Sorry, I was mistaken, we are going to replace both head gaskets. Does anyone have any tips or advice while doing this?

 

it's a pretty straight forward process man,just make sure you lable everything and becareful taking off your manifold bolts, if they'er rusty like mine is which i doubt since you're in nm BUT if they are then you're prob going to have some problems getting them out. Be very careful not to round them off at the block because that will open up a whole new world of pain in the ***.

Easiest way iv found if they'er rusty and you cant break them loose with out minimal force then take a grinder and cut the heads off of the bolts, slide the manifolds off then take a pair of vicegrips and get a soak the hell out of it in PB blaster or liquid wrench and then try and break them loose.

Im sure other people are going to chime in on this with their horror storys and victorys over replacing the heads.

 

Personally with that mileage I would look for a good used engine.. I would not put heads on it, the reason being is you are gonna be likely to blow out the bottom end, piston rings etc..

 

True but our trucks arent typical trucks and engines under 200k are rare as hell to find.

 

1. get a book on the truck
2. get the tools you will need
3. get all the parts you will need
4. get some one to help you
5. take pictures of what you are taking off
6. bag the bolts and put what they are on it
7. take your time if not you will hurt a gasket and then you will have to buy more
8. have fun

 

I don't know about the head bolts but the intake bolts are one time stretch bolts so you'll have to replace them also.

 

Getting ready to pull the intake manifold, but I got sick for the past two days. Going to get back at it today. We are doing exactly that, niceandeasy.
Will post pics soon. Thanks!

 

Sorry you got sick, glad you're feelin better now.

 

Good luck on your dive into the engine. Let us know how it turns out or if ya get stuck. We're always here to help. Well somebody is at least.

 

All cylinders should be within about 10psi of one another worst case. The fact that you have a range of 90-135 is worrisome. Before tearing into the engine I recomend you determine that the rings are not bad on the cylinders which measure more than about 10psi lower than the highest measuring cylinder. To do this pour a couple teaspoons of motor oil down through the plug hole then retest compression for that cylinder. If the compression comes up in those cylinders after pouring oil in there the rings are shot in that cylinder and fixing heads and headgaskets won't help with that. I'd hate to see you spend all the time and money fixing it if it has bigger problems than what you plan to address with your repair. A little more testing time now could save you big headache and regret later.