Hum...Head gasket?

[mijohnst]

Great suggestion, @West1! I was going to use wire, but floss sounds like a better idea. I saw a video somewhere where a guy shaved down a wrench just to break it loose. Hoping to take the cover off today just to see what I'm going to have to deal with.

@Doubeleive, it is going to require a tune. BTR suggested ShorTuning. I don't really know anything about them other than it's going to cost over $300. Seems expensive for something that probably takes five minutes, but it must be the going rate. Any suggestions?

 

[Doubeleive]

Great suggestion, @West1! I was going to use wire, but floss sounds like a better idea. I saw a video somewhere where a guy shaved down a wrench just to break it loose. Hoping to take the cover off today just to see what I'm going to have to deal with.

@Doubeleive, it is going to require a tune. BTR suggested ShorTuning. I don't really know anything about them other than it's going to cost over $300. Seems expensive for something that probably takes five minutes, but it must be the going rate. Any suggestions?

nothing off the shelf that I know of unless you want to delve into hp tuners
otherwise blackbear could probably provide a temporary tune then submit a drive file and it would be updated
but that involves buying a autocal and tune which is roughly $500-600, might even be a smidge more.
there are other tuners out there, I suspect the cost will be similar unless you have a local place that can either come to you mobile or take them your pcm to get you started up and then do a in person tune. tow it in or whatever

 

[mijohnst]

Thanks, @Doubeleive! I think I'll just pay the $300 and ship it to someone. lol


Well.. here is where we are.

 

[LsHart]

OEM bolts are torque-to-yield (TTY) so they need replacing. I went with ARP bolts (there are two styles of OEM, be sure to check) as my pic shows. These have an easier torque sequence (values vs angles), as well as being reusable. If you're doing a build, might go with studs.

Good was just making sure.

 

[Doubeleive]

Thanks, @Doubeleive! I think I'll just pay the $300 and ship it to someone. lol


Well.. here is where we are.

View attachment 478922

man you got some cleaning to do

 

[West 1]

So is it determined that you have a cracked head??? Sure looks like it. Not much can put that much coolant into the oil. Bummer.

Not sure how many miles you have on this truck or how long you plan to keep it? If you are only looking for another 75-100K before moving it on the factory replacement head bolts work just fine and are far less expensive but they are One time use compared to the ARP. I have used the Fel Pro supplied Head Bolts which are all torque to yield on all the 5.3 and 6.2L engines I have played with so far. I like ARP, just could not justify the cost increase for engines that will be retired before they need another rebuild.

If you are racing, adding a turbo, running Nitros etc I fully understand the need and advantage of the ARP upgrade but factory bolts are not expensive.

 

[MadMax_MFP]

I didn’t see it mentioned but do you have a cooler in the radiator tank? That is also a potential source of coolant/oil chocolate shake mixture that you have.

 

[mijohnst]

Yes, I do, @Doubeleive... Any suggestions on a good cleaning solution? I'm thinking of trying to find a local place I can take all the old oily stuff to have it cleaned off professionally.

Well, @West 1, it turns out that it was just a blown gasket. The head looks fine. Still, I purchased a replacement set of 799's that have been resurfaced and tested. Those will be in Thursday. I also bought a top end rebuild kit from BTR with the Truck Norris cam, high volume oil pump and new timing chain. The bolts that come with the kit are not ARP, but that's ok. I have all those parts and now just kind of taking my time disassembling and clean up as I go. This is another fun project, so I'm really in no rush.

 

[mijohnst]

I didn’t see it mentioned but do you have a cooler in the radiator tank? That is also a potential source of coolant/oil chocolate shake mixture that you have.

That's a great point. While I have my radiator out, I should go have it cleaned at a radiator shop. Thank you for the suggestion!

 

[West 1]

The parts you have removed could be very quickly cleaned. I use Diesel Fuel now, solvent has become very expensive and hard to find. Diesel fuel works equally well and is available at most gas stations for $5 per gallon or less. After cleaning with diesel fuel I wash with a light soap and water using dish soap. Dawn works great.

You will have a lot of the mess still inside your engine. For your first start up I wouild grab some very cheap 5-30W at walmart. Non Synthetic cheap oil. Use a cheap filter for this also. Fire it up on the cheap oil. Set your engine at a fast idle, maybe 1,500 RPM. Let it get to full temperature and run it another 1/2 hour.


Drain that mix out while hot. You will have a good idea what is inside the engine when you drain this stuff out. If it looks like good oil you are done. I would not drive it or put a load on the engine till I knew the oil inside is clean and not dilluted with coolant.

Install your good oil filter and good quality oil. Should be good to go.

 

[mijohnst]

Thank you @West 1 ! I had purchased cheap oil from Walmart to do this, but I bought synthetic. I'll return it and get the real stuff. I also didn't know how long to run the engine to clean it out, so thanks. Would you add Seafoam or ATF into it since those have detergents?

