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Blowing coolant out the overflow tank. Head gasket or block??

It's easy. Buy a 1/8 NPT tap from your local hardware store. It should say on it what size drill bit to use and drill the hole nice and straight. Have the plugs handy and slowly run the tap in. 1/8 NPT tap is tapered so don't run it all the way in. Run it in a little and then test fit the plug. It should feel tight when your almost in flush with the inside.
 
Ex man gaskets are a bad idea. There is alot of pressure on the ex manifold due to the turbo and gaskets will blow out. That is why they don't have any form the factory. it's a machined fit. I have never seen one leak without them. IIRC the 6.2 don't use them either.
 
Acesneights1 said:
Ex man gaskets are a bad idea. There is alot of pressure on the ex manifold due to the turbo and gaskets will blow out. That is why they don't have any form the factory. it's a machined fit. I have never seen one leak without them. IIRC the 6.2 don't use them either.
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Guess you should tell my last engine that, :mad2:

The turbo manifold leaked like a seive due to the rust etc, put a gasket on, fixed. I do prefer not to use them but sometimes, you have too.

The Hummer headers also use gaskets-they are a high temp graphite and won't blow out. If your blowing out gaskets, you have an issue. We run 30-40 psi on our Turbo-Mopars using gaskets and 2 times the EGT's, :eek:
 
Heads are good.:D Picked them up today. Both was warped & the passenger side had a crack between the two cylinders in the back. I told the guy what the truck was doing & he said that crack would definetly cause the cooling system to get pressurized. He took 15thousand off the passenger side & 8 thousand off the drivers side head. Cost 180 bucks but I'm happy. Could have been alot worse. Hopefully that was the only problem & the block is ok. My buddy is going to check the block with a straight edge when he helps me prepare it.

Have a question about what gaskets to get though. Called around & apparently there is different thickness gaskets you can get. A regular one & one that is 10thousand thicker. I'm assuming that thicker gasket is too make up the differance of a head that has been planed. Any reason why I shouldn't go with the thicker one? Not much difference in price.
 
What? He milled the crack out? I don't understand, if he said it would cause a leak. When I did my head gaskets, there were small cracks between a few of the valves. I removed the valves and looked at them close and the cracks were quit shallow. I decided to re-use the heads. That was a year ago and no issues at all. In my case the bad gasket was quite obvious. Cracks between valves IMO are not always the end of the world. If the block has been decked in the past that may cause problems. Might wanna check that--
 
Honestly I didn't totally understand what he told me he did. He was talking in technical terms & most of it went right over my head. He said both heads were warped, I'm sure of that & he did point to where one crack was. The rest was gobbly gook to me. The only thing I can say he comes so well recommended that I didn't ask too many questions. He said they were go to go so that was enough for me.
 
Can you tell me, as a mechanic, what your level is? I am afraid this project may be my next project.

I too have installed a veggy system, a water pump, and a few other external things. But heads, that "seems" like a big darn deal.

Following your project with much interest.
 
Well I have never taken any mechanic courses or anything like that but have done most of my repairs myself. I think converting my truck to veg was more complicated then a head gasket as I knew absolutely nothing about electrical & had to learn how to wire up switches & relays. Most anything that is just taking parts off & replacing with new parts I will do , but I must know what I am getting myself into before I will do it. I'm not one of those guys who says " hmm I wonder what this does".The internet has defintely been my friend though. If I didn't have access to this site & others no way would I have tackled this on my own. I am also blessed with a friend who is a mechanic who is willing to help me for a few beer.

If your going to tackle this yourself you should be able to do it, but I would suggest that if you know a mechanic or have a friend that has changed head gaskets before I would ask him to at least help you inspect & clean up the block. I wouldn't feel comfortable enough that I did a good enough job cleaning the block & would worry that I might damage it. You want to know that when you put her back together that you did it right. Also you may not need it but I would make sure I had access to heat for the manifold bolts.

Hopefully you don't have to go down this road but if you do I wish you luck. Just make sure you allow lots of time, don't rush, label everything, take pictures if you have a digital camera & get the heads checked.
 
One other thing I should mention & I don't know if anyone else does this is my mechanic friend suggested running a tap throught the head bolt holes in the block. He said this will clean up the holes & insures the bolts torque down properly. He's going to do this though, not me.

