Coolant leaking out,and bubbles in tank,test for co2 confired exhaust in coolant.Do I need to do anything to the heads when off. Can I mill them? Or can I get by with just head gasket if that if what happen. Are GM gaskets the best to buy today or are their better ones out there. Do you pull the engine to work on them.

gm gaskets are the ones most are using. there are 3 differant sizes though. i would check them for straightness, and replace the gaskets. you could pull the heads in the truck.

fill out your signature so we know what mods you have done. we can better assist you that way. and welcome to the place.

2004 Silerado 4X4 Extened cab . The Question also why are the gaskets failing. Poor quality gasket or head bolt problems

are you the original owner? any mods to the truck? are you running a ton of boost? towing a 40' trailer in 110 degree heat up a 6% grade at 80mph?

Bought from John Kennedy, many mods, 42' trailer, 119 degrees, up Mount Everest running 6 turbos, 5 shots of nitrous, 4 quarts of celene boost, 3 stacked programmers, 2 lift pumps, and members of the Partridge family in the bed with a pear tree.:D:D

Oh yea, the pear tree lost all of its leaves at 108mph........

The Question also why are the gaskets failing. Poor quality gasket or head bolt problems


Head gasket failure is not common.

:rolleyes: My gaskets went at 22882 miles. Must be more common than one would want to believe.

My head gasket went just a few days after I bought the truck new. Happened the first time I towed with it. Dealer found that 3 of the head bolts were improperly torqued from the factory. Took a new head also to fix mine.

Might be worth having them check the torque on the head bolts on yours when they take the head off. Might be that several made it out of the factory with improperly torqued head bolts.

Bob Crites

:rolleyes: My gaskets went at 22882 miles. Must be more common than one would want to believe.


How many people post about head gasket failures? If 2% of the duramax population blew head gaskets, what does that mean? Its not a big issue and consider it a random fluke failure. Everything mechanical CAN fail.

As I said again, headgasket failures are not common....ok so just because it happend on three trucks doesnt make it a "common problem". There are over a million duramax's on the road right now. ;)

I have close to 70k on my truck and no problems at all, with more hp and boost than stock.

ben

Head gasket failures are always more common on turbocharged engines. I see more posts on the DP than I would like about blown head gaskets, and apparently there are who knows how many out there that have blown headgaskets but are not being diagnosed properly.

If it is 2% then thats way too many. I would hope its way less than 2%

I am a member of many car type forums and on other forums I NEVER see threads about head gasket failure. Here on the DP there are many.............. BUT that doesn't mean the Duramax design has inherent head gasket design issues.

no more common than cummins head gasket problems.

ford 6.0's are a different story. They truely do have a "common head gasket problem"

Head gasket failures are always more common on turbocharged engines. I see more posts on the DP than I would like about blown head gaskets, and apparently there are who knows how many out there that have blown headgaskets but are not being diagnosed properly.

If it is 2% then thats way too many. I would hope its way less than 2%

I am a member of many car type forums and on other forums I NEVER see threads about head gasket failure. Here on the DP there are many.............. BUT that doesn't mean the Duramax design has inherent head gasket design issues.

Exactly;)

well then how should we fix this big problem?

Wait until it happens, then have the dealer install ARP headstuds.. That is what I did...

thats four people with blown head gaskets!

this is going out of control :eek:

ben

There are a ton of truck out there running big turbo's, lot's of fuel and crazy cyl. pressure with stock gaskets and head bolts, without problems.
It's a non-issue in the overall picture. I would guess, poor QC on factory assembly, could be the culprit of a few that fail. The 01's had a gasket design problem. Pat Mcswain never had gasket problems on his LLY and he did everthing that would cause a failure.
Overheating would be the most likely reason.
I'm normally wrong about stuff though.

Overheating would be the most likely reason.


BINGO. ;)

And with people making trips to 240* without knowing it, well ....... :cool: