In the next couple of weeks I'm getting prepared to replace my leaky water and injection pumps, and I'm wondering, what else should I change at the same time? Is it worth changing the head gaskets at that point? It seems likely the coolant consumption I'm currently blaming on a leaky water pump could also be the head gasket, and with my luck I'll blow one 1000 miles later anyway.

Any recommended upgrades? I've read about head bolt studs and dsg gears to replace the IP chain. Are they worth it? I don't notice too much slop in the IP gear when I prod it through the oil filler tube hole.

Also while I have it apart what should I be inspecting for, so far from my reading and searching I should check the heads for cracks between the valves. I'm thinking of pulling the pan as well and looking at the crank bearings, but I'm not totally sure what to look for there.

I will have some help from my neighbor who I just saw do a head gasket job on a 454, but he doesn't know diesel, so any advice you guys have for me would be awesome!

Bio is $4.50 around here and diesel is not far behind, a veg oil conversion may be in my future.

if your not having any white smoke or rough running motor i would leave the heads alone. if you do them make sure and get new bolts.

Check the balancer and the crankshaft pulley.

if you have it all apart, change the timing chain
if your sure your coolant is not from a bad head gasket, leave them alone. you'll open another can of worms.
if your oil pressure seems good, and you have no seal leaks, then leave the mains alone. big job if engine still in truck. unless you want to install a main stud girdle to hold things together better.
as olee said, check your balancer, change it out if the rubber is cracking

Thanks for the tips! I spent a good amount of time yesterday up on top of my engine with the air cleaner off. One problem is everything is so dirty that it's hard to see what is gunk and what is an active leak. I may go powerwash the thing today.

The leaky water pump, I was going on information given to me by mechanics who looked at it last summer when one of my starter bolts dropped out due to stripping. He said it was "seeping" and on a hot day right after shutting off the engine you can see a little tiny whisp of steam coming up off the front of the engine around the pump. I order a new one and it will be here tomorrow.

But further inspection yesterday I see what look like some moisture coming out from around where the head meets the block on the drivers side all the way down the head and a little bit on the passenger side. There also looks like some moisture coming from this area which is above the pump so would indicate to me that its not coming from the pump. Since my IP also seeps some fuel from the throttle linkage, which is on the drivers side, this could just be fuel.

I lose about a cup or so of coolant every hundred or so miles and occasional while hillclimbing I can smell coolant in the cab. So I think my plan is: clean the engine and replace the IP and water pump. Check the chain, balancer and pully as recomended and after getting that stuff off take a hard look at the heads. Put it all back together nice and shiny and look for more leakage from the heads, if no leakage, hopefully I'm in the clear.