Help: Yay I Think I Need Head Gaskets

[CancerPipe]

Truck has been doing fine with no noticable symptoms. About 3 days ago i get a low coolant light and topped it off when i got home with about half a quart. I checked for leaks and found none. The truck gets hot quick when chugging along and if you bring the rpms up it cools back down, which is kinda complicated by the stepper motor going out. I noticed that the same day too. Turned the truck off and the temp stayed above 160. The temperature seems to rise and fall more and faster. I changed the thermostats when i did the water pump about 6 months ago. I dont have any pressure coming from the dipstick, no smoke that i've noticed except when cold for a couple minutes, oil and pressure look fine, but i did have a hard upper radiator hose this morning. So i'm calling on all the experts. WTF. Its noticably under pressure. I topped it off when i got the coolant light right? Checked it the next afternoon and it was below the level i filled it too and i decided to add coolant. I took the cap off slow and pressure came out and once it was done it came up to almost where i had filled it too. Looks like im gonna be broke for a while and walking. Help
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[CancerPipe]

Viewed by 23 people and no ideas?

 

[TIM Z]

I dont know but hope it works out for ya. Did you pressure test the cooling system?

 

[TheBac]

Hard upper hose and pressure out the overflow are two classic signs on HGs. Sorry.

 

[CancerPipe]

Yeah. Lol no luck.

 

[FMOS]

Exactly what I've got going on right now.

Noticed it when I let the truck idle for about 30 minutes and went out and it was freezing cold reading no temp, pulled onto the highway and all of a sudden it was reading operating temp. Checked the hose and it was hard. Cracked the tank and it dumped about 2 litres to the tank so fast it all came out the overflow.

And right now I've got the heads off the truck. All I can say is that if you have the money, pay someone to do it for you, its a major PITA. I didn't want to spend the 3g in labor to get it done so I decided to do it myself. Took me and my bro 15 solid hours to get the heads off and we are no strangers to working on motors etc.

If your doing it yourself, hopefully I have some advice to tips to offer you after I get mine back together in another week or two.

 

[durallymax]

im always encouraging people to DIY so if you have mechanical skills and tools, youll be OK. But its still not fun and takes time. However in the end you have the cost of two gaskets, all the bolts, the coolant, and any tools you have to buy that you dont have. O yea and some Right Stuff gasket maker, and dont forget the injector return line gaskets, or you may be going back in there again.

 

[FMOS]

I left the injector return lines hooked up, just take all 4 out at once. Just unhooked the hose that connected to the solid part of the fuel return... but now that I looked your talking LB7 jibberish so I got no idea how those ones are set up.

 

[durallymax]

but now that I looked your talking about real motors (LB7) so I got no idea how those ones are set up.

i left my injectors in. the lb7 return line isd a hard line that connect to all injectors with a banjo bolt, then to the head with another banjo bolt.

 

[bullfrogjohnson]

When you let the pressure off the tank does coolant pour out of the overflow or just rise back up to the full line?

 

[SmokeShow]

since it's holding that much pressure, could it be as simple as a new cap that releases pressure properly? just a wishful thought.

 

[bullfrogjohnson]

since it's holding that much pressure, could it be as simple as a new cap that releases pressure properly? just a wishful thought.

Thats what I was thinking, Remeber coolant will expand and contract with heat so if the cap is bad and not letting the overflow vent or actually even holding a vaccum you will see these symtoms.

 

[CancerPipe]

Its used about a quart of coolant in about four days. Would the cap cause irradic cooling? Temp goes up and down like crazy. I would love it if it was the cap. When I take the cap of it rises back up in the tank if I let the pressure out slow enough. To fast and it dumps a little

 

[bullfrogjohnson]

could be injector cups lifting, the eratic cooling could be caused by exhaust gasses passing by the temp sensor

 

[bullfrogjohnson]

Are you leaking a quart from pressurizing and blowing out the overflow or are you burning a quart internally.

You could pull the glow plugs and check for signs of coolant in the combustions chamber

 

[CancerPipe]

Haven't pulled the plugs yet scared too.

 

[specialagentPK]

While it could be a rad cap and it doesn't hurt to change it for the money it costs your truck is doing the exact same thing as mine was doing when my gaskets went.

 

[CancerPipe]

After getting a quote from my mechanic I may have to tear it down myself

 

[delong_1]

im not trying to hijack your thread, i am having some similar symptoms; hard upper hose, when i slowly loosen the cap the level rises, also im leaking a bit of coolant on the drivers side i havent been able to see where it might be coming from.. headgaskets???

 

[CancerPipe]

sounds like another winner. Question for the smart people. I've heard you can use a rubber pipe test plug to remove the injector cups, but what would you use to re-install them? A socket and hammer? Just figuring it out in my head. Not looking forward to doing the valvetrain if i do this myself.