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Head or Head Gasket?

North Maine

North Maine

Merchant Mariner
Messages
369
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0
Location
Fort Kent, ME
Is there any way to tell if you have a severely cracked head(s) or if you have blown head gaskets? My truck is consuming coolant, develops pressure in the expansion tank immediatly and has the hard upper hose symptoms. The truck blows a light white sweet smoke even when warm, and when I accellerate and then decel. really fast a cloud of white comes out, very sweet in smell. I don't know which side is the blame, is there any way to tell? I've heard 20 hours for one side, is that a reasonable number? Am I looking at 40 hours to replace my head gaskets/ heads (I HOPE NOT HEADS!!!) I am looking to keep this truck running for 12 more months, then I'll be shipping and I can buy a new truck, and forget about this head-ache... but I dont think I can make it through the winter as it is. Overheats then rapidly cools, no heat from the vents while overheating, then heat, then no heat.... arrrggggg.


Thanks for any help you can give me.
 
I had same symptoms, but no smoke. Pulled the heads and I had a blown head gasket on the driver side. I replaced both gaskets. It took me 20 hours to do the job.
 
Brooklyn Tow said:
Quick fix = GM seal tabs.
Click to expand...

The tabs don't work on compression leaks. They are meant for porous blocks.

When I tried them in my truck for a small head crack, they would did not seal the leak. It was a very small one at that. You culd see just a few bubbles in the thermastat housing, during the "bubble test".

IMO, the GM seal tabs are good for the intendend use. Coolant leaks from porous blocks. 400 psi raw compression plus combustion pressure, not a good use of coolant tabs.
 
Drain the coolant down some and pull the water cross over off.
Pull the serp belt and then fill enough coolant into the heads to fill the passage.
Start the engine and see which side is leaking.

These creatures usually blow from either the front or rear cylinders into the large water passage.
Use only a Felpro head gasket with the steel reinforcing on the end passages as a replacement.

The blocks can errode around these water passages and the longer it goes on the worse it gets.

The bubble test works well. My suggestion is that if you are ripping it apart, DO both sides as once the top is off it only takes a little while longer to do both.

If you are careful you will be able to see the bad spot in the gasket easily when it comes off.

This is not a nasty job but if you are careful it can go fairly easy.

My 94 blew a gasket at 237 K miles. I yanked the engine and did an overhaul.
Replaced both heads with ones from Clearwater in Fl. and did rings and bearings too.

Been 30 K now and 3 years. Runs great.
I also did injectors and a few other things inside as well as a lot of cleanup in the engine bay.

Remote mounted the PMD and replaced the main engine wiring harness that feeds the IP and all the sensors.

Best
Keep us posted

MGW
 
I think I'm going to do a quick fix, let it die, or struggle through life for another few months, and buy a Duramax. I'll then part out the truck on here for anyone who needs parts.
 
yep, but this is a truck that his lived through too many northern winters of salt, sand, snow, road slime, logging roads. It has had a hard life, a long life, and its treated its owners well throughout those times, however, its to the point where dropping in a brand new engine would be dropping a new engine into a work truck exterior, and soon it would just need more work, the vents no longer work right, meaning the dash needs to come apart... and y'know, itd be nice to have a turn-key truck, which puts more HP to the rear wheels with no modifications than my 6.5 would ever touch. I LOVE my 6.5, and as odd as it sounds, as soon as I'm working and can afford a play truck, i will get back into the 6.5 game, they are a fun engine, and a fun engine to work on
 
why wait? if you are trading it in,they will give you peanuts anyway.if badly rusted (bodywise),part it out here and get what you can.the end of november is a great time to buy a new vehicle!!!
 
why junk the truck over a headgasket. They are easy to do in these trucks. Your not that far from me. If you chop it let me know. I might need some goodies. Heck I'll buy the motor and fix it for a spare.
 
BTW the dash doesn't need to come aprt for the vents. The actuator is accesible from the drivers side bottom of the heater box. It's a common problem and easily replaced.
 
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