Blew my engine day one of holidays. Truck kaput...

[BobsYourUncle]

I posted some info about this in another thread I had going but rather than derail that one, I thought I'd post a new thread.

We were scheduled to leave Thursday Aug 9 for 3 weeks but didn't get out til the 10th.

Got the TT all ready to go, loaded up etc and left Calgary around 8 Friday morning. Smooth trip all the way to Golden, stopped at DQ for a milkshake and headed for the Rogers Pass.

Got to the first snowshed and did my usual gauge check. Crud! Engine temp up in the red. Got through the shed and pulled over off the road and shut it off. Steam poured out from the back of the hood. Got it cooled down, full tank of water in the TT, got it filled up again but water pouring off the back of the engine.

Called a towtruck, 658 bucks later had the truck and TT towed in to Revelstoke.
Short version, guy got into it, changed a blown hose on the back, fired it up, 2 minutes later its blowing the rad cap overflow. Pulled the rad cap off, tried again, a geyser coming out of the reservoir.

Anyone who knows engines knows that's compression going into the water jacket. Most likely a head gasket. Engine got hot out there towing up a long hill dragging 10,000 pounds behind.

So here we are, broken down in Revelstoke with nothing to pull the rig with.
Argh...

Overnighted in the TT parked beside tow yard shop. Next morning we walked over to Dennys in Revelstoke for the most disgusting breakfast ever. Yuk, don't ever eat there!

Great.... so much for a glorious 3 weeks at a resort parked by the ocean...

[BobsYourUncle]

crcr wrote:
You can get a new crew cab Ram diesel 4x4 for $40K "with qualifying rebates" from high volume dealer Dennis Dillon Ram in ID.

clicky

Good luck with your decision!

Well, I appreciate that, but my ride of choice is GM.
Not that Dodge or Ford are any lesser of a truck, but its just my own personal preference!
🙂

[crcr]

You can get a new crew cab Ram diesel 4x4 for $40K "with qualifying rebates" from high volume dealer Dennis Dillon Ram in ID.

clicky

Good luck with your decision!

[partsman01]

I have some broken ones on my exhaust manifold, will have to get on them some time.

[ib516]

The 5.3L likes to break exhaust manifold bolts too. I had to replace the ones on my last truck, exhaust manifold gaskets too as a result.

[LIKE2BUILD]

BobsYourUncle wrote:
Not sure what your 6.0 gasser has, but my Dmax has aluminum heads...

The GM 6.0L has aluminum heads. I never overheated mine but the temp did increase on a few hill climbs I did while towing.

The big claim to fame on the 6.0's is breaking exhaust manifold bolts. I don't know if it's the head flexing, the manifold, or just low grade bolts, but there are few 6.0L GM engines that haven't popped at least the front-most and rear-most exhaust manifold bolts. Maybe on later years GM fixed it but I know from '99-'05 models it's extremely common.

KJ

[partsman01]

Yep, aluminum heads, and was coming up the steepest part of 97C and how it survived that climb while overheating I do not know, and it too was the first day of our trip to Kelowna.

[BobsYourUncle]

Not sure what your 6.0 gasser has, but my Dmax has aluminum heads...
They don't like to get hot.

I've had a huge number of Chevy small blocks, Austin Mini 4 bangers and much more over the years that I have very severely overheated with no ill effects.

Oh well, live and learn!

[partsman01]

Well appears to be a difference between diesel and gas when overheated, short version this august my GMC 6.0 gas unknown to me lost a hose, notice guage climbing and overheating on dash message, then limp mode and no place to pull over on hill, so carried on to the top, by this time guage pegged hard over, overheat message now showing, pull over appears to be no coolant, took a lot to refill while engine was still hot, heat took out starter, so a tow from BCAA of fifth wheel and truck no direct cost to me and the shop only had to replace starter, no other damage, had a good holiday and towed home and still no issues, so glad in this case the old gas held up.
It really should not have.

Glad you got her fixed.

[BobsYourUncle]

Just picked her up about an hour ago.

Sure does run nice! Great to have it back again. Mechanic did an awesome job on it.

He did put the latest head gaskets on it. He said the ones that came off were the older style and prone to failure.

Yeah I'm glad I fixed it instead of replacing it. Bit of a butt pucker to put that much money into an old truck, but its paid for. Can't imagine financing a vehicle for 10 years.... that's a long time. I'd be 74 and still paying for a ten year old truck. No thanks!

I've learned that the LBZ was the best version of the Duramax. Guess I got lucky when I bought it.

My PT Cruiser is ok, but I will be glad to take my truck to work tomorrow. At least I can carry something bigger than a 4 foot ladder!

🙂

[ksss]

I had to pull the heads off an 05-5500 LLY and have them remilled. There are several different updated gaskets hope you got the most current. I put the ARP head bolts in while I was there. Never had an issue with it after that was done.

[spoon059]

Bob, glad your fix appears to have worked! That's definitely a far more affordable potion. Couple months payments as opposed to a couple years payments. That Duramax is a solid engine and should continue to purr for a long long time before you need to invest any more serious money into it.

[Perrysburg_Dodg]

You can get a new vehicle loan for ten years now. Not sure what you guys would pay but you can top out a pickup near $90K now in USD. I'm sure that would be will over $100K for you guys up north.

Don

[BobsYourUncle]

dodge guy wrote:

Close enough for those of us with US math skills!

Glad to hear you are good to go. Much cheaper than a new truck at $40-80k or $80-90k CA. Or whatever the conversion is!

Yes a lot cheaper for sure. I remember the 60 month payments when I bought it. $1172. a month for 5 years. By US math that's about ten thousand dollars a month I think... :B

I just don't want to go the pay pay pay route again. now I can get a new one over 7 years or something.. No thanks.

[BobsYourUncle]

mkirsch wrote:
IIRC it was 374,000 Kilometers, which is only like 45,000 American miles or something like that... I kid.

Good luck with the heads... Canadians call it "getting Kijiji'd" for a reason.

Yes, you pegged it, 374,000 K
LOL, 45K miles 🙂
Its abvout 232,000 miles.