12 lml duramax needs head gaskets

[tex78]

I''ll have a better idea tomorrow. I knew it wouldn't be cheap to fix. Was talking to a guy last week at work, said his 12 duramax work truck was $11g repair and then ended up putting #7 piston through a few months later.

Oh and be aware


If you go with head gasket job, and get it apart and find more wrong, where now a long block makes more sense


The 15-20 hours to get it apart, does not make it easier to now do long block

So that labor could have been used to put a long block in from the start, it's a couple grand in labor just to get it apart

Just think about it

 

[j335]

5 years ago I paid $5k at a good diesel shop near Calgary to do head gaskets and add ARP studs to my 11 LML. Dealership wanted $8k had many quotes some as low as $4500. My heads were fine, if they were warped price goes up.

No question I would pay to get it done vs give away on kijiji.

With the cab off you can do some other good maintenance for way cheaper to avoid some other failures down the road.

 

[E-Zmoke]

I just went through this last year. 290K on my 12’ LML and she went down with a hole in a piston. Mind you I ran the absolute **** out of it, and 90% of the time it was on the hot tune. I weighed out all options, trading it in, buying a complete used drop in engine, long block, short block etc. Nobody would give me anymore then $15k for it on trade as is so I ended up rebuilding it at DDC customs with all the best parts...New pistons in every hole, did the pump, exergy saver, connecting rod bearings, main bearings, new turbo, new injectors, ARP studs, stage II billet camshaft, glow plugs, EGR delete, resonator delete, and a bunch of other goodies. It was close to $20K taxes in to do it right but it was cheaper to rebuild it then to get a new truck. I’m pretty happy with it now and glad I decided to rebuild it. Hoping now that it’s rebuilt with all the best parts inside of her she should last a little longer this time. Oh and no more hot tune now that I spent that kind of cash on it I’m a lot nicer to it lol.

 

[tex78]

5 years ago I paid $5k at a good diesel shop near Calgary to do head gaskets and add ARP studs to my 11 LML. Dealership wanted $8k had many quotes some as low as $4500. My heads were fine, if they were warped price goes up.

No question I would pay to get it done vs give away on kijiji.

With the cab off you can do some other good maintenance for way cheaper to avoid some other failures down the road.

Exactly, like the cp4 pump

 

[tex78]

I just went through this last year. 290K on my 12’ LML and she went down with a hole in a piston. Mind you I ran the absolute **** out of it, and 90% of the time it was on the hot tune. I weighed out all options, trading it in, buying a complete used drop in engine, long block etc. Nobody would give me anymore then $15k for it on trade as is so I ended up rebuilding it with all the best parts new pistons in every hole, did the pump, new turbo, new injectors, ARP studs, stage II billet camshaft. EGR delete and a bunch of other goodies. It was close to $20K to do it right but it was cheaper to rebuild it then to get a new truck and have payments again. I’m pretty happy with it now and glad I decided to rebuild it. Hoping now that it’s rebuilt with all the best parts inside of her she should last a little longer this time. Oh and no more hot tune now that I spent that kind of cash on it I’m a lot nicer to it lol

Was hoping you would chime in lol

 

[E-Zmoke]

Was hoping you would chime in lol

Yeah thanks again for the guidance last year. Tex recommended and made sure I was doing things right and not to cheap out, made sure I was checking everything and nothing was missed.

 

[tex78]

Yeah thanks again for the guidance last year. Tex recommended and made sure I was doing things right and not to cheap out, made sure I was checking everything and nothing was missed.

Lol

The new trucks suck, the more chit they add, the worse they get ffs

There's a sucker born every minute lol


I love my old lmm, would not every buy a new one

 

[pfi572]

Lol

The new trucks suck, the more chit they add, the worse they get ffs

There's a sucker born every minute lol


I love my old lmm, would not every buy a new one

Yeh my 2012 has been mint . Knock on wood .
Deleted at 131k with next to nothing for EFI tune . Good servicing and hope it’s good for many years

 

[Bnorth]

Lol

The new trucks suck, the more chit they add, the worse they get ffs

There's a sucker born every minute lol


I love my old lmm, would not every buy a new one

There's a reason more and more guys are buying their HD pickups with gassers eh

 

[rgashkei]

you are in Saskatoon? Search in Saskatoon, I got my 04 done a few years ago from a backyard guy and he was half the price of anyone else. Don't have his contact anymore, think he was from Hanley. It is a big job.

