rbyrd80

hey, I have a 2002 chevy Z71 4x4 that has cracked the passenger head twice around the center bolt hole. Not a bad crack but it is cracked. I have been looking at different after market heads. Heard that there has been a bad casting on thoses heads?? I don't know. I have had everything checked out. The truck never ran hot and there is not water in the oil just loses coolant. Pressure tested it and found the leak. I was looking at the texas-speed top end kit 2.5l for the 5.3l with the 220/220 cam 112 lsa lobe separation and 7.400 pushrods. I did call texas speed and talked to matt and this is what he suggested. Also has anyone heard of the heads cracking. Truck only has 65,000 on it. What should i do?? Will I have to retune?

Sharpe

iTrader: (7)

Getting ideas on here is great, and you'll get a wide variety of them, but also remember to call a sponsor such as TSP and ask their advice. I'd call at least four sponsors.

As for the cracking heads, with my very, very limited experience, the only time i knew of someone having cracked heads was for heat-related problems such as the coolant passages getting clogged after they put a bottle of something in it. Like, to clean the engine or whatever. Heat can do it. Otherwise, I don't know.

02 ss convert

iTrader: (1)

These heads crack alot,and theres not much you can do about it.At my shop if the truck or car comes in with a little lifter noise,you can almost bet that coolant is low and the oil has been thickened.We notice that its usually cracked around the centre bolt on the drivers head,and for what ever reason it seems worse on the fly by wire vehiclesIf you dont catch it in time youll be putting in a motor.I have had motors go just off warranty because of heads.GM said there was no problems with their heads,but when i tried to order to for a pickup with less the sixty thousand Kilometers.i was told that they were sold out and back ordered to Texas.These heads look very thin around the centre head bolt webbing.I still own a newer silverado,and a camaro so im not overly concerned.

DaveX

I've never heard of any gen III+ heads cracking on a stock motor. I can't imagine why yours has done it twice. The only ones I have seen crack have been heavily ported without enough R&D. Even the guys running boost and/or nitrous break the ring lands before the heads crack. But since your having this problem, I would consider aftermarket heads as a replacement instead of ported factory heads.