New Truck or Fix the Old One?

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Originally Posted by werner.reiche

I had a 1998 sierra - when it was about 3 years old started leaking coolant into the cylinder combustion chamber. No leak on the outside of the engine. No coolant in the oil. But it would blow a bit of white exhaust on startup.

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GM had a lot of smaller engines with bad head gaskets in the late 90's and early 2000's. Most were in the smaller Chev and Pontiac engines that were all repaired under warranty recall. Later in the late 2000-2010 time frame,mismilled engine heads on small V6 and V8 engines caused leaks,too,because the didn't meet up with the blocks. Rather than get dealers to pull the heads and remill them,they simply issued a silent recall and replaced hundreds of engines on the QT. Luckily for them,product ID was quite accurate during the assembly process. It was quite easy to identify the problem product runs. From there,they knew which dealerships the vehicles were shipped to and from there,who the customers were that needed to be contacted.

Well it's official. Got the quote and not going to repair the old girl - 40 hours labour plus parts etc... - involves removing the cab for &*^%'s sake - what kinda design is that? Just getting the commercial safety done and then gonna drive her and keep adding coolant and changing oil as needed until she seizes, grenades, whatever - with over 531k now trade value is basically irrelevant. Gonna try adding Risolone head gasket leak seal to the coolant and see what that does but officially on the hunt for a new vehicle. Coolant is not getting into the oil so at least that is a good thing.

Plus that many km on the factory injectors, plus factory front and rear end still in service - just a matter of time and probably not much time.

Pic of the old girl on her last long distance road trip to Abitibi in December 2023 - you served me well - RIP:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...7bfaadcd_k.jpg

https://www.bing.com/videos/rivervie...AEAA&FORM=VIRE

Mother of the baby Jesus! I just watched this and almost vomited. I now see where the 40+ hours of labour come from. That's a major job just to get at the heads ! Reminds me of the 1970',s Monza I owned . In order to change the spark plugs on the car, you had to undo the motor mounts and use an engine hoist to lift the engine out !
I hope you didn't ruin a perfectly good pair of gitch when the mechanic gave you the quote!

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Originally Posted by Fenelon

https://www.bing.com/videos/rivervie...AEAA&FORM=VIRE

Mother of the baby Jesus! I just watched this and almost vomited. I now see where the 40+ hours of labour come from. That's a major job just to get at the heads ! Reminds me of the 1970',s Monza I owned . In order to change the spark plugs on the car, you had to undo the motor mounts and use an engine hoist to lift the engine out !
I hope you didn't ruin a perfectly good pair of gitch when the mechanic gave you the quote!

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At $90/hour just for labor plus the price of a new or even reconditioned engine,costs will be close to $20K including taxes. There's really no guarantees,either. That's enough to set old folks to f..........havin' sex.

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Originally Posted by trimmer21

At $90/hour just for labor plus the price of a new or even reconditioned engine,costs will be close to $20K including taxes. There's really no guarantees,either. That's enough to set old folks to f..........havin' sex.

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Most shops charge $150.00/hr now. Yikes!

I used to own a 2010 F250 with the 6.2L engine. It was lightly driven as I bought it to tow our travel trailer 3-4 times per year. Unfortunately for me, one of the head gaskets went in 2020 and it cost $10k + to repair (I can’t remember the exact figure). The shop had to lift the cab off the frame to carry out the repair. That truck was a lemon.

Something is terribly wrong in the world of mechanical design and engineering when a pickup truck has to be half dismantled before you can change a bloody head gasket. I once had a 1980 Ford F100 with the inline 300 in it. I was a mechanical idiot, but armed with a Haynes book and a rented torque wrench, it only took me just over an hour to do the job. I popped the hood and sat in the engine well. A few bolts and a $60 Crap Tire gasket kit and it was done. What's the deal with gas pickups? Does this cab removal crap have to be done on a newer non-diesel as well?

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Originally Posted by Fenelon

Something is terribly wrong in the world of mechanical design and engineering when a pickup truck has to be half dismantled before you can change a bloody head gasket. I once had a 1980 Ford F100 with the inline 300 in it. I was a mechanical idiot, but armed with a Haynes book and a rented torque wrench, it only took me just over an hour to do the job. I popped the hood and sat in the engine well. A few bolts and a $60 Crap Tire gasket kit and it was done. What's the deal with gas pickups? Does this cab removal crap have to be done on a newer non-diesel as well?

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It's the disposable instant gratification culture we live in. The engineers know that very few people will put that many km on a vehicle before they want a new one to stay flashy and current - it's like iphones. Because of that they don't care. The gasket will last long enough for most everyone else so why worry about getting at it to replace it.

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Originally Posted by Species8472

It's the disposable instant gratification culture we live in. The engineers know that very few people will put that many km on a vehicle before they want a new one to stay flashy and current - it's like iphones. Because of that they don't care. The gasket will last long enough for most everyone else so why worry about getting at it to replace it.

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That's partly the issue. The rest of it comes down to the streamlined assembly process. Engine powertrains are assembled completely with the entire chassis. Truck bodies are built complete in the body and trim plants. They're sent to final assembly where both completed units are dropped onto each other (called chassis marriage). Components are plugged into onboard electronic grids, suspension systems are bolted together,fluids are added and about two hours later after run-up,an operator hops in,hits the key and drives it off the line. Repairs are an after thought,if at all.

Good evening, haven't chimed in here in quite a while but,,,, my 05 Duramax had a bad head gasket. Outrageous dollars to repair. My buddy recommended a product called "Irontite Thoroflush " to cleanse the cooling system then a bottle of "Irontite Head Gasket Sealer". Best $100.00 (at the time) that I put into that Dirtymax. Put over 200,000km after the procedure. Only other thing is to bypass the heater core till a bit after the engine has run a bit. Just follow the instructions.

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