DNTL740
Adventurer
Hello all, so my head gaskets were leaking, left side in the back, right side in the front.
I wanted to write a few things while they are still fresh in my mind.
It took about 12 hours from start to finish, But I could have done it quicker if I had pulled the thing apart like I was doing head gaskets rather than doing coils or spark plug wires.
Next time I would start from the front and work my way down after that.
I decided to use ARP head studs instead of the stretch bolts the factory uses. The main reason I changed my mind was because of a conversation I had with a mechanic, in which he said, when installing the bolts, if you feel one stretched too much, pull it out and grab another one.
That my friends sounds like Russian roulette. The head studs are very straight forward, although I have one recommendation for those of you that are going to use ARP studs in the future. The kit provided by ARP includes 28 studs, nuts and washers. I drove to ARP to pick up the kit, they charged me about $160 for the kit, When I opened it up my first question was where do the other studs go. I was informed by a very nice lady that works there that it should be made known to people that you can order just the 6 long studs and the 14 short studs separately, for a better price.
Now that the head gaskets are done, I'll wait and see how long they last, my engine was replace under warranty at about 46,xxx miles, and now the truck has a little over 120k.
I want to thank everyone for all the info posted on this forum.
Cristian
I wanted to write a few things while they are still fresh in my mind.
It took about 12 hours from start to finish, But I could have done it quicker if I had pulled the thing apart like I was doing head gaskets rather than doing coils or spark plug wires.
Next time I would start from the front and work my way down after that.
I decided to use ARP head studs instead of the stretch bolts the factory uses. The main reason I changed my mind was because of a conversation I had with a mechanic, in which he said, when installing the bolts, if you feel one stretched too much, pull it out and grab another one.
That my friends sounds like Russian roulette. The head studs are very straight forward, although I have one recommendation for those of you that are going to use ARP studs in the future. The kit provided by ARP includes 28 studs, nuts and washers. I drove to ARP to pick up the kit, they charged me about $160 for the kit, When I opened it up my first question was where do the other studs go. I was informed by a very nice lady that works there that it should be made known to people that you can order just the 6 long studs and the 14 short studs separately, for a better price.
Now that the head gaskets are done, I'll wait and see how long they last, my engine was replace under warranty at about 46,xxx miles, and now the truck has a little over 120k.
I want to thank everyone for all the info posted on this forum.
Cristian