Trucks Going In To See If I Have Castech Heads...

KMGZ400 · November 15, 2010

well tommorow im taking my truck, the 2001, to my dealership which im on good terms with, meaning they never rip me off. i have had every symptom of Castech heads and im taking it in to see if i actually have them. idk what else it could be.it has sometimes hard starting with a puff of white smoke, white smoke at full throttle sometimes, random coolant loss every few weeks with no leaks. truck is just about to turn 79,000 miles. awesome truck, i love it but im pissed about this. my suburban 5.3 clearly does not have Castech head becasue it has original clean coolant and its got 150,000 on it. my 4.8 does not have castech heads either thank the lord.

so my questions are, i doubt it but will GM cover the castech heads since its a recall?

how much are heads new or used or what would be the best route for me to take if i do have castech heads?

if for some reason its dosent have castech heads, what else could it be?

thanks in advance, now im gonna be stuck driving my dog 4.8

txab · November 15, 2010

well tommorow im taking my truck, the 2001, to my dealership which im on good terms with, meaning they never rip me off. i have had every symptom of Castech heads and im taking it in to see if i actually have them. idk what else it could be.it has sometimes hard starting with a puff of white smoke, white smoke at full throttle sometimes, random coolant loss every few weeks with no leaks. truck is just about to turn 79,000 miles. awesome truck, i love it but im pissed about this. my suburban 5.3 clearly does not have Castech head becasue it has original clean coolant and its got 150,000 on it. my 4.8 does not have castech heads either thank the lord.

so my questions are, i doubt it but will GM cover the castech heads since its a recall? No. It's a TSB not a recall. It will be your expense

how much are heads new or used or what would be the best route for me to take if i do have castech heads?

if for some reason its dosent have castech heads, what else could it be? Maybe you have a bad head gasket

thanks in advance, now im gonna be stuck driving my dog 4.8

jro909 · November 16, 2010

why are you still driving with 150k on the factory filled dex cool? thats way way over due...

KMGZ400 · November 16, 2010

buddy of mines a mechanic there and neighbor works the desk so they dont screw me over. and im not nessecarily having them fix it. just tryin to figure out the problem

its clean and its good enough for me. have never had a problem because i didnt replace the coolant in many high mileage vehicles ive been around or known anyway.

i was just kind of hoping for answers to my questions, not questions about my post....

jro909 · November 16, 2010

buddy of mines a mechanic there and neighbor works the desk so they dont screw me over. and im not nessecarily having them fix it. just tryin to figure out the problem

its clean and its good enough for me. have never had a problem because i didnt replace the coolant in many high mileage vehicles ive been around or known anyway.

i was just kind of hoping for answers to my questions, not questions about my post....

coolant turns acidic when it expires, it could be the cause of your issue...

KMGZ400 · November 16, 2010

my 150k suburban with the original coolant has no problems with burning anything or leaks... its my 2001 silverado with 79k that has the problems

but with that being said, im scared and will change the coolant in the burb

jro909 · November 16, 2010

my 150k suburban with the original coolant has no problems with burning anything or leaks... its my 2001 silverado with 79k that has the problems

but with that being said, im scared and will change the coolant in the burb

no worries, lol i'm super duper anal about maintance on my truck

Jhelmeste · December 2, 2010

I own a 2004 GMC SIERRA with the 5.3L. I was experiencing "gradual coolant loss over time with no apparent cause" and just verified that I do have the "castech" heads which are BOTH cracked in the prescribed area as per GM service bulletin ##06-06-01-019B.

It seems that more and more of these cases are occuring and General Motors needs to take responsibility!

gregrocks89 · December 2, 2010

gross

ChevyTech77 · December 2, 2010

This is a pretty simple inspection to do yourself, if you didn't have the hook up's at the dealer, btw.

burnthefurniture · December 3, 2010

My friend's 04 tahoe has experienced every symptom of the castech's too. Random coolant loss, randomly running hot, etc. That has me worried now. I've got an 06, but it does have the 706 casting number. I've had no coolant issues so far, valve covers are very dirty, particularly the driver side one. Is this an issue that you wait until it surfaces to address, or does any kind of preliminary discovery benefit? Obviously, if the heads are castech they're screwed anyway, but if I drive until I start seeing the symptoms in my truck's coolant levels and white smoke etc, am I damaging anything in the bottom end of the motor?

ChevyTech77 · December 3, 2010

My friend's 04 tahoe has experienced every symptom of the castech's too. Random coolant loss, randomly running hot, etc. That has me worried now. I've got an 06, but it does have the 706 casting number. I've had no coolant issues so far, valve covers are very dirty, particularly the driver side one. Is this an issue that you wait until it surfaces to address, or does any kind of preliminary discovery benefit? Obviously, if the heads are castech they're screwed anyway, but if I drive until I start seeing the symptoms in my truck's coolant levels and white smoke etc, am I damaging anything in the bottom end of the motor?

Coolant can eat the material that the crank bearings are made of, but it usually takes a pretty good doseage to do so.

If you're not experiancing coolant loss, I wouldn't worry about it.

burnthefurniture · December 3, 2010

My friend's 04 tahoe has experienced every symptom of the castech's too. Random coolant loss, randomly running hot, etc. That has me worried now. I've got an 06, but it does have the 706 casting number. I've had no coolant issues so far, valve covers are very dirty, particularly the driver side one. Is this an issue that you wait until it surfaces to address, or does any kind of preliminary discovery benefit? Obviously, if the heads are castech they're screwed anyway, but if I drive until I start seeing the symptoms in my truck's coolant levels and white smoke etc, am I damaging anything in the bottom end of the motor?

Coolant can eat the material that the crank bearings are made of, but it usually takes a pretty good doseage to do so.

If you're not experiancing coolant loss, I wouldn't worry about it.

Thank you for the reassurance. I change my oil and maintain my truck enough that I would know the first signs of any loss of coolant, so I think it should be a non-issue. Does anyone know specifically what percentage of the heads are castech and what percentage, likely, of the castech heads are affected?

ChevyTech77 · December 3, 2010

Thank you for the reassurance. I change my oil and maintain my truck enough that I would know the first signs of any loss of coolant, so I think it should be a non-issue. Does anyone know specifically what percentage of the heads are castech and what percentage, likely, of the castech heads are affected?

Too hard to guess at percentages, honestly.

I've seen a quite a few done but I live in truck/farm country and it certainly isn't all of the trucks in the area, that i've seen. Pretty much if you have a 5.3, it's loosing coolant, and the water pump isn't leaking, it gets a block test and usually ends up with new heads.