Darn Headgasket...

[m880cummins]

Tonight I was driving back from my Dad's new house after Thanksgiving dinner and was cruising about 80-85 and glanced down and saw the temp gauge was pegged. Ugh. I watched it and it would wander to 210* and then jam to 250* back and forth so I made it to a gas station at my freeway exit and popped the hood. No steam. Carefully opened rad cap and the rad was more than half empty (crossflow IC rad). Went in, bought a gallon of pre mixed green juice, poured it in and started it up and started checking with a flashlight. Pump was circulating and the coolant got sucked down a little in the rad. Then I noticed the block was peeing on the inner fender... Traced it to between the head and the block right above the block heater. The same thing happened this summer and I yanked out the stant thermostat and left it without a thermostat for the summer and never had a drop leak out. Put in a modified (drilled two 1/16" bypass holes in it) cummins thermostat in it last week when it started getting chilly and drove it for a few days and didn't have an issue. I guess that little bit of extra water pressure is too much for the thing.

I suppose when I'm on Christmas break from college, I'll shell out a benjamin for another .020 gasket and another benjamin to get the head resurfaced. The block was resurfaced when it was machined for the rebuild. As for the rest of this week, I'll probably just retorque the allen bolts and hope it does the trick.

Charlie