Next week I plan to tear down my daughters DII to replace the head gaskets. Once I get the heads off and check for slipped liner(s) if I don't have any is there a reason to pressure check the block for cracks or would it be a feel good check? After removing the heads my plan is to power wash them check them for flatness and do a die penetrate test for cracks is there anything else that I should do befor blessing them and reinstalling? I'm sure that I will have lots more questions as I move along on this project. Thanks D*

 

Is it overheating? Or did it overheat? Or are they just leaking externally?
If it's gotten hot, I would check the block.

 

A little history on it. About 5 yrs ago the right side head gasket developed an external leak. My local repair shop used some stop leak of some kind and it was good to go but lasted about 2yrs. The same head gasket failed again and my daughter decided to park it because my repairman said it would need upper rebuild and she didn't want to invest any money into it. It has set since then so we have decided to at least tear it down to see if there is any other damage befor investing anything other than my time and my son-in-laws time. I'll really don't know how bad it is and won't until I get it apart. D*

 

By rebuilding the upper end, did they mean getting the heads done, including valves and machining? That would be normal to go through all that stuff while it's apart.

 

That was their plan but it was going to cost $2200 + any extras that I wanted done like plugs,wires,coil packs and upgraded coolant system so that it would run cooler. I think I can do it for about half of that. D*

 

Doing the job yourself will definitely save you a lot of money. How much, may depend on how much work the heads need at the machine shop. You should be able to save at least half that amount.