cat c15 blown head gasket

Never heard of still getting full a core credit on a cracked head.... When a head cracks because of heat it is usually the casing that cracks

 

I have an American Premium Castings aftermarket head on my truck .... lots of em going strong out there.

No Core

 

All i can tell you is from first hand personal experience with cracked heads I have always gotten full core credit

 

I am GLAD you did! My friend was not so lucky

 

I have done the same: Received core credit on a cracked head. Failure happen while the vehicle was in operation. No junk yard stuff.

 

Wonder if he deleted the VVAs with stock compression pistons?

This is where having a mechanic with OCD pays off. Caterpillar has specs for liner protrusion and if you aren't overly anal about getting things set up as close to spec as possible you can see head gaskets go from a liner being at the low end of spec being between 2 taller liners.

As mentioned above, if the head is coming off, assume it'll need 6 cylinder kits, counterbores cut/shimmed and a new head. Then if it doesn't, well its good news.

 

Another option is a short block right from Caterpillar.
Now you have a zero miles bottom end from the Factory.
I got one at 156,000 mi. and now have 285,000.
A) - Peace of mind; its new!
B) - rip it out and slam it in. Quick, fast, and in a hurry.
I wanted to cheap it out, but sat down and friggered it all out,
did all the maff, and in the long run, it was better for my case.
I cannot afford to be down 5 weeks waiting on Fred to finish his break to install the whatever.

 

How long has it been since it was overhauled? If it's been sitting 6 months with water in a cylinder it'll probably need an overhaul anyway. I'd assume it needs a rebuild, an easy 15 to 40k dollars depending which route you go with it and how much of the work you do yourself.

 

Dont buy it unless he wants 10k for it. If you buy it for 10k, be prepared to drop 30 more on it.