I have a 2002 LB7 which warped the heads and leaked coolant into the engine. The dealer told me I needed a new engine. I am considering rebuilding or replacing with a used engine. Do I have to replace this with a lb7 engine or will the other duramax engines work?

Short answer is YES! If you change to another type engine it would require lots of changes and be very expensive. Wiring, computer and need to be re-programed. Can it be done-- Yes. Maybe others will respond with more info.

why would you need a whole new engine from just a bad headgasket? is there other damage that was caused or something? cause it would seem to me that all you would need are new headgaskets and have the heads decked to remove the warping. worst case maybe new heads if the warpings that bad but still wouldnt seem like a new engine would be needed. headgasket issues are not uncommon in early 01-02 LB7's so you might want to search it and get some more info. id be wary of that dealer, sounds like hes trying to make a big buck off you, what did he quote you for the new engine installed?

Some will say you can't shave these heads, but Sparky8370 had his shaved .006 to fix a warp. Search his posts.

well if the a lot of coolant went into the engine the cylinders are guna be all washed out so a rebuild would be a good idea other than just replacing/shaving the heads. i have a 2003 duramx engine if you are interested, the truck was totalled out by my buddies dad. if your interested let me kno.

The head job is a long one, but not a hard job. The heads can be milled, mine were taken down 0.06. The machinist said you can mill them 3-4 times before they are garbage.

When you have the engine apart it will be easy to see if you have any cylinder damage.

Doing it yourself you can do the heads for pretty cheap... reasonably around 2000 dollars... If you have the patience to order parts of the net, you can do it for very cheap... the only significant expense being around 1000 dollars for the head milling and new valve seals.

Getting somebody to do it will not be cheap, GM book time on the LLY is around 36 hours... I am sure this is similar to the LB7.

Make sure you DRAIN THE OIL IMMIEDIATELY from the truck...Dont let it sit with dexcool in there!~

second that on rebuilding your motor... but its 10 times easier to do with the motor out of the truck IMO... it takes no time to pull the motor out of a lb7... if you need a set of heads let me know, i have a straight set freshly built with some socal diesel love

chevykid168, please get back to me on your totalled truck. I'd like to know some details. Send me a private message if you want

[quote=musickcbr900... it takes no time to pull the motor out of a lb7...


It doesnt??? wow you must have a really cool magic wand.

second that on rebuilding your motor... but its 10 times easier to do with the motor out of the truck IMO... it takes no time to pull the motor out of a lb7... if you need a set of heads let me know, i have a straight set freshly built with some socal diesel love



Pulling the actual motor doesn't take very long, its those pain in the ass transmission bolts, and the ones that feel like they were torqued by a gorilla that go from the flywheel to torque converter....

what a bitch....

i broke 3 different snap-on sockets getting 6 bolts out.