I had the truck out running errands in the beggining of the week, and I was gettig stuff done and on my way home to bring home the dog food for my attack monster, and when I pulled away from a traffic light I rowed through the gears, and when I hit third the truck fell on it's face. It lost all power but stayed running, but idled poorly. I was pretty sure I had just blown a head gasket, and by the time I limped it home the truck was spitting coolant and white smoke out the tailpipe. I let it cool down for a while and got out my compression tester so I could try and figure out what happened where ...



#6 was obviously shot, so the heads were coming off. It would also let me replace a few leaky seals and gaskets I have been putting off getting done. I was afraid of taking the 22 year old engine apart with fears of snapping all the stubborn intake bolts, but now I had no choice but to get it done. I got the engine torn apart today and sent the heads out to be decked and magnafluxed at a local shop....



There were a few casualties in the attack, but nothing major. All the replacement parts are already on order from my friends at Mitsu and Advanced Auto...



and everything else is stacked up in the garage behind the truck waiting to go back home sometime next week by the time everything is in and done...



I'm changing ALL the upper and front seals (valve seals too) on the engine to eliminate leaks, and I'm using Fel-Pro gaskets on everything. I had just gotten this truck back on the road after getting the rotted rear shackles taken care of, and it pukes a head gasket.
I think it just likes sleeping in the warm, dry garage