and they seemed to go on right. Am I good to go or should I bite the bullet and replace the gasket again?
Without the dowels the head gasket may be misaligned and can shift over time. It’s even more critical if you have an overhead cam engine with guides that bolt to both the head and block. If those holes are misaligned it can put them in a bind and cause them to fail.