Are you asking if the block usually shows signs of being warped? Not normally, unless overheated tremendously. Somewhat more common that the heads will be warped. Do you have a straight edge? Just lay it across engine surfuce and check with feeler guage for issues.

It's normal to find gasket material stuck to block, it would be highly unlikely that someone used a gasket sealer on head gasket...unless they were a real hack. Did you have an external or internal (combustion) anti-freeze leak? Gaskets don't look horrible, granted...l'm looking at them on my tablet...and the cumputer at work is much clearer for some reason. But, only area that looks suspicious is the outer edge of gasket (which would cause an external leak).

Anyhow, keep up the good work.

Brian.

 

@The Deputy Thanks for the response, the failure was internal and I found the problem. Heads were likely incorrectly torqued at least 2 of the bolts could have been broken lose with 1/2 ratchet according to my notes

 

Point of failure
The arrow shows the failure on the drivers side gasket

Detail view

 

Well 15 thou is way too much to fix, max is 19 thou on a head that has never been touched. I have a few options so it just shipping and time.

In the meantime cleaning and wire maintenance, I am starting with the upper plenum and throttle body.
1st thing was getting something to clean parts in 5.00 at the thrift store :




I can wash most parts really well in there and it has a lid

 

Intakes have been reviewed, throttle body heater replaced I am not sure it will get hooked up but it is replaced.

On to the the rocker arms, oddly the driver side was more gummed up than the passenger side. But they are still pretty good.

1st up hit them with a good dose of engine degreaser to get rid of the build up :

• Springs
• Cups
• Move the arms and hit the oil holes too
• LEAVE THEM SOAK - I did mine in the morning and poured boiling hot water over them at lunch - you do not have to wait that long but give it some time

Soaking away


Build up around springs - bad side Rocker cups were pretty good


Soaking in pan - you need to get all the crap off the aluminum bit were the bolt passes through

Once they were "Boiled" I hit them with Wd40 to put some basic lube in place, then blew compressed air (from a can) into each of the arm cups. After the air WD40 into the cups once again just to add some post water protection

This is important make sure each arm moves freely after you apply some lubricant. If any are sticky you can move the arm to one side and inspect the shaft for damage or wear - images to follow

 

Rockers Continued

As noted in the previous post boiling water was used to rinse the degreaser this leaves some water behind, the whitish stuff cleans up quickly with a rag. Note a 15mm socket works really well as a block to hold the arm to one side.






The mating surfaces and cups also need to cleaned up




Finally you need to clean out the holes the bolts pass through as that is an oil passage way, best is with a .45 cal brass bore brush and some rifle cleaning patches. Works incredibly well, just hit hit bore brush with some WD40 or motor oil, run it up and down 3 or 4 times. Then a clean patching and inspect, repeat as required.



Finally clean the mating surface on the head, remember use a very light abrasive as it is only torque force that seals the 2 together. You do not want to cause an oil leak by excessive cleaning causing scratching or creating surface irregularities. A plastic scraper should work pretty well, or possibly ceramic stove cleaner on a rag.

 

The cause of slow work, 3 inches that day - but we are back to rain

 

I did my head gaskets twice outside. I have so much sympathy for you, but that tarp is nice. I was in Chicago and the wind was not my friend!

 

I may be doing the same job in the next few months, so this is a great read.

Did the last mechanic use the TTY head bolts?

I've had a theory for years that the TTY bolts continue to stretch as they age and eventually just allow the gaskets to leak. "Overstretching" would explain the apparent leak between your cylinders despite the undamaged gasket in that area as well as the tendency these trucks have to leak coolant from the ends of the heads.

 

@dr. mordo

Yes to the TTY head bolts, the "loose" bolts were at # 3 and #5 those are the inside "top" bolts. It is obvious if you look at the torque diagram.

If you take your time and think about what you are doing it is a pretty straight forward job, at least so far