Also, thanks for the cleaning tips! Although, I'm not going to use the heads again, do you think this cleaning method will work on them? I might clean them up and sell them as they do look like they're in good shape...just dirty.

 

[mijohnst]

I also have to add that it's freeing knowing that if you break a bolt while removing the exhaust manifold, it's not going to matter! I broke one off and laughed at it...

And while I had all those off, I decided to replace the motor mounts since they're easy to get to and install some long pipes from speed-engineering. Thankfully I hadn't sent off my EMU yet.

 

[West 1]

Synthetic will work the same, just costs more. I would save synthetic for the actual install of oil to run. Seafoam and Trans fluid both work to clean. That is your choice. Your engine is not dirty, it just has coolant mixed in. If you get that amount of coolant lowered you will be OK. Both ATF and Seafood reduce the ability to lubricate. Coolant also reduces the ability to lubricate so I would be cautious on your first start up but it is your engine. Your choice.

 

[Doubeleive]

Yes, I do, @Doubeleive... Any suggestions on a good cleaning solution? I'm thinking of trying to find a local place I can take all the old oily stuff to have it cleaned off professionally.

Well, @West 1, it turns out that it was just a blown gasket. The head looks fine. Still, I purchased a replacement set of 799's that have been resurfaced and tested. Those will be in Thursday. I also bought a top end rebuild kit from BTR with the Truck Norris cam, high volume oil pump and new timing chain. The bolts that come with the kit are not ARP, but that's ok. I have all those parts and now just kind of taking my time disassembling and clean up as I go. This is another fun project, so I'm really in no rush.

for the removed parts, meh not sure I like purple power. you could probably grab a parts cleaner tank/sink from harbor freight and use whatever is available
I don't know about the internals, transmission fluid is supposed to be a "cleaner". I have added it to the engine before a oil change a time or two, not sure how much good it did or does but it's a old mechanics trick.
when I am just cleaning the outside I spray the hell out of with purple power then pressure wash and it works pretty well, It can or will stain aluminum but that's never been a problem for me it's not a show car.
usually you can find these used pretty cheap

https://www.harborfreight.com/20-gallon-parts-washer-with-high-flow-pump-58679.html?hftm_sc=3091&hftm_source=google

 

[Fless]

Any machine shop will have a parts washer (it's like a big dishwasher or spray cabinet); check with them for pricing.

 

[West 1]

Funny watching that video, when we replaced the diswasher in my Kitchen my son lobbied to install the old dishwasher in the garage for parts cleaning. I think it was a good idea, probably should have done it. Many times it would save time.

Mama won't let me sneak things into her nice dishwasher upstairs although I have been tempted at times!

 

[Dirty looks]

I also have to add that it's freeing knowing that if you break a bolt while removing the exhaust manifold, it's not going to matter! I broke one off and laughed at it...

And while I had all those off, I decided to replace the motor mounts since they're easy to get to and install some long pipes from speed-engineering. Thankfully I hadn't sent off my EMU yet.

You might want to look in to heavy duty poly engine mounts. A truck Norris cam and speed engineering headers on my truck would stretch the brand new mount on the driver's side out. On hard acceleration the header would pound on the heat shield.

 

[mijohnst]

You might want to look in to heavy duty poly engine mounts. A truck Norris cam and speed engineering headers on my truck would stretch the brand new mount on the driver's side out. On hard acceleration the header would pound on the heat shield.

Great recommendation, @Dirty looks! I had just order some from Rockauto, but I think I would be better off sending those back and buying some heavy duty poly engine mounts. Expensive, but might prevent some headache.

 

[mattt]

Yes, I do, @Doubeleive... Any suggestions on a good cleaning solution? I'm thinking of trying to find a local place I can take all the old oily stuff to have it cleaned off professionally.

Well, @West 1, it turns out that it was just a blown gasket. The head looks fine. Still, I purchased a replacement set of 799's that have been resurfaced and tested. Those will be in Thursday. I also bought a top end rebuild kit from BTR with the Truck Norris cam, high volume oil pump and new timing chain. The bolts that come with the kit are not ARP, but that's ok. I have all those parts and now just kind of taking my time disassembling and clean up as I go. This is another fun project, so I'm really in no rush.

Did you have the heads cut so you don't lose CR by switching to the 799/243 cylinder head? The 706/862 Crack-tech heads have a smaller chamber than the 799/243 cylinder heads. Just surfacing them and dropping them onto a Gen 3 engine will result in lower compression ratio, and from what I've heard you can feel the loss in the seat of the pants.... YMMV

 

[mijohnst]

@Matt1t that is an excellent point that I didn't even know about. I was just going to bolt them up. I've since emailed the place I bought the heads from to ask how much they milled them down just to clean them up. If they didn't mill off enough, I'll need to take them somewhere local to bring down another ~.020"–.030". Does that sound right? Thank you for pointing this out.