Today, I had every intention to change the head gasket on my '87 Ram 2.6L. Everything was going good, too good. Even the exhaust manifold bolts came off with little hesitation. I pulled off the head and to my surprise the old head gasket not only was intact, but seemed like it was changed not too long ago. Then after some careful evaluation, the dreaded was realized. A cracked head.

There were three seperate and very noticeable cracks:

Crack 1
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Crack 2
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Crack 3
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Luckily, the valves and springs were not damaged not bent, so that saved the truck from the junkyard. With a new head ordered and on its way, I had a few questions in the meantime.

Question #1: Other than antifreeze, is there any routine preventative maintenance to prevent heads from cracking?

Question #2: Can I bolt up the new head and add oil and run the engine, or do I need to let it sit with oil in it for awhile so it gets everything lubricated?

Question #3: Obviously the cracks were caused by engine overheating, is there anything else I should inspect that could have been effected by the engine overheating?

I will post pictures of my progress as I build the new head back up, but in the mean time I need to wire brush the existing valves and clean them for the new head.