just did the H.G's UPDATE
 

Yup.. did them this weekend.... rolled it in the shop. yanked the cab. got down to the heads... ARP's , new ex. mani bolts. put gaskets behind them.
lots of new bolts/parts went in to her.

bolt the motor back up. fire it up. coolant bottle still bubbles which is SWEET.... so it must need head/s.

Oh yeah... EGR and cooler were done to.

Anyone wanna buy it? haha

Did you do anything to the heads or just install them as is?

can you just ignore the bubbles?

didnt do a thing to the heads. cleaned em up... looked for cracks... straight edged them. my buddy is a ford tech. He wasnt concerned with them being bad... plus i was on a time limit...It only bubbles when you are driving the **** out of it. after it sits for 4 min idleing it stops...

as far as ignoring the bubbles... i yanked the gasket out of the rad cap to let the pressure out so the cooler doesnt blow. I think im going to just drive it... i might slap some heads on it....undecided.

So I guess you installed the Head studs as a result of the bubbling in the coolant bottle, and not as a preventative measure?

Let us know what's the source of your problem.

Also you may want to reconsider continued driving your truck. An expensive fix may just get more expensive!

Good Luck...

You should have lined a machine shop up for when the heads came off. So throw the straight edge in the trash because the heads can be twisted like a pretzel.

Have you given it time to let all of the air get purged from the cooling system?

studded it because i was in there... not much point in not doing it.

As for the machine shop... I donno... ya think they are twisted and not cracked?

Mine were bowed in the center with a slight twist from end to end. If you would take a straight edge, per Ford Specs, they would have passed maybe. A flat table and a good machinist are all that is needed to see how bad they were.

does your coolant bottle bubble?

and William... pretty sure all the air is out. its the same as it was before i did the gaskets...

the coolant cap was whistling before....not doing it now :S
but you can still smell the coolant coming from the cap every now and then.

As for the specs.... ford just increased the spec for the heads to be warped .... so i donno.

I feel for ya man. That sucks.

At least it sounds like you have a nice place to do the work. Do you plan on testing the coolant for exhaust gasses before you tear into it again? New degas cap on there now?

i have a decent shop. but no hoist... my uncle has a hoist. so thats good. I thougt about using the tester that sits on the Degas bottle. and it starts blue and turns green if its junk.... and nope. i still have the cap sans the rubber o-ring..... i would rather it vent there instead of blowing something else ..... ya know?

The Ford spec was .004 the first time mine were done in 2005. One passed one was replaced. The new gaskets didn't last a 30K miles. Redecked the heads and walla. Even with stock TTY bolts and a nasty tune they didn't puke. Getting the heads FLAT is crucial to a good head gasket seal and well worth about $100 to get them decked.

Brutal! so has anyone seen a cracked head then?