5.7L Head Gasket / Now what?

[hotrdd]

Looks like my 99 5.7L SLE Yukon finally blew the head gasket with 250’000 kms on the odometer. I started to lose small amounts of coolant without any indication of where it was going. I did a compression test and found Cylinder #3 @ 130 with a wet/water on the plug and #6 at 140 the rest were around 157. So I’m pretty sure that I have a blown head gasket  Anyway the rest of the Yukon is in great shape so I want to just want to fix the engine and keep on cruising. I used the truck as a daily driver and for towing my 23 foot camper on the weekends in some really hilly countryside. So besides the head gasket I am considering a new water pump, timing chain and gears, lapping the valves and was considering doing the piston rings while I was that deep. Thoughts?

A few weeks ago I had done the MPFI upgrade, new Cats & O2 sensors and then an oil change, coolant flush and new plugs. And now this

Is there anything else I should look at or are there other upgrades I should consider to help with performance and towing?

[Duelin]

Compare the expense of what you are going to do with the cost of a GM crate long block engine. My self I would probably go with the crate engine. They use to have a 36 month 100,000 mile warranty. If they were installed in a passenger car or light duty truck. Not sure how much is cost to have heads done and machine work done on engine. Since I have been retired I haven't had any machine shop work done on engines. I know I was talking to a guy a couple of weeks ago. And he had to have his heads done on a Ford F150 302. He said it cost him $1100 to have them done. I am not sure what had to be done to them.

[2018GMC]

Compare the expense of what you are going to do with the cost of a GM crate long block engine. My self I would probably go with the crate engine. They use to have a 36 month 100,000 mile warranty. If they were installed in a passenger car or light duty truck. Not sure how much is cost to have heads done and machine work done on engine. Since I have been retired I haven't had any machine shop work done on engines. I know I was talking to a guy a couple of weeks ago. And he had to have his heads done on a Ford F150 302. He said it cost him $1100 to have them done. I am not sure what had to be done to them.

^^^ this. Compare cost of crate motor with warranty vs doing the rebuild on your motor, machine shop costs, and your time.

[sputtle]

^^^ Totally agree. At this point, with all the work that's being done on an old motor, the costs won't be that much different. Also with a new engine, you'll have piece of mind that it will last for a long long time. Keep in mind that your old 5.7 does have value and can be sold to save some dollars.

 

I wouldn't ever see myself doing the rings and cams by themselves. It's basically rebuilding the engine, and at that point, you might as well bore .030 over and increase power. But there again, if you're going to do all that work, might as well just buy a new engine that will likely give you the same or more power for a much longer period of time.