its normal. i've got all new seals and no leaks (knock on wood), and at 150k miles i lose a little oil. i don't know how much, i just check it every so often and add a little whenever it gets about 1/2 qt low.

 

what about the leak i have between the block and head i mentioned in the previous post....that cant be normal

 

well its not ideal, but its not the end of the world. how much of a leak are we talking about - a few drops ? or a giant puddle.

i'll bet its not the head, but either the valve cover gasket or intake. heads don't usually leak unless they have a MAJOR problem, and then its real obvious and doesn't run right. edit- i see you got a hughes plate, probably not intake.

clean it all off with an engine cleaner and see how long it takes it to come back, and feel/check valve cover. if its valve cover, its likely you can retorque it and fix it. otherwise if it bothers you, just replace gaskets with the real nice, EXPENSIVE, felpro's. or do nothing, and add oil regularly....


edit again. oooh oooh ooh - while replacing valve covers put in a set of 1.7 roller rockers....

 

go re,QT your Valve covers,,

and got to think your truck has 197.xxx miles

 

i just replaced valve cover gaskets 5k ago, and re-torqued last oil change 2600 miles ago...it is def comming from the back corner where the block meets the head...it doesnt leave any puddles or drops on the ground...its wet at the corner, and dries as it goes down so its not even big enough for the oil to make it to the ground.

Like i said ive gone 2600 miles on this oil change and it was a half quart low. and its never burnt/leaked oil in the 12K ive owned it.

but if it is the head gasket #1 im getting new iron heads from hughes, and #2 new head gaskets obviously, but since im taking the heads out, i might as well replace them. (320 a peice which aint bad)

 

Yea thats about normal, before the plenum fix I was burning a quart and a half every 3K. Only losing half a quart every 3k is pretty damn good for a pickup with 200k on the ticker!

 

yea i guess for the hell of it im just going to put new heads/ head gaskets on this fall...I have a fund that ive been saving for but its for my new tires and front end work i need to do...so when the times comes to do that, and the head gasket got worse, ill just do that instead

and whats the difficulty on head gasket replacement...looks pretty easy...ive had the intake and valvecovers out before so i know i can do that...i know rocker arms, valve springs and push rods are easy, but do i have to take out the pistons?

and i know ill new new gaskets/heads and head bolts, and maybe some 1.7's and Molly push rods, but what else do i NEED to get on a head gasket replacement

 

you know, i haven't changed my oil since i fixed the plenum. so i shouldn't be losing as much oil as i used to, i didn't think of that.

 

there isn't much to pulling the heads...after you have the intake off, label and pull the plugs, any sensors that may be in the heads (i don't think there's any) pull the manifolds and toss them and replace them with some longtubes lol and the head bolts, i thinks that's all there is

 

Piston's don't come out on a head or head gasket replacement. They are within the block.