The time has come . . . headgasket replacement

[Marcus1983]

The guys at Yotamasters found oil in my coolant when I brought it in this week. I have suspected a slowly dying HG since I bought the truck about 5,000 miles ago in August (luckily, I factored the cost of a HG into my budget when purchasing the 80).

Since there are no acute symptoms at this point, I think I will start gathering supplies (FSM, IdahoDoug's DVD, tools, supplies from CruiserDan, etc). I know there are other possible reasons for the oil presence in the coolant, but I figure I might as well replace the gasket if I am going to pull the head and check things out.

I am definitely a 1 guy, but I am going to do my research and take my time. I am lucky this winter because my wife will be working lots of hours at the hospital and I have access to a third car . . . should make it easy to work on the 80.

I plan on keeping a lot of beer stocked in the garage -- anyone interested in checking out the progress at any point is more than welcome. I will let everyone know when I plan to get started.

 

[Dan2722]

Sorry to hear about this, but it sounds like you have the right attitude to get this done. I have not done the HG on a Cruiser but have done it on other vehicles and it is an exercise in patience.

Good luck and keep us posted on the progress.

 

[Slomo]

Good luck, and post up if you run into any problems. I took almost 3 weeks to do mine, went through everything while I was in there. x2 on taking your time and doing it right once.