.I had to put a helacoil in cylinder 6. Afterwards I only had 60 lbs of compression. Now I am removing the heads to rebuid. A friend of mine had a 4.2 and had to put 3 helacoils in his motor over his ownership.

My question is why would I rebuild the heads I have if they have been know to have this issue. I have heard that this issue was resolved in 2006. Is there aftermarket heads that would fix this and are they at a reasonable price point or is there an alternative to this. Should I just rebuild the ones I have and fix all the spark plug threads before the next one goes bad and messes up another cylinder?

Originally the truck was running lean with codes. I continued to drive the truck and then the thermostat stuck. Then I started hearing lifter noise. Then I drove from Indy to Detroit to Kalamazoo and back in one day. Before I got back #6 was misfiring. When I pulled the plug the electrode was gone. Some of it was stuck to the plug.

It is my own fault for not giving it the attention it deserved but I hate to put it back together and have the same manufacturing issue. Can you guys give me some options so that when I am done I don't risk having this issue again with another cylinder. I understand that the 2 back cylinders are notorious for this. Two spark plugs that I pulled had oil on the threads from a leak on the valve cover gasket on the passenger side.

To top it all off when I took the bolts off the compressor, one of the long bolts broke and the mounting bracket does not come off the driver side head. I would imagine the machinist near by could fix this. He used to work for carquest and bought their equipment when the place closed and is near by. I just want to make sure that what I do lasts. I want to keep this truck. I just bought it this year with 80,000 miles. it was a farm truck probably worked hard but does not use oil and clean with cloth seats.

Thoughts? I am going to continue to take it apart tomorrow and would like to know which direction to take when I get the heads off. Would like to have it back on the road by weeks end as I have been without a vehicle for 3 weeks. Because I was flushing out the water system I kept water in it. So I have to get it done or the block will freeze but do want it right beyond what the manufacture did. Last but not least, if I have the carquest guy rebuilt the heads what all should I have him do?

 

If the 06 heads fit, and work, if totally do it.