There was a thread going back in December about anti-freeze leaks. Every body was describing the same sort of symptoms My truck also). Well I finally got mine into the dealer (yeah, yeah, I know it's almost the end of June! Better late than never!) Turns out itwas a head gasket leak! Also, the howling from the rear axle that I had chalked up to loud tires, turns out the carrier bearings were shot. Thank goodness I got it in before the warranty ran out. It was making the howling noise since I bought the truck last October, 15000 miles ago! Oh well, now I know.

 

Well, its now july 9. Truck is still in the shop!! They had to get a warranty adjuster out to look at the rear. Turns out the whole rear assembly needed to be replaced, oh, and a head gasket for good measure!

 

I'd request new head bolts... I had a gasket failure back in may just after I swapped on the new R/T heads. figured it was from head bolt stretch. put on the ARP head bolts for $70 bux and all is good. my truck never moved an inch after the 1st round of putting on the heads, warmed it up to operating temp and out came the coolant. yeah I was pissed but I learned an aweful lot about bolt stretch...

 

Funny you should mention that, man! The dealer calls me this past friday, (7-15-05) tells me I can come get my truck, it's all done. I make arrangements to get out of work early, I'm just about to leave, dealer calls me back. The head gasket is leaking worse now than before! The warranty adjuster has to come back out AGAIN to look at my truck and decide what to do. Mind you, they've had my truck since 06-23! Nearly a month now for A (one, uno) head gasket and rebuild the rear-end. The saga continues! I will definitely call the dealer tomorrow and see about the new bolts. BTW, I saw your DIY on the plenum gasket install, and armed with that info, I'm pretty sure I could have replaced the head gasket in less than the time they've had my truck so far!

 

It is now Thursday 7-20(?)-05. Finally got my truck back!! 28 days in the shop. 3000 in repairs, (according to the dealer), 1400 in rental fees. I put out $100 for the warranty deductible and $150 for ldw coverage on the rental, and the dealer ate the rest. The only down side is that the rental was an 05, dare I say it, Silverado, crew cab, short-box, and it was Really nice! On top of that, the trusty Dodge felt like a slug on the way home from the dealer, even though I was glad to have it back. I think its time for the Fastman TB and a cat-back system. I gotta do Something to wake this thing up.

 

glad to hear it's back on the road... the head swap is easy if you can get the intake off... I was going to do a writeup on that too but I'm swamped right now. but the head swap is easy...

did they get new head bolts?

 

One more update to the updates. Friday, 7-21, I'm driving to work. The truck is running like crap, and all of a sudden the Check Engine light is on, and now it wants to stall. So now I'm driving two-footed like its one of the beaters I used to drive way back when. I've had the truck back a grand total of 14 hours, tops. Call the dealer, he says have it towed back, his dime. Another week in the shop. Two more rentals. Turns out this time that whenthey were putting it back together from the head gaskets, they didnt lock one of the rocker arm studs down properly, and it backed out, closing one of the valves. I finally got it back this past Friday and it seems like its running pretty good now.
Hey Steve, they did replace the head bolts.
I'm almost looking forward to the warranty running out now. B/c then the repairs will be my responsibility, and if it doesnt get fixed correctly, then that will be on me. Wish me luck!