 

[kovs]

you are in Saskatoon? Search in Saskatoon, I got my 04 done a few years ago from a backyard guy and he was half the price of anyone else. Don't have his contact anymore, think he was from Hanley. It is a big job.

Thall’s service ?? Likely one of the boys they work on a lot of stuff out there. 1 is helicopter pilot now

 

[bayman]

No friggin way it was done right

Cab lifted up even

Heads where not sent out and checked

JMCX is right. Cab came off and was sent a picture of the heads. $7800 was the quote. My kid was working in the shop as an apprentice, no, she did not do the work. Picked it up the next day. High volume dealership in Calgary. That was 80K ago and good so far. 2014 LML

 

[tex78]

JMCX is right. Cab came off and was sent a picture of the heads. $7800 was the quote. My kid was working in the shop as an apprentice, no, she did not do the work. Picked it up the next day. High volume dealership in Calgary. That was 80K ago and good so far. 2014 LML

Well that's hard to take

Cab came up, heads off, sent out to get checked and all back in, in 8 hours??

Cause heads sent to machine shop, checked and fixed ( plained or what ever needed) is at least 2-3 hours with dropping off and picking up

Dunno, probably never sent them out I'd say

Mabe the guy stayed late and worked 12-14 hours

 

[JMCX]

Well that's hard to take

Cab came up, heads off, sent out to get checked and all back in, in 8 hours??

Cause heads sent to machine shop, checked and fixed ( plained or what ever needed) is at least 2-3 hours with dropping off and picking up

Dunno, probably never sent them out I'd say

Mabe the guy stayed late and worked 12-14 hours

Back in the day I heard stories of dealer mechanics replacing K car 2.2 head gaskets in 45 minutes. Lift the head just enough to slide the gasket out, disconnect as little as possible. Not saying it's right but I just may have done the same when my cousins Reliant started eating coolant. Took me two hours though lol.

 

[1200]

Im not a Chevy guy but the one's i seen pop head gasket are from overheating plugged rad or bad fan .

 

[tex78]

Back in the day I heard stories of dealer mechanics replacing K car 2.2 head gaskets in 45 minutes. Lift the head just enough to slide the gasket out, disconnect as little as possible. Not saying it's right but I just may have done the same when my cousins Reliant started eating coolant. Took me two hours though lol.

Big difference between a 2.2 k car and a duramax lmfao

 

[LMLCHEVY]

There's a reason more and more guys are buying their HD pickups with gassers eh

Like this guy.
A good diesel shop is going to charge you about the same as your dealer quote, and you will likely get better extras like ARP headstuds, egr delete, maybe some port and polishing if they’re any good. I’d recommend Schultz diesel motorsports in Calgary myself. He won’t steer you wrong.
Also swap out that cp4 pos for a cp3 injection pump. Much much more reliable and any tuner can upgrade your tuning for it.

 

[tex78]

Im not a Chevy guy but the one's i seen pop head gasket are from overheating plugged rad or bad fan .

Like I said in post 13


Tuner turned up too high, or rad - intercooler plugged up yes

Very easy as the bottom hole in bumper for trans cooler, also the chit goes in the rad front from the bottom, you can touch the bottom inch or two of the rad

 

[tex78]

Like this guy.
A good diesel shop is going to charge you about the same as your dealer quote, and you will likely get better extras like ARP headstuds, egr delete, maybe some port and polishing if they’re any good. I’d recommend Schultz diesel motorsports in Calgary myself. He won’t steer you wrong.
Also swap out that cp4 pos for a cp3 injection pump. Much much more reliable and any tuner can upgrade your tuning for it.

Or at least put a new one in, like I said


Before it's as much $$ of a job down the road for a high side fuel system

 

[JMCX]

Big difference between a 2.2 k car and a duramax lmfao

I'm just pointing out that shortcuts are learned and sometimes calculated risks are taken. If say only a small percentage have warped heads and the tech can save 3-4 hrs by rolling the dice he'll still be ahead if one in twenty has to come back.