is this where it begins?

[kirkmears]

What's up guys;)

The past couple of weeks, my truck has been making a ticking noise. I've suspected an exhaust leak. This past weekend, I tried looking for it but couldn't find it. Today I took it to the muffler shop and the guy put it up on the rack with the same results. I talked him in to getting in the truck to put it in gear & stall it up and used a makeshift microphone to track it down. We found a tiny head gasket leak (blown?) under the passenger side head. 102:eek: 000 miles. The stock daily driver seems to be running fine for the time being:rolleyes: ...I think it happened pulling a trailer. I did some searching on blown head gaskets and I didn't really find much other than you're screwed...:D...is this common at this mileage?

Hey Thanks@!!

[slick-svt]

Are you sure that it wasn't the exhaust mainfold were it bolts to the head, I have had these before (not on a L) but in my other cars, usually sounds like a loose rocker arm. (tick tick)

[Moonshine]

The ticking sound is usually the notice that you're about to spit a spark plug. A blown head gasket at 102k would be unusual.

[L8 APEX]

You won't hear a blown head gasket it will either put coolant in the cylinder or the oil. Any noise you hear under load is either a loose plug about to launch or bad exhaust manifold gasket. I have seen a few manifold gaskets fail. They usually leave a good soot ring on the head. You have to make an inkling of power before you loose a head gasket or overheat it like Fuzion:D .

[kirkmears]

i'm going to put it on some jack stands tonight for a better look and not worry about being rushed like i was at the muffler shop...i know the area from which it was leaking and it was definitely sooty. i can only hope its the exhaust manifold. i just paid it off earlier this month and was ready to start with the mods. lets just hope i get to start with the mods and not with the repairs...

exhaust gasket=new exhaust system. are JLP exhaust worth $2k or is there a comparable conterpart?

head gasket=?? are the 2000 engire blocks worth rebuilding w/ rods & pistons? i continue to read about the bolt hole differences on the 99/00 blocks and possible plug spitting. thanks again for you input guys:tu:

[L8 APEX]

The blocks have 18lbs less stiffening metal in them. I have a set of stainless headers in the back of my truck, only 800 bucks...

[kirkmears]

$800 installed!?...that's not a bad deal...
$800 from the back of your truck to the back of mine is what i'm guessin though ;)
hopefully, after an inspection tonight, i'll find out it is the exhaust manifold leaking & i'll get to check out those headers you have (i'm am interested). you wouldn't happen to have a workable 01+ block/heads in the back of your truck would ya??:D

[kirkmears]

after further inspection, i noticed a broken exhaust manifold bolt on the rear passenger cylinder (thank goodness if thats all it is). unfortunately my camera still has sand in it from shiloh ridge mud bog & would only open 1/2 way :( i'm guessing the gases from the exhaust were pushing up against the oil on the head to make it look like thats where the leak was coming from. looks like i'll be contacting Terry to initiate project blackhole.