Head gasket question

[kenlaker]

'95 Silverado... a few days ago my antifreeze ended up in my crankcase. Is there any way to tell if it's the head gasket that went out, or if the head is cracked before tearing into it? If it's just the head gasket it might be worth fixing, if it's the heads I'll probably look for a different truck.

[Gordie]

Far as I know you have to pull the heads and have them magna fluxed to check for cracks unless it is visible with the naked eye. I would also suggest doing this even if you are only replacing the head gaskets anyways as it is the peace of mind that is needed. Nothing worse than going through all of that work to replace the head gaskets then find out there is a crack in one of the heads.

[Macgyver55]

Its also possible that the intake gasket could be leaking.

[Jeremy airjer W]

One the heads are pulled you will send them out to a a machine shop. They will pressure check them. If there are bubbles they are cracked. It is not normal to have them come back cracked.

[Tom7227]

How much money can you put into a 95 Silverado and have it make sense? How much did you drive with the antifreeze in the oil, and how do you know that is all? What is it going to cost to put a guaranteed used motor in the rig?

My daughter's Gran Prix started eating antifreeze, she put maybe 100 miles on it with the problem. When the valve covers were pulled the whole thing looked like it had butterscotch poured on it. Maybe that's all you need to do, pull the valve covers. Motor guys - if you find butterscotch is it time to replace?

[kenlaker]

The local high school automotive class is tearing it apart for me.... I won't have money tied up in labor to figure out just how big of a problem this is, but I expect it to take a bit longer than it would at a shop of course, as they can only work on it for a limited amount of time in a day. This was a great option for me, and the class was happy to tear into it.

[Jeremy airjer W]

Oh yeah, I remember those days. Happy to tear it apart and then it sits there until the last day of school and nobody knows where half the parts are! LOL

I hope it doesn't go like that for you!

[kenlaker]

Oh yeah, I remember those days. Happy to tear it apart and then it sits there until the last day of school and nobody knows where half the parts are! LOL

I hope it doesn't go like that for you!

Ha! Yeah, I know what you mean, my shop class all those years ago was somewhat like that at times. There is always a couple of guys though, (you were probably one of them) that get it all done for everybody.

I know the teacher, and those are the guys he has working on it. The class has taken on some bigger projects for others over the years, and the teacher keeps them on task pretty well.

I didn't have it in my budget to take it somewhere else right now, nor did I have the time to do it myself, so I'll take it as it comes.