Head Gasket repleaced

I am calling around to find the cheaps price and so far the prices vary so much I don't know who to go with. I live in Indy. Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

I hope your mechanic put injector cups in with that many miles and the head off?? sounds like a great price though

 

You get what you pay for..engine cheapy parts for my engine.

 

What do you mean POOR coolant? cheap stuff ? or not treated ?

 

I think you got a great deal, I'm sure I paid right about that money the last one I did 8 or 9 years ago B. C. (before Cat). You should be good for a lot more miles now.

 

Poor coolant is anything with DCA4 in it, no actually that is extremely crap coolant, and that additive is a coating not a protectant, anybody that has ever taken an engine apart and found the Green coating in all the hot areas of an engine, that is DCA.
Poor coolant is any that you can not test and when used transfers the aluminum from the engine to the radiator and heater cores.
Poor coolant is also not having a coolant filter, to remove the pieces of sand and grit that is in the coolant.
I have taken apart thousands of engines and was involved with the first use of Nalcool/ Dex-cool. it was in a 3406B, a customer had been at a trade show, and seen a display by some snake oil salesman about the benefits of Nalcool. He had us do a couple of flushes and this is a brand new truck, and add new green antifreeze that is all their was at that time, and add Nalcool. We put on a "0" filter, and every so ofter would test it and add some from a plastic jug.
A couple of years later I had two 3406Bs apart to change the head gaskets and cut the blocks to raise 4,5,and 6 liners. side by side. one truck the liners looked like swiss cheese the others were near perfect. they both ran the same wrought hauling the same product. Port Kells to West-bank hauling Chips 144,000 lbs, up and over two mountains.
I bought some for my self and use it on everything I own.
The wife has a 93 Caprice, 305 with the original aluminum radiator.
Dex-cool is easy to get easy to test. most new trucks come with it, that and Noat coolant. Mind the rant.

 

If you pull the head off yourself, I'd recommend Young and son Machine shop downtown Indy for rebuilding the head. All dealers use them for their machine work. And they have the best prices for parts.

 

With the Cat, 2500 may do the head gasket, but if you have any miles at all on the engine you should at least have the packs pulled, check the deck and liner o-rings, and liner flanges for fretting. Usually the head gasket leaks from the the liners moving on top of the deck and fretting the deck. Most of the labor is in pulling the cylinder head. You will continue to put gaskets if the deck and bottom of the liners aren't checked.