Also does anyone have the torque specs & sequence for the head , manifold, rocker arm, coolant crossover, upper & lower intake bolts or do they come with the new gaskets?
 
simone0414 said:
One other thing I should mention & I don't know if anyone else does this is my mechanic friend suggested running a tap throught the head bolt holes in the block. He said this will clean up the holes & insures the bolts torque down properly. He's going to do this though, not me.

?
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That is a very good thing to do. Most don't but it should be done. It ensures a more accurate torque and better sealing. Probably been said somewhere in the thread before but you should seal the headbolts. When I did my 6.2 I used aviation permatex.
 
simone0414 said:
Also does anyone have the torque specs & sequence for the head , manifold, rocker arm, coolant crossover, upper & lower intake bolts or do they come with the new gaskets?
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Hey, Simone, Search is your friend.

The torque specs are located in the 6.5 \technical Library, in a write-up by member Alberta Redneck (Matt).

http://www.dieseltowingresource.com/showthread.php?t=612

This, incidentally, is the same place we're going to put your 'How to change your Head Gasket' write-up and pictures. You supply the good stuff, we'll help you with the punctuation and stuff :D

All torque sequences on large items are from the inside-out, clockwise.
 
Thanks Jifaire. I guess you guys are spoon feeding me too much.lol We are going on vacation this weekend for a week so I will try & get some pictures posted before I leave. Yay I get to be a sticky!!!lol.:thumbsup:

Sourcing gasket & bolt prices today. Looks like most I will have to get ordered. Seems like every place I call locally has forgotten that the 6.5 ever exsisted.
 
simone0414 said:
Heads are good.:D Picked them up today. Both was warped & the passenger side had a crack between the two cylinders in the back. I told the guy what the truck was doing & he said that crack would definetly cause the cooling system to get pressurized. He took 15thousand off the passenger side & 8 thousand off the drivers side head. Cost 180 bucks but I'm happy. Could have been alot worse. Hopefully that was the only problem & the block is ok. My buddy is going to check the block with a straight edge when he helps me prepare it.

Have a question about what gaskets to get though. Called around & apparently there is different thickness gaskets you can get. A regular one & one that is 10thousand thicker. I'm assuming that thicker gasket is too make up the differance of a head that has been planed. Any reason why I shouldn't go with the thicker one? Not much difference in price.
Click to expand...

If he milled the head, I would get the thicker ones. Felpro's are fine.

As for the crack, I would honestly find out exactly what he meant, maybe get it written down and post up.

simone0414 said:
One other thing I should mention & I don't know if anyone else does this is my mechanic friend suggested running a tap throught the head bolt holes in the block. He said this will clean up the holes & insures the bolts torque down properly. He's going to do this though, not me.
Click to expand...

Don't use a tap, it removes metal. If you want to chase the threads, buy the proper chaser. FYI, because the bolts go into the cooling jacket, they rarely get messed up or dirty. Just install your new ones with goop and you'll be fine.
 
I think I finally figured it out. Don't know if this is a good enough picture or not. Passenger side. As is was when when was taken off.

DSCF2266.jpg
 
Ok. Ordered parts. I am also going to spring for new glows. Last winter my truck was starting a bit hard on cold days so for the extra 180 bucks I'm going to change them. No better time. I ordered the fast start ones. I took the old glows out this morning. They came out quite easy & none broke off.:thumbsup:I would like to do injectors but I just can't swing another grand right now. Truck was running fine anyway so they should be good for a while longer.

Parts I ordered:

Felpro head gaskets
Head bolts
exhaust manifold bolts. Probably could have re used the old ones but for the cost I'm going with new.
Valve cover gaskets
Top end gasket kit
Turbo gasket where it bolts to manifold
Turbo pipe gasket where it bolts to cat under truck
Glow plugs

I took the return lines off the injectors thinking the machine shop would have to remove the injectors but they didn't & ruined some of the clips. Some of the lines aren't the greatest either. Both are a dealer item. The cost of the lines isn't too bad but they want 80 friggin dollars for the clips.:eek: Can I reuse the ones that still look ok & if not would a hardware store or somewhere else have any kind of clips that would work?

Have I missed anything?

We are going away for a week so parts should be in by then.
 
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