Stupid radiator cap went bad and motor got pretty hot. Not for more than 15 minutes and it didn't boil dry or shoot steam or anything else drastic. But it did redline the temp gauge and truck does now run a little rougher than it did before.

Truck fails block test at shop but that only confirms a blown head gasket. (what a surprise...)

Question is how tough are the heads on these motors?

Plan to tear down and dye check the heads if it ain't obvious but was hoping the board could give me some likely/not likely info on the head(s) being cracked.

Thanks

 

It's not likely you did any damage to the head, but I'd still HIGHLY RECOMMEND you have the head & block checked for straightness & resurfaced, even if you don't shave them down any.

 

Possible, yes. Likely, no. Only one way to find out...

 

+3 Get them tested.

Even though my engine did not overheat, the dye tests revealed cracks forming between the valves in a couple of places on each head. The mileage at that time was 172K. Used heads were easy to find though, only cost $100 each, and the machine shop simply did the valve job and resurfacing on those.

 

Thanks for the replies. I'm in process of pulling them off for testing.

If anyone is still reading, do I HAVE to take the cams out to pull the heads? Seems like I remember last time it was a pretty close fit for the socket head in there and so I took the cams out. Just trying to leave as much attached as possible to make it simpler.