ram23
+1y
I could not find a new head in Canada for the life of me so I sent my head south and for $320 I got all machined surfaces redone and new valve seals and guides and redid the valve seats. I found a place in town that deals in Fel-pro gaskets and got a whole top end gasket set. I reassembled the motor and it ran but was puking transmission fluid. I hauled it to the mechanic shop I work at and found a busted transmission cooler line. After replacing it I took it for a good long drive. It stayed cool and ran great the whole time but when left idling for 10 minutes it overheated again. I found a cracked line that cools the throttle body and after replacing it that truck is running like a top. I have not heard of these mysterious new heads you speak of but definitely sounds like a good investment if they do as promised.
scotch
+1y
Ram23,
That is one of several coolant lines on the truck. The $64K questions is, did you replace nearly all of these little coolant lines? There are several that run around the back side of the block and they almost never get replaced - even when somebody replaces the upper and lower radiator hoses for rotting. These small coolant lines have even thinner walls than the radiator hose and can crack, rot, and deteriorate just as fast as the radiator hoses, if not sooner. Unless you know they are only 5 years old or so, I would replace all of these hoses when doing a head gasket or head re-work. Also, the three metal lines are also prone to rusting - not only inside, but frequently on the outside but underneath the hose. So you don't see the rusting until if and when you go to replace a hose.
Here is one example...
Here is one of short little hose that is hard to get to. This one didn't look too bad at first glance. Looked like it had some oil from the engine on it.
But one I got it off, I realized it wasn't oil. It was in fact coolant weeping through the rotting hose. Notice how clean the top was in the picture above? If it was oil, then it would have been oily at the top of the hose near the block.
You don't realize how bad these hoses are until you put them next to a new one...
Point being to all of this, if you are in there replacing a head, don't let a $10 25 year old coolant hose cause you to overheat and wreck a brand new head!
Ram23,
That is one of several coolant lines on the truck. The $64K questions is, did you replace nearly all of these little coolant lines? There are several that run around the back side of the block and they almost never get replaced - even when somebody replaces the upper and lower radiator hoses for rotting. These small coolant lines have even thinner walls than the radiator hose and can crack, rot, and deteriorate just as fast as the radiator hoses, if not sooner. Unless you know they are only 5 years old or so, I would replace all of these hoses when doing a head gasket or head re-work. Also, the three metal lines are also prone to rusting - not only inside, but frequently on the outside but underneath the hose. So you don't see the rusting until if and when you go to replace a hose.
Here is one example...
Here is one of short little hose that is hard to get to. This one didn't look too bad at first glance. Looked like it had some oil from the engine on it.
But one I got it off, I realized it wasn't oil. It was in fact coolant weeping through the rotting hose. Notice how clean the top was in the picture above? If it was oil, then it would have been oily at the top of the hose near the block.
You don't realize how bad these hoses are until you put them next to a new one...
Point being to all of this, if you are in there replacing a head, don't let a $10 25 year old coolant hose cause you to overheat and wreck a brand new head!
axel breaker earl
+1y
I couldn't agree more! I have a plastic tote that is almost filled with these little hoses......all made by Mazda! So now when I get a truck in that needs these, I pull them out and install them! No waiting on them to be shipped!