Blown Head gasket ?'s
 

First off I want to say, Hello to all the 2nd gen. community. I've been a first gen owner for a few yrs now, but very recently purchased a 96 second gen. So I'll be hanging around the 2nd gen community a good bit I imagine.

Ok, I'm quite positive I've got a blown head gasket. I purchased the truck about a week and a half ago and have driven the truck every day. The truck drives great and is extremely clean inside and out. And has no external leaks. When I bought the truck the oil appeared fine. It was new (the oil) so couldn't tell there was water in the oil. It's not an extreme amount, but its there. I also have bubbles in the coolant. How long does it normally take someone to swap out the head gasket? I plan to do it myself. I'm quite mechanically inclined and have done a head gasket on a toyota 4cyl., but not on a 6bt. Also, in case I can get the dealer that sold me the car to pay for all or part of the repairs, what is a rough estimate on what a shop would charge to do the work? Thanks, Ken.

WHOOOOAAAA! Just a little water is normal (water vapor). I would spend $30 on an oil analysis before you go off the heezy. Or at least what I would do is let it warm up, run it HARD and see if you get more water in the oil or oil in the water, the water will turn milky white. When you say you are getting bubbles in the coolant, do you mean big bubbles or just some fizz from stirring the coolant system around, possibly a small hose leak on the vacuum side of the water pump? Big bubbles could be a big leak or you broke the seal between the cylinder and water jacket on the head gasket. Just so you know, blowing a head gasket on a stock motor is highly unlikely. I pushed 60+ lbs of boost to my stock head gasket and studs and she held like a champ.

I would make sure it is a blown head gasket before a knee jerk reaction leads you to a ton of unnecessary work.

I'm not sure what state your in or what their laws are, but in MA 30 day minimum warranty on any used vehicle sold at dealership. How many miles on the truck?

The truck has 210,000. Before I explain more as to why I feel the head gasket or head in general has an issue, I spoke with the dealer that sold me the vehicle and explained what was going on and with out any fuss offered to either buy the vehicle back or send me a $500 check (what he felt was half the price to repair it). My first thought was/is that since he put up no fuss and offered up the money or to buy it back was that he new that there was an issue with it before he sold it.
Because the truck is so clean, runs very well even with this issue, and has a new tranny still under warranty I decided to keep the truck and take the $500. I tried to talk him out of more $, but he said anything over $500 and it was better financially for him to buy the truck back.
As far as why I think there is a blown head gasket. There is sludge on the dipstick when I pull it out and it is blowing sludge out of the blow-by tube on to the chunk. When I said it wasn't a lot I guess I just meant I have definitely seen worse (more water in the oil). I ran the truck with the cap off and never saw any oil mixing into the coolant and the coolant only gets lower and its not going on the ground. Also, the bubbles I am seeing are definitely more than fizz. Its good steady stream of bubbles. I definitely appreciate the concern and take any advice into consideration. I would love to find out its not as big a deal as a head gasket or some kind of head or block issue. I replaced the head gasket on my brothers toyota 4x4 and I seem to be having the same issues as his had. Well except the sludge from the blow-by tube of course. Is it possible for an oil cooler to go bad and only let the water into the oil? I thought it only worked the other way around. Also, has anybody got any info. on how much a shop charges to replace the cylinder gasket. I am getting married in August and have a house I am having to finish fixing up before then so I don't really have time to mess with it right now. Thanks for the replies.

Oil cooler could be shoot too, cheaper, and more likely i believe.

Try doing a block check first? Usually if a diesel or a gaser blows head gastket you will be blowing the coolant out of the radiator. You would also be over heating pretty fast. Block check dye turns yellow if combustion gas is detected in radiator. You would also be blowing white smoke out the tail pipe.

Well I'm dropping the truck off at a local shop, Diesel Care & Performance, that gave me a fair price on replacing the head gasket. If it turns out that is what it is. He said that with my symptoms it sounds more like a head gasket issue than an oil cooler issue. He said he has never seen an oil cooler go bad and only let water into the oil, usually it allows oil into water or a mixing of the two, but not just water in oil. I'm not saying anyone is right or wrong, its just what I was told. Anyways, as much as I hate to pay someone to do work I know I can do I just don't have the time right now to mess with it. Thanks for the comments and tips though. I'll post up how it goes. Ken.

Well, I wanted to post and let yall know if you were right or not with your "guestimation" of what the problem was. I took the truck to Diesel Care & Performance and a mechanic that I hadn't talked to was the one that looked it over and drove it. He said, as many of you had, that it didn't seem to be a headgasket since it ran so well and didn't smoke. He felt it was the oil cooler. He told me that although its not common sometimes the oil cooler will get a leak that is only a problem when cold. Once up to operating temp. everything expands and seals the crack. He quoted me $572 for the part and $80/hr. shop labor. I felt that was WAY to high and offered to pay for his time, but would take the truck with me. He said not to worry about the $. So, I called dodge for a quote on the oil cooler and they said $572 also . I called Cummins Midsouth and they quoted me $267, that sounded more reasonable. I went ahead and swapped it out myself and so far so good. So I wanted those of you that guessed it to know you were right. Thanks again for the great info and tips. Ken.