[Onebadbowtie86]

My truck is running fine, but I have a feeling the head gaskets are going. My truck has 87k miles on it, and still has the egr also. My problem is the hard upper hose. the trucks heat works just fine, never gets cold ect and my temp guage seems to be working normal. the truck has never gone over 210 all summer. I first noticed the stiff upper hose last spring. The trucks building alot of pressure in the cooling system, but it hasnt puked any anti freeze out. the level has stayed the same and I cant see any bubbles in the resevoir while running. obviously I'm some how building pressure in the cooling system, but I cant believe its not puking anti freeze out. the upper hose is about as hard as a rock. Does this sound like its absolutely a bad head gasket, or is there a chance its something else? from the egr cooler or a bad thermostat or anything? Thanks for taking the time to read through my novel!:drink

Jason

 

[Onebadbowtie86]

anyone?

 

[Oldvintageiron]

Mine did the same thing, it was a head gasket. Get an oil analysis done and see whats in there. I had 108ppm of potassium in my oil. The gasket was prettty bad, it was pushed out and had a crack about 2" long on the fire ring. Dont fool your self, get it done. It's not a hard job but it does take a lot of time.

 

[JShe8918]

That is how mine started out. 20k miles later it puked anitfreeze out of the overflow. Here i another 10k miles later still have a blown head gasket but i never over heat. It has just enough coolant in the resi to circulate and not get blown back out from the excessive pressures. No it isn't good but hell i don't have the funds to repair it nor the skill to do it myself. I wish you the best of luck with your problem. They have a chemical test they can run. You screw on what looks to be a test tube on the coolant resi. Fill it with one chemical, put the primer bulb on top, crank the truck and squeeze it like 10 times. If the chemical stays blue then your headgasket is fine. It the chemical turns green then you have a blown head gasket. Just my two cents.

 

[ALLY Cat]

Mine did something like that, found out the reservoir cap was plugged shut and wouldn't allow pressure to normalize when it cooled. Fixed the cap and so far it's been fine for over 30,000 miles. Worth checking......

 

[cuse diesels]

buy a new cap.. if that dosent solve it tear it down.

 

[smokinlmm]

Driving with a blown head gasket is bad, it can totally wipe out the motor.

 

[SzymoDmax]

The cooling system is supposed to build some pressure. Unless your losing coolant or over heating I would not worry about it. Pressurized fluid raises boiling temp hence why they are designed to build some pressure

 

[Onebadbowtie86]

I'm sure you guys are right in being a head gasket. I hate to tear it apart right now with the hard upper hose being my only problem. Hmm trade it in or stud it...

 

[cuse diesels]

the hard hose isnt your prob. dish it or fix it. I would have a hard time selling a truck to someone knowing it needs 6k in repairs, and if not done 8k with new heads.

 

[Onebadbowtie86]

I'm sure I'm going to end up studding it myself. Makes me sick I have to tear this diesel all apart with under 100k miles. I thought diesels were known for longevity? Seems like gas motors now days last longer and require much less maintenance.

 

[Freakk]

I'm sure I'm going to end up studding it myself. Makes me sick I have to tear this diesel all apart with under 100k miles. I thought diesels were known for longevity? Seems like gas motors now days last longer and require much less maintenance.

Just stud it, you'll be happier in the end. I blew a head gasket at 65k miles and installed ARP head studs in my driveway. I'ts not too hard, theres just a lot of stuff to take off. Label every connector you disconnect and put all nuts and bolts in labeled ziplock bags, it makes it 100x easier when youre putting everything back together. Haha and i think gas engines last longer these days because everyone hotrods the $h!t out of their diesels.

 

[Onebadbowtie86]

Well that gives me some piece of mind that you did them in your driveway. I wont get a chance to do them for at least another month so I hope my truck doesnt start poking coolant or anything else. I definetly wont be able to pay some one to do them, so I guess I'm going to get a crash course education working on a duramax. Did you pull your entire front clip or just the hood?

 

[SzymoDmax]

Have you lost any fluid

 

[Onebadbowtie86]

none so far. The fluid level looks low in the reservoir, until I loosen the cap and it comes up back to full.

 

[Freakk]

Neither. I just used the service holes on the hood.
The job took me about 7 days total. But I was work very slow making sure i was doing everything right and labeling literally everything. It helps if you have a friend helping you, I had a little trouble putting the heads back on by myself on a 14" lifted truck...

 

[SzymoDmax]

Unless your losing fluid or engine is overheating I would not get over excited that your gasket is blown

 

[Freakk]

I agree with szymodmax. When I blew my head gasket there was smoke and coolant all down the side of my truck. I was romping on the throttle when it happened...

 

[Onebadbowtie86]

Well the cooling system seems like its building alot of pressure, but no bubbles or pushing out any coolant. I'm going to continue to drive it and if it gets worse I'll park it and do the gaskets and studs when I get time.

 

[Freakk]

Also, after I blew my head gasket I couldn't open the coolant tank without it spitting out about a half gallon of coolant.