Upcoming Head Gasket replacement

Powerstroke Man 6.4 · Jul 26, 2016

If you don't mind me asking, what oil and tunes are you running?

kleake · Jul 26, 2016

Powerstroke Man 6.4 said:
If you don't mind me asking, what oil and tunes are you running?

I've been using Motorcraft diesel oil that Ford recommends, but switched over to Rotella synthetic blend on the last change (usually 4-5k between changes). I've owned it for about the last 30k miles, i'm not sure what was used previously.

Running a mini-maxx with the HD300 tune, usually set on street and not driven hard. Sure, I stomp on it here and there (at least previous to the gaskets showing signs) but I don't beat on it all of the time.

Lipka101 · Jul 26, 2016

That's a rats nest in there for sure. Also I think the clean spot on your piston is from fuel dumping in the cylinder when you pulled the injector. Fuel is a pretty good cleaner and when it soaks like that it will loosen up all of the carbon.

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kleake · Jul 26, 2016

Lipka101 said:
That's a rats nest in there for sure. Also I think the clean spot on your piston is from fuel dumping in the cylinder when you pulled the injector. Fuel is a pretty good cleaner and when it soaks like that it will loosen up all of the carbon.

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That was my thought as well, except it is like fiberglass insulation, which made sense keeping turbo heat off the top of the engine, but still seemed odd. lol No idea when that could have happened, likely way before me, but with as many miles are on this truck, it never sat very long.

I pulled the head before pulling the injectors, so the tops of the pistons were dry. The front piston had a similar look to it, but not as pronounced. I'm still not quite sure what to think of it, mostly because the coating on the piston seems to be flaking off or something. I need to look at it closer.

Lipka101 · Jul 26, 2016

Hmm you got me then.

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kleake · Jul 26, 2016

Welp, expected news from the machine shop, these heads do have cracks between the valves and over to the glow plugs. I was told up front that they will replace them if they have cracks (additional fee of course), however they got screwed on a set recently and now refuse to deal with them. All the local diesel shops are saying they buy straight from Ford and "usually" end up with new heads and they are good. One engine shop says they use "Pacific" heads, which best I could tell was a new casting with my valves and such, but seemed really high. I'm thinking straight from Ford is my best bet, thoughts?

sootie · Jul 26, 2016

you wont get new heads from ford, only reman. And typically, when inspected, they are in hardly better condition than the ones you just took off...

kleake · Jul 26, 2016

sootie said:
you wont get new heads from ford, only reman. And typically, when inspected, they are in hardly better condition than the ones you just took off...

I hear you, and understand, hence my concern. From what I am being told locally though, about 80% of what they get from Ford are new and usable right out of the box. The other 20% are remaned and need some minor work before running them.

What's my better option if not from Ford directly?

shmoozer · Jul 26, 2016

UCF I think would be a good option.

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kleake · Jul 27, 2016

Agree, UCF looks good. I'll call tomorrow and check pricing. Any others?

kleake · Jul 27, 2016

First off, the coating on the piston is interesting, but effectively nothing. I looked tonight and the line had progressed upward and even more appeared to be flaking off.

When head was pulled:

2 days later:

When I touched it with my finger, it wiped right off and appeared to be wet to the touch. Kinda interesting, but no big deal.

Next question, the front cover. Its obviously pretty pricey to replace it, but depending on how thick it is right behind the impeller will depend if I replace mine or not. After 220k it only has small imperfections in the surface with only 2 very small dips, less than 1/16" deep. This is getting fairly expensive so obviously I don't want to waste money, but is this bad enough to justify the cost or is it still good enough for another 200k?

Hard to tell in the pic, but not this whole area is bad, just a little narrow strip 1/8" wide 3/4" long strip.

6.0 Tech · Jul 27, 2016

Yes change the front cover. Also put a new set of thermostats in it. That front cover is a ticking time bomb if you leave it in there.

kleake · Jul 27, 2016

Already have new-ish thermostats as of last summer. This truck had the radiator replaced early in it's life, so this damage could have been from back then, or just slowly progressed over time, or could have started with my head gasket issue. Depending on how you look at it, all of the possible causes are now fixed, so the question is if this will continue to get worse if there is no more air in the system? If it wasn't $600ish to replace, it would be a no brainer.

sootie · Jul 27, 2016

that front cover is trashed.

Wizbangdoodle · Jul 27, 2016

Check white bear lake Ford for parts. My front cover was about $750 everywhere else, $500 from them.

kleake · Jul 27, 2016

Thank you! I have been going through sunrise for most things, but it looks like White Bear can beat them by about $40 on the front cover, and about $80 each on the heads if I end up going that route. Talked with UCF earlier, they would be about the same price as Ford, but they are repaired/remaned and o-ringed. Had a shop recommend autozone or oreilys for the heads too. If you get a bad one, they have no question returning it. Remans through them are under $700.