Head Gasket Replacement - another one

[steffan]

continuing on - i couldn't see anything obvious with the head gasket

 

[steffan]

the head under the head gasket - forgot to take pictures after i cleaned it off. again, couldn't see anything strange and no cracks etc.

 

[steffan]

before and after of the head and intake

 

[steffan]

after a cleaning... not concours by any means but good enough to spot trouble if it arises

 

[steffan]

intake

 

[steffan]

here was the problem child - the allen head by the thermostat

 

[steffan]

the truck is my daily driver so i couldnt wait a week for the bolt to come in. found a shorter one and made my own: drilled out the hex so the new head had a nice press fit with a bevel around for the weld to hold, then ground down. painted black it looks factory

 

[jgranthevagrant]

Note there is a little o-ring where the coolant pipe comes up under the intake. I usually replace it when things are apart, because it is a pita to get to when the head is on.

 

[steffan]

good one - i read about an o-ring for the heater pipe but wasn't sure where it was. too late now - didn't look like it was leaking... probably will now

 

[Mudder]

Note there is a little o-ring where the coolant pipe comes up under the intake. I usually replace it when things are apart, because it is a pita to get to when the head is on.

Agreed, didn't replace mine and got the joys of doing it with it in the truck.

 

[steffan]

just a follow up - have been running it for the last couple of days - maybe 100 miles? so far there is a lot less pinging. the plugs looked a little lean before, maybe there was a vacuum leak in the manifold or something? no air in the cooling system or loss of coolant. will have to drive it for a little while before i'm completly convinced i acutally fixed it