We had head gaskets changed 3 times while under warrenty from 95-98. Now after another 100k miles or so it appears its time to do it again. Given the cost to have someone else do it will be in excess of $1100 I will be attempting this repair myself. Are there any tricks I should know about before beginning?? Thanks in advance

 

Here is what suggest. (This will vary according to your level of experience.)
Clean the engine compartment. Do a really thorough job. Set up a work space with plenty of bench space to lay things out where they won't be disturbed. Start by draining the cooling system. Take a lot of detail pictures with a digital camera. Have good cleaning materials on hand a clean things up as you take them apart. Examine every part and piece to determine if it should be re-used. Take pictures before and after you take anything apart.

When you get the heads off, clean the mating surfaces carefully. As you take the heads off try to keep the gaskets intact as much as possible because they will show you where the leakage was taking place. Take the heads to an automotive machine shop and have them checked for straightness. (flatness)

Before you put it back together, clean everything. The block surface in particular, then clean out the head bolt holes. Flood them out with penetrant then run a tap into the holes to get any foreign matter out of the threads. Flood them out again to float out any debris. Clean the head bolts, especially the threads. If they look pitted, replace them.

Read your manual carefully. Come back with any questions as they arise.

 

Pulling heads JUST to replace a gasket WITHOUT rebuilding the heads/valves, makes about as much sense as pulling an automatic transmission to replace a torque converter and NOT replacing the front pump seal.
If you are going to do it, do it right the first time. You have 100K miles since last teardown so have a competent machine shop check the heads for cracks, level the underside, grind the valve faces and seats, and replace the valve guide seals, along with any valves or cracked heads that may need to be replaced.

Do it right and do it once. This is not a job you want to do again for some failure you could have easily avoided while you have the heads off this time.
Yes this does add some more cost to the project, but just how much aggrivation do you want to avoid in the future?

Dialtone

 

That's why I suggested that he take it to a machinist, to get a professional evaluation.

 

agreed. I actually had planned on having the head magnafluxed and possibly a vlave job. Much will depend on what I find once the heads are removed. If I find that there is damage to the mating surface due to the blown HG I may just part out the truck. It only books for about $2500 in very good cond and if I have to buy a head its almost not worth doing. Bdox, great idea to take dig photos. Thanks for the info guys, I will begin this on Sat and I'll be back if any ? or problems arise. Again, thank you both.