OHFarmboy

Hey Yall,
As I said before I replaced my headgasket about 1,200 miles ago and now its leaking in the some place. Passenger side of block between cyl. 5 and 6. Any reason for this. I committed a cardinal sin and reused the head bolts, could that have something to do with it? I am only pushing 30lb boost tops. I am at a loss, the truck is undriveable now. I am thinking about takin it into a shop to have thm do it. I got quoted $1,100 labor from one guy at 15 hrs (it didnt take me no 15 hrs to do it) and another guy quoted me 9 hrs and $540 labor. What is the goin rate??

Thanks
Tom

argve

Mine's in the shop right now for a head gasket replacement. Was quoted $750 plus parts so looks like your batting in about the same area as me.

Rganser

Any word yet travis??

argve

No word yet... that might be a bad thing. I know when I talked to them on Tuesday of last week they had just gotten started on it and had the head off was going to be shipping it out to a machine shop to have it checked for flatness and such. They mentioned then they hoped to have it ready on friday depending on the work load of the machine shop. No call on Friday and nothing earlier today, my plan is to call them in the morning to see how we are coming along. I don't really need the truck but it's still new to me so I would like to drive it. I'm getting tired of riding around in Sherri's mini van (yes leather is nice but NOT that nice)... Plus my big ole truck gets as good MPG as her van.

Hemi Cat

Flat rate book time for cyl head R&R or gskt renew is 8.1 hours, add 1.0 for A/C, add 0.4 for P/S. This includes all adjustments. Add up the time and multiply it by the hourly rate and that is what the labor should be. Then the parts bill comes

argve

Well just got off the horn with Rick (Dave's Diesel - Angola, IND). Head was warped 8 thous by the #1 cly (exhaust side naturally), all 6 exhaust seats were cracked. So the hold up was the machine shop. They were in the process of cutting new ones and bingo the cutter broke - had to wait for them to get a new one sourced.

In talking with Rick I asked the million dollar question of "why did the head curl on that end - possible weak head bolts?" He said no actually it's because of the exhaust man, as it goes through it's normal heat cycling (foot to floor then backing off for corner - slammed back down for straight) it will expand and contract which pulls on the head. He said it's actually pretty common and not much a guy can do about it, but then after getting off the phone I was cruising around and seen that ATS makes a multi piece exh man... Humm got me to thinking that if you were to add this little gem would that aborb some of expansion/contraction and not force the living snot out of the head so much.... hummm gotta think on that one a little more...

Rganser

I think that that would be the solution, a multi piece design would not yank on the head so badly. Now, the million dollar question, $?$?$?$?$?$?$?
Ryan

1dslram

The ATS manifold isn't cheap, $460.00 but it is worth every penny for every truck, form mild to wild. If you have a Harbor Freight near, get a engine hoist for under $200.00 and do the head your self. Just be sure to can the bolts and get a set of ARP studs $399.00 you won't regret it. If you can afford it "O" ring the head $300.00 while the head is off. The head will need to be check to be sure it is flat, and ground if needed. With what you save on Labor Cost you can do the head right and only once. I won't replace a head without studs.
Bruce

argve

Final bill about floored me but labor is not cheap when talking diesels. $2295.

Whoaly snickles batman about fell over when he came out and showed that one to me. I was not expecting such a large amount. I guess next time my butt is getting cold in the drive way. I knew I should have borrowed my buddies heated garage for a couple of days. I'm going to be working lots of overtime this holiday season.

SmokinFive9 4x4

Ouch,,,wonder how much rebuilding a whole motor would cost? I've seen the overhaul kits for about that much,,,kinda glad I did it myself when mine went :-) Wish I would have O-ringed it while I had it apart though,,,guess I'll have to tear her apart again someday.

1dslram

Travis:
What happened to the $750.00 plus parts? Parts are about $150.00, headgasket only is $80.00. What did the other $1,200.00 go to? The $750.00 labor is about right a little lower than some, but $2,200.00 is OK if they ported and polished and did the "O" ringing. The big question is what did you get for the $1,200.00?
Bruce

argve

From the bill.
Part number - description - qty - unit price - total

4089649 - Set Gasket - 1 - $345.65 - $345.65
3963983 - WSH, SNG - 4 - $1.48 - $5.92
DCA60L - Fluid, DCA4 Coolant Additive 1 - $6.44 - $6.44
ANTIFREEZE - Antifreeze gal. - 3 - $13.92 - $41.76
3938158 - Gasket Connection - 1 - $7.86 - $7.86
463-3500-6 - CAC Hose - 1 - $32.19 - $32.19
LF3894 - Filter, Oil (long life) - 1 - $16.98 - $16.98
OIL - Oil - 13 - $2.20 - $28.60
Misc - Head Repair - 1 - $689.95 - $689.95
1000 - labor - 11 - $73.00 - $803.00
Misc - Clean Rad - 1 - $95.00 - $95.00
1000 - R & R Rad - 2 - $73.00 - $73.00

I did have them plug the holes in the exhaust brake so I can see the extra fifty for the labor there.

I did ask them to yank the rad and spent the time picking the dead bugs out so I can see an extra charge there but for 95 smackers I could have waited until spring and set down in the garage. Nothing bad against them that was just me getting lazy and saying "yep fix 'er up right"...

The amount for yanking the rad... well that seems a little high but I have never pulled out out of a Cummins so it could be a total pain in the *WOO HOO* so I can't really say much there.

Now the machine shop bill. HOLY SNICKLES that I'm not happy about. I can't imagine a single head taking that much to rebuild. They must have or better have put new valves, guides, the entire freaking thing had better be new for that price. Heck 3 years ago I paid less than that for everything to be replaced on 2 Ford IDI Diesel heads that was everything new except the freaking castings themselves. So I sort of took it up the tailpipe on that one in my opinion.

Gasket set seems high to me on price. Could be wrong but that seems high, awful high if you ask me. Them gaskets better last a good long time for that price.

Rganser

TRAVIS!!! HOLY COW!! What happened?? we better keep this our little secret (TDS). I would want a breakdown of what the hell the machine shop did for that price!! That seems completely unreasonable to me, you couldve replaced the head with a new reman for that price. Next time, you road trip up here, we get to meet, fix the truck in my heated shop, and drive back home and still be cheaper than that!!
Ryan

PourinDiesel

I ought to get into that business.
For that price you could buy a used engine and swap it in!