Blew Head Gasket..

T

theonlyz

professional he** raiser
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Aug 6, 2009
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Well after putting the monster pump on along with mikes injectors and delivery tubes the HG decided to give up. Cant complain seeing as how she lasted over a year with lots of abuse. I knew it was going to happen so this was already being planned.

What Im wondering since this isnt a typical blown head gasket is....can I still drive it? Instead of it leaking coolant shes leaking oil out of the front corner and in turn the fan is slinging it everywhere! Im wanting to try to limp this thing 700miles to Pure Diesel Power to get a complete swap of the head, cam, clutch ect which was aleady in the works to happen in a few weeks. Makes more sense to me to bring it to someone who knows what they are doing compaired to a shop that thinks they can do it. Not to mention the price PDP gave me is unbeatable!

I was thinking about doing a re-torque on the head bolts to try to seal it up some and see how that goes. Just kind of wanting some feed back from everyone. Ive heard of guys running a blown HG thats leaking antifreeze for a month or so but never really heard of one leaking oil.
 
damn I have 150+miles on it so far with out any ill effects but, thats what Im afraid of
 
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mine was blown in the same spot, and it was just leaking around the fire ring off the front of the head..... but cylinders 4 and 5 were also sharing compression..... it was more a seepage than a leak but I still ran it a while, just not hard!

when I pulled the head it was clear it had been lifting a while!

I think it's all up to you if you aren't getting any oil in the coolant of vice versa..... but I would check it very often to see if it's getting worse!
 
I drove mine for a year and half (Prolly 20K miles) leaking oil out the back of the head from a blown headgasket.

Had an oil slick in my driveway that looked like the Exxon Valdez crashed there. That stupid oil stain is STILL there BTW after a year and a half.

Would I recommend it, NO... It was pretty stupid lookin' back on it. Coulda cost me ALOT more money than it did.

The question is how bad is the leak? If you're seriously leaking enough to have the fan pick it up and spew it everywhere... I'd have to agree with these guys and say you're done.

But if it's something where you could control the oil with a rag stuffed in there somehow and it's just a little bit of oil seeping... You might be able to go for it. Still wouldn't procrastinate about it though.

How much oil are you having to replace and in what time period?

As for the retorque... Its a waste of time. Won't do anything but make your arm sore! LOL
 
get a trailer and tow it to pdp.......dont risk driving it, probably end up costing more
 
Well the truck is currently at our best diesel shop in town and that doesnt say much because its the only one other than the dealer. I just feel more confident in bring it to someone who actually does these things on a daily basis.

As far as the leak goes my guess is that in 150 or so miles I have lost a qt. There is no contamination or mixing of the fluids, antifreeze and oil is where its suposed to be. I understand the possibility of fire but the way the oil is getting slug it is avoiding the chargers and going all over the drivers side stuff with a little working its way to the passengers side.

Really tossing the idea of just limping it 700 miles. Keep my speed about 65 boost should be right a 10 psi or less. The retorque would be just to assist me in getting it to Pure Diesel Power. My wife said I should just do it or get a trailer and tow it with a Uhaul. For one I dont think Uhaul will rent me a trailer to pull a 8000lb truck and if they did it would be outrageous to rent. Two can I legally pull the truck with my tahoe? Not very smart Idea with the weight difference I know. If I did end up towing it would be a good excuse for me to finally get a car trailer.
 
In the grand scheme of things...

1 Quart in 150 miles is ALOT of lost oil.

The other thing to consider is this...

Suppose you get 500 miles out there and the gasket decides to truly let go... What started out as an expensive problem just became outrageously expensive.

It's much easier to leave home towing it and bite the bullet up front than to have to sort out towing it further away from home.

Once again, the retorque won't do anything to help you, and in my experience may just make things worse.

If you do decide to risk it and drive it out... Make sure you keep your foot out of the skinny pedal. At this point boost is your enemy..
 
Convicted1 said:
If you do decide to risk it and drive it out... Make sure you keep your foot out of the skinny pedal. At this point boost is your enemy..
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That last part made me lose it:hehe:!!

If I did drive it:nail: then ya I would take 5 miles to get up to speed and coast up hills if possible. Its a gamble either way I go. Have ****ty work done or drive it and risk fing it up. Never had much luck at gambling either.

