Latest oil change/ oil filters

[Larryjb]

I just got the oil analysis back today.

There is good and bad news. The good news is that all the metals are normal for a Chevy engine. The bad news is they found evidence of a coolant leak. So, I guess I'll be doing head gaskets at least. The question remains whether I should just go in once and replace the heads, lifters, and gasket, or try the gasket first. Perhaps I can pop the valve cover off first and inspect before I go for the whole job, so I can see what I might need.

 

[drakon543]

you wont notice anything with just popping the valve cover unless your leak was severe. if that was the case you would also see a milky haze in the oil aswell. i would suggest going all in at this point. your already going to have it ripped apart down to the lifters and such anyway. i would do as much as i could afford if i was in that far. well atleast to the cost point yours is worth to you anyway.

 

[Larryjb]

My reason for popping off the valve cover is to see if I have the Castech head or not. If it is a Castech head, I replace the head. If not, I'll consider having a local shop rebuild it. I have to consider down time which means planning ahead.

 

[HiHoeSilver]

My reason for popping off the valve cover is to see if I have the Castech head or not. If it is a Castech head, I replace the head. If not, I'll consider having a local shop rebuild it. I have to consider down time which means planning ahead.

You don't need to remove the valve cover to see the number stamp for the head. It's on the passenger side.

 

[Larryjb]

As I understand it, the casting number does not tell you whether you have the Castech head or not.

 

[Shaw520]

You may have already mention this,.. but how many miles on the truck and is the truck in decent enough shape to warrant a top end rebuild ,.....Subbed for results

 

[HiHoeSilver]

As I understand it, the casting number does not tell you whether you have the Castech head or not.

That is true, but you can rule it out by the number. Do you have 706? Then you do need to open it to know if it is castech. If it's not 706, it's not castech by my reading. Lots of murky info as per usual.

 

[Larryjb]

Castech may have made the 862 head as well. I understand it can be quite common for the 862 to crack also. The only way to tell is to pull the valve cover.

I may pull the valve cover in a couple of weeks to find out. If it is Castech, I'll take a picture of it so that some confusion can be clarified. A local machine shop said that it's 50:50 whether it's cracked or not. It may just be warped.

 

[Larryjb]

You may have already mention this,.. but how many miles on the truck and is the truck in decent enough shape to warrant a top end rebuild ,.....Subbed for results

Some might have chosen to replace the truck. The way I see it is that I'd be replacing one headache with someone elses headache. It doesn't seem like all that bad a job to replace the head. A local machine shop said that if I need a replacement head, it's probably worth getting a new head that has a better casting than using a rebuilt head that could crack in the future. It's slightly more expensive, but I'd be guaranteed a solid top end for life. This truck is in fairly nice shape and I do plan to keep it as long as I can.

 

[iamdub]

Head swap ain't s___ on an LS.