50 lbs boost is just to much! lost my head gasket

[snowracer69]

Well, on Wednesday night last week I was driving to Eugene Oregon when I thought that I could hear some water running in my pickup, sounded like it was coming from the front of the passenger seat. I asked my buddy next to me if he could hear it too. He said that he did and thought that the water level in the radiator might be low. So I did not think much more about it that night. The next morning I went out to start my pickup to go to school and thought that I would check the water level before I left. I looked in the radiator and could not see any water in there. I thought well that sucks! Then I opened up the cap on the water return reservoir. Guess what was in there…..about 2 quarts of OIL!!! I know right away that I had lost my head gasket. I they checked the oil level it was about 2 quarts low too.

I had 2 midterms on Thursday so I could not do anything till Friday mooring. I also had another problem I had no place to take my head off! I’m from Klamath Falls and go to school in Corvallis. Since I have seen over 1600 on the pyrometer a couple of times and over 1200 a couple of times a week since I have owned my pickup (about 30k) I was not sure that the head was not cracked. So I needed a place to take my head off and take the head down to a machine shop to see what kind of condition it was in. After calling all the people that I could think off around Corvallis I still could not find a shop to work in. Then I was talking to a TDR member down in Arizona he suggested looking in the TDR Travel companion book. So I took him up on his advice and found a guy off of TDR that lived about 15 minuets from Corvallis. He agreed to let me use his shop and tools! What a relief that was to find someone that was willing to take time out of his busy schedule to help me out. Plus he is a retired mechanic!

I then with the help of 2 others started the task of taking the head off. It took us about 2 hours from start to finish to get the head off. To my surprise the pistons looked brand new in there and you could still see the hone marks on the cylinder walls. After a close look at the head gasket we came to the assumption that between cylinder #2 and #3 is where the head gasket failed (see photo below).

The next step was to take the head to the machine shop and have them see what the damage was to the head. I dropped if off there Friday after noon. They immediately examined the head for cracks by magna-fluxing it (that's what it's called, right?). To my surprise they said that they did not think that there were any cracks in the head. He did say that it was about 5 thousands off and would have to be resurfaced, which they will be doing Monday and checking it closer to make sure that there are no cracks other places.

So now you know where I’m at as of Sunday night. I just wanted some advice on what I should have done while my head is off. I think that since I will still be running 50lbs of boost that I would be stupid to put it back on with out at least O-ringing the head. So this is a list of what I think I should do or I’m considering doing while the head is off.

1. Head is being resurfaced said that he will take off about 7 thousands
2. Was told to get Cummins head gasket part number 3283337 which is 10 thousands over stock.
3. O-ring head
4. Studs 12mm do I need them?
5. Porting & Polishing? Any info on this who does it and what would it cost?
6. change the oil and filter
7. Any suggestions/tips on cleaning out the cooling system. It’s full of oil right now.
8. Anything else I may need to do.



Thanks, Lucas