why did my headgasket fail?

I'm lost as to a reason why my headgasket failed.

Had only about 1000 miles on it, then it started running water down the side of the block.
I know it is a 4bt, but I think it as close to a 5.9 as I'm going to get, so mods feel free to move this to the right place if need be.
Was leaking from under the exhaust port on cylinder #3






I'm not sure what the failure was to make this happen.

any thoughts would be most appreciated

Thanks

I'm not much help, but are you sure the head/deck surface is flat? IIRC tolerance is .003 or .005.

Cummins gasket or aftermarket?

Do you have o-rings in the head?


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Looks like not enough clamp on that cylinders compression ring. I don't know if it's warped head, block, or badly stretching bolt. Do you have studs? O rings, block or head?