Book time of 15 hours!?! And it works out to more because my truck has AC and cruise control. So my question here is has anyone done them? I have the shopkey procedure for it, and I will be doing it in the next few weeks but I wanted to see if there were any fellow techs out there that have done them and can give me any pointers, thanks.

Chevrolet 1997 K2500HD, 6.5Diesel, automatic.

Yep. BTDT. We've had several 6.2 and 6.5 diesels (same mechanicals). No real pointers, it's pretty straightforward. When you have the heads off, check/change the glowplugs since if one breaks off when you take it out it's a non-issue with the head off. If one breaks a tip off with the head on...well, let's just say it's not pretty.

Unless you do it everyday, you won't change them in 15 hours. Injection lines need to come off. Wait till you get the intake off to do that. Pretty much all the accessories have to come off. Take the manifolds loose from the pipes and then off the heads so they can come out separately. Turbo is a PITA to get off. Well, not the Turbo so much, but the associated piping. It's bad enough on the 6.2 n/a engine, worse on the 6.5 turbo.

Curious why you think it's a head gasket? Head gasket failure is rare. Cracked heads from overheating is common. Magnaflux and surface the heads. Trust me on this one.

John Stricker

quote Originally posted by Jrgicehc: Book time of 15 hours!?! And it works out to more because my truck has AC and cruise control. So my question here is has anyone done them? I have the shopkey procedure for it, and I will be doing it in the next few weeks but I wanted to see if there were any fellow techs out there that have done them and can give me any pointers, thanks. Chevrolet 1997 K2500HD, 6.5Diesel, automatic.

quote Originally posted by jstricker: Yep. BTDT. We've had several 6.2 and 6.5 diesels (same mechanicals). No real pointers, it's pretty straightforward. When you have the heads off, check/change the glowplugs since if one breaks off when you take it out it's a non-issue with the head off. If one breaks a tip off with the head on...well, let's just say it's not pretty. Unless you do it everyday, you won't change them in 15 hours. Injection lines need to come off. Wait till you get the intake off to do that. Pretty much all the accessories have to come off. Take the manifolds loose from the pipes and then off the heads so they can come out separately. Turbo is a PITA to get off. Well, not the Turbo so much, but the associated piping. It's bad enough on the 6.2 n/a engine, worse on the 6.5 turbo. Curious why you think it's a head gasket? Head gasket failure is rare. Cracked heads from overheating is common. Magnaflux and surface the heads. Trust me on this one. John Stricker

yea im aware that it will take me more than 15 hours to do the job for the first time.

I believe it is either a head gasket or a cracked head. Either way the heads have to come off so im doing the head gaskets reguardless. I think its one of these two because my truck smokes (white) a little when it sits and idles. I also loose coolant slowly and it never leaves a water spot. It also seems to loose power up top when im towing which I am hoping is a function of the water leak and not a bad turbo or something. The guys on the 6.5 thread said its either one of those two or a cracked block. I'm hoping its a head gasket or a cracked head.

I was thinking about having the heads magnafluxed and decked but people were saying that most cracks in the heads can be seen with a torch and some moisture. How much does it cost to have heads magnafluxed and decked?

This is what I found on the last one I did. Turned out one of the valves broke and the pieces were beating the piston to crap and later destroyed the turbine blade on their way out. This was a marine 6.5 but the heads all crack in the same places. This head was cracked between every pair of valves. I did one in a truck a while ago and it was not much better.

Good luck.

Last head I had magnafluxed was, I think, $35. Well worth the money, IMHO. Blocks are pretty stable, they can crack, but it's very rare. Heads are actually pretty good as long as you don't run the engine hot, then they're prone to cracking, so keep a close eye on the temperature gauge.

John Stricker

quote Originally posted by Jrgicehc: yea im aware that it will take me more than 15 hours to do the job for the first time. I believe it is either a head gasket or a cracked head. Either way the heads have to come off so im doing the head gaskets reguardless. I think its one of these two because my truck smokes (white) a little when it sits and idles. I also loose coolant slowly and it never leaves a water spot. It also seems to loose power up top when im towing which I am hoping is a function of the water leak and not a bad turbo or something. The guys on the 6.5 thread said its either one of those two or a cracked block. I'm hoping its a head gasket or a cracked head. I was thinking about having the heads magnafluxed and decked but people were saying that most cracks in the heads can be seen with a torch and some moisture. How much does it cost to have heads magnafluxed and decked?

I've had dozens of those 6.5/6.2 - once that head goes it should smoke badly, depending on how bad, it can bind up the motor pretty bad. A good way of testing for me was as follows:

1) I removed both inner fender liners
2) I removed power line to IP
3) Removed one glow plug at a time

Each time i took out a glow plug, i turned over the motor 1-2 turns...if coolant is getting in the motor, you should see it shoot right out of the glow plug hole, depending on how much its burning.


IMHO - heads are the weakest part of the motors...i used to do them all the time. Those engines are super picky with how hot they run, be careful!

alright guys thanks for the advice. any other advice is welcome

quote Originally posted by stevenrossi: I've had dozens of those 6.5/6.2 - once that head goes it should smoke badly, depending on how bad, it can bind up the motor pretty bad.

The truck really doesn't smoke that bad. Only in certain situations. For instance I was sitting at a gas station waiting for my friend to get gas and the truck sat for about 2 min idling. By the time we were ready to leave the truck was smoking like crazy. I've seen alot worse but this was pretty bad. Then when I took off it smoked until I got into a little boost and it stopped.

Right after I start it up it always blows diesel smoke. then after that clears up it stops blowing anything and then it will start blowing a little white smoke. But again once I get into the boost a little it goes away.

The last thing is I am in a BT program in automotive technology at college. So I have alot of friends who are in the same program and work in shops and stuff over the summer. I had 3 of them follwing me in one car when I was towing one of their cars to a junk yard to get scrapped. All three of them said that they could smell burning coolant the whole time they were following me. all that coupled with my problem of loosing coolant and im pretty sure im burning coolant.

Its not all that bad and I could probably get away with not fixing it now, but Im converting it to vegetable oil and I want it fixed before I get into that.

thanks again guys