I was searching for trailers this am and all Im really seeing is trailers with a 7000gvw. So then wouldnt I be overloading the trailer and be illegal because I am towing more than what the trailer is rated at and what the tahoe is rated to tow? The total weight the door on the tahoe tells me is 6800gvwr and the hitch will pull 10000. So the only part that would be in check is the hitch correct me if Im wrong. My luck would be Id get a trailer load it all up and get half way there and blow the tranny out of the tahoe. Then uload the truck and tow the tahoe with the truck and blow that up too.bif Ahhh heck I should just have them yank the motor and send it to get rebuilt.

I dont see any of this playing out good:badidea:
 
Why not just get one of the little two wheel toter things that u-haul rents and use that pull it behind your tahoe? In my personal experience there is no way I would driving it 700 miles with a blown headgasket.
 
How would I tow it? from the front and take the rear drive shaft off? Wonder if they are wide enough or can support the weight of the front end of one of these? Anyone ever tow one of these with a car dolly?(doubt it)

The car dolly sounds like the best idea yet. I may just get this thing there yet.

Can you imagine how silly this is going to look???......A stock tahoe pulling a leveled dodge. Thats if they have a dolly thats wide enough. Ill have to tell them that its for a cavalier or somethinghahahaha. Im sure if a uhaul supervisor sees us doing this going down the highway someones going to get a call.
 
According to the u-haul website the weight capacity is 4000lbs and the dolly is 72" wide. And I am sure those types of places don't have road inspectors or even give a damn.
 
RickFox said:
According to the u-haul website the weight capacity is 4000lbs and the dolly is 72" wide. And I am sure those types of places don't have road inspectors or even give a damn.
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:hehe::hehe::hehe:

Anyone know what the width on our front axle is with stock wheels and 305 sized tires? The truck is not here its at the repair shop or Id measure it:pop:.

Im either going the U-haul route or just a complete engine rebuild with a girdle, balanced bottom end, fluid dampner, ect.:nail:
 
Im guessing Highway Patrol would have a Hay day with me if they seen this!:stab: I even tried the other way and It said towing my tahoe with the truck wouldnt work either. Going to look into a rebuild tomorrow. I am starting to think Pure Diesel Power is out of the question unless I limp it:badidea:.

This is off U-Hauls site.

Towed vehicle requirements:

Must not weigh in excess of 3,450 lbs. if it is front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive, and 3,900 lbs. if it is rear-wheel drive or four-wheel drive
Must have a maximum outside-to-outside tire width of 72"
Must not exceed a body width (at the doors) of 75"
 
just yank the motor out and bring it down, we will take care of it for you. Give me a call tomarrow and we can go over a motor build price for you .
 
Hey Joe, yes I will definetly be calling you tomorrow!!! Didnt want to bother you on the weekend. Motor build sounds the best at this point I dont trust these yahoos here that have it.

Thanks for all the help! you guys are great and good customer service. Ive only called twice and the lady that answers the phone already knows my name.:Cheer:
 
Why don't you buy a new head gasket and spend one Saturday and fix it. Then if you decide you want to get the motor built, drive the truck down to PDP and let them deal with pulling the motor and reinstalling it.
 
Big Blue24 said:
Why don't you buy a new head gasket and spend one Saturday and fix it. Then if you decide you want to get the motor built, drive the truck down to PDP and let them deal with pulling the motor and reinstalling it.
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Best advice I have seen in this thread
 
Big Blue24 said:
Why don't you buy a new head gasket and spend one Saturday and fix it. Then if you decide you want to get the motor built, drive the truck down to PDP and let them deal with pulling the motor and reinstalling it.
Click to expand...

Thats what I would have done. That way I wouldnt be worried about having unqualified people working on it. Base housing tends to frown highly on any major repairs. I thought about pulling it in the garage and close the door but I can barely fit my wifes jetta in our little one stall garage. Im thinking of a rebuild because, I only want to do this once:nail:and have a stout motor. We will see after today on the price of a motor vs just a head gasket.

Also if you seen the price of what they are charging to change the HG youd fall out of your couch not you chair!
 
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