Summit Racing LS Head Gaskets Leaking Coolant
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Dec 2015
Posts: 86
Likes: 2
Summit Racing LS Head Gaskets Leaking Coolant So I bought these summit racing gaskets to assemble my crate ls3:
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-111652
and I was told that they would work perfectly fine for my stock ls3 application but they ended up leaking coolant. I sent the car to a shop to deal with it since I didn’t have time to spend on my car anymore and they replaced the gaskets with gm oem gaskets which solved the problem. I called summit