Castec?

[DwayneJ]

I just bought my truck in November, quickly had tranny troubles hassles with dealer that took a "higher power" to straighten them out. Finding a tranny line leak and axle seal leak now too has me suspicios of everything. I put about a pint of coolant in it when I changed the oil for the first time a few weeks ago. Not much but I swear the coolant is 1/4" lower already, will put about 300miles on it sunday and look again monday morning to have a better ahndle on coolant loss. I am a pretty highly experienced gearhead and haven't seen or smelled any leak.

 

So being a 2005 5.3l obviously I am concerned about the Castec problem. Weather did not cooperate today otherwise I would have pulled the rocker stands, light snow started and the wind picked up after I got a valve cover off. So I snapped a few pictures and put it back together. I had run a product called AutoRX through it and am in the "flush" cycle. Either that stuff is amazing or the passenger side has already been replaced because I have never seen a 6yo 75k mile head so clean.

 

The oil actually looks worse in the pics than in person, the flash must have done that.I will be honest, part of me is hoping I "need" to replace the heads, good excuse to upgrade. Anyone have any comments on the pics? Like I said it is so clean part of me wonders if it was replaced already or are these things normally that clean?

[SouthCo]

Sucks but good lucl

[xPosTech]

As a highly experienced gearhead what did the valve cover and gasket look like? You can usually tell by the condition of the gasket if it was replaced in the last few months or was in place for years and 75K miles.

 

The detergents in today's oils do a wonderful job, don't they? The PO might have been a fanatic on oil change intervals or, as you suspect, the head was replaced. The other one might tell you more.

 

Have a coolant sample tested for exhaust gases before you flush the cooling system. Any good radiator shop can test it or tell you where you can have it tested.

 

If it has been flushed you'll need to put some miles on it before testing or you'll get a false negative. It'll show head gasket problems that might otherwise be overlooked. This is if it is indeed swallowing coolant.

 

Good luck.

Ted

[DwayneJ]

The inside of the VC was a little more varnished than the head but as I mentioned I ran some http://www.auto-rx.com/ through it which might have done the cleaning. I am going to have to find a day when it wont show on me and pull a rocker stand on the other head. There was like 20% chance of show and it started and the wind came up so I stopped the project.

 

The oil in it is just a couple weeks old so if coolant keeps disappearing I will send out a sample and look at the coolant test for exhaust gasses.

[rdnkcpa]

My 2004 had the Castech problem. The passenger side looked like it was brand new. The drivers side was full of the Dexcool/Oil mixture. However after I pulled the heads both heads failed the pressure check at the machine shop.

 

Good luck.

[DwayneJ]

I got a wacky one for you. The coolant level in the tank was actually almost 1/4" HIGHER this morning than it was Saturday, truck has not been driven since 6pm yesterday and I am in northeast Wisconsin so it cooled off plenty. Honestly makes me wonder if there is an air/exhaust bubble somewhere, so xPosTech's suggestion of testing for exhaust gasses just might be what I end up doing.

[DwayneJ]

Pulled the other valvecover a few days ago and it was a little dirtier but nothing alarming, picked up a block tester and got a negative reading BUT the valvetrain is getting a little louder and for the first time I found a little yellow goo on the oil fill cap, coolant level is down some. I put almost 60 miles on it today half of that immediately before the test and checking the oil so it should not be short trip condensation.

 

Looking like I either wait it out and see how much coolant it drinks or send out an oil sample. Coolant loss is slight, only noticeable because I am watching it closely