Headgaskets?

[duradrift13]

SO every now and then i'll always check under the hood in the mornings and underneath to see if everything looks good, i noticed that my upper radiator hose had some pressure in there, thought great gotta replace my headgaskets a lot sooner than i wanted to, but im not using coolant But if i unscrew the fill cap and let the pressure out the hose goes soft obviously, Any clue as to whats going on here?

[JC1843]

That is usually a sign of leaking gaskets-Probably just the start of it. As it leaks worse, it will have low coolant.

[brentsid]

Try to wash the cap in warm soapy water or replace it and cross your fingers.

[BrennanK]

Check the cap as stated above. But if the issue persists, you more then likely have head gaskets. Don't wait around to get them done if the issue isn't solved within the next month or so. The longer you wait the more chance you have of damaging the heads.

[duradrift13]

I'll try the cap thing, but I planned on doing head studs here soon anyhow, just wanted to wait a little while so I could find time to have my truck down as it's my daily. Ill post after I wash the cap. Thanks guys

[duradrift13]

well I can't believe the soaking in soap and water worked but that solved the problem, but I'm still goin to do the studs and new gaskets anyway. So I need the studs and MA's head gasket kit without bolts right?

[treyhope]

you can get MAs kit with the studs, but its cheaper to buy the studs from performance truck products for 569 shipped. and the gasket kit from MA

[duradrift13]

Another? What really kills the hg's In these trucks, I've heard many excuses, the one I understand is heat, I had a guy tell me yesterday that he's never seen a duramax blow a hg due to power but rather the heat inside the motor, said 235 is the boiling point before they blow? Anyone care to chime in?

[Maine Towing]

Heat and the design of the gasket. In late '06 GM went to a riveted style of gasket over the crimped style that is in your engine, they realized the crimped style was failing too often. I got 335,000 miles out of my old crimped style gasket, but it was 90%+ long distance, so my theory is less thermal cycles = less wear on the gaskets. I suspected a HG for a while but did not have the hard hose, did a pressure test and it held pressure just fine, I even did a combustion gasses test on the reservoir and it came up clean, then she began to belch coolant out of the overflow and I knew that was the problem. My heads were .004" off according to the machine shop so there had been some warping there as well.

[duradrift13]

thanks for the info, and thats incredible they lasted that long hauling like you do, ive owned mine since 60k miles and the most its pulled was about 7k pounds for about 3 hours, and thats only once or twice a year. im just debating on servicing and building my transmission first or go into the motor, cause to me the weakest link is the transmission once power is added.