K5Nate
1/2 ton status
This is my write up for a diesel head gasket change which is pretty strait forward and if you have done head gaskets on gas engines then you will be right at home except you don't have to mess with removing each rocker arm, very nice!
Ok, so a few weeks ago I posted up a question of why my cooling system had bubbles in it and the response I got was the head gasket must have been blown. Searching on further reinforced this theory.
So i figured I would give it a shot since I had done small and big block head gaskets in the past, though I had never played with diesel before this.
Getting the truck into the garage worked out ok, but with the crew cab inside it was a little tight but workable.
Removed the hood and started to dismantle engine components....
It helped to label things, especially the line ports for the injector hard lines. Don't ask me why I plugged the head ports, instinct I guess. Obviously they would have been accessible once the heads came off.
Cover off exposing the very simple rocker assemblies that do not require one to mess with adjustment upon re-installation. 2 15mm bolts remove them.
Who knows what would have caused this dent in the valve cover..??
it was the only dent, obviously the rocker had contacted it at some point.
heads off
Took the heads in to get hot tanked and checked out. No cracks but they were off 3 thousandths of an inch. got that cleared up.
New ARP head studs used.
Tapped/Cleaned out all the threads
New head gasket
Studs installed and torqued in a 25lbs,50lbs,75lbs and final 100lbs pattern.
I don't know why but the bottom right bolt on the #1 cylinder (inside the head) seemed to have less thread upon installation than any of the others, everything was seated nicely. Who knows the reason?
Reinstalled push rods and rocker assemblies in their original locations.
Cover all buttoned up.
The most difficult part for me was bleeding the injection lines. I had read different ideas on how it should be done. The M1028 manual, Haynes and Chiltons mentioned very little about this. Basically they all said to "run" the engine for 2 minutes,let it sit 2 minutes on and off for a few cycles. People had said to open all the hard lines at the injector and wait for diesel to come out. None of this worked for me. I ended up cranking the engine, building up pressure in the lines,went around and cracked all the lines until diesel bubbled out then quickly closed them, basically like brake bleeding. Fired right up afterwords.
Ok, so a few weeks ago I posted up a question of why my cooling system had bubbles in it and the response I got was the head gasket must have been blown. Searching on further reinforced this theory.
So i figured I would give it a shot since I had done small and big block head gaskets in the past, though I had never played with diesel before this.
Getting the truck into the garage worked out ok, but with the crew cab inside it was a little tight but workable.
Removed the hood and started to dismantle engine components....
It helped to label things, especially the line ports for the injector hard lines. Don't ask me why I plugged the head ports, instinct I guess. Obviously they would have been accessible once the heads came off.
Cover off exposing the very simple rocker assemblies that do not require one to mess with adjustment upon re-installation. 2 15mm bolts remove them.
Who knows what would have caused this dent in the valve cover..??
it was the only dent, obviously the rocker had contacted it at some point.
heads off
Took the heads in to get hot tanked and checked out. No cracks but they were off 3 thousandths of an inch. got that cleared up.
New ARP head studs used.
Tapped/Cleaned out all the threads
New head gasket
Studs installed and torqued in a 25lbs,50lbs,75lbs and final 100lbs pattern.
I don't know why but the bottom right bolt on the #1 cylinder (inside the head) seemed to have less thread upon installation than any of the others, everything was seated nicely. Who knows the reason?
Reinstalled push rods and rocker assemblies in their original locations.
Cover all buttoned up.
The most difficult part for me was bleeding the injection lines. I had read different ideas on how it should be done. The M1028 manual, Haynes and Chiltons mentioned very little about this. Basically they all said to "run" the engine for 2 minutes,let it sit 2 minutes on and off for a few cycles. People had said to open all the hard lines at the injector and wait for diesel to come out. None of this worked for me. I ended up cranking the engine, building up pressure in the lines,went around and cracked all the lines until diesel bubbled out then quickly closed them, basically like brake bleeding. Fired right up afterwords.
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So the issue, more importantly, is how far off of the allowed tolerance is .003 rather than a general question about .003....
Just making conversation more than anything I suppose. 
Wish i would've used studs when I built my 6.2... maybe someday I'll replace my bolts with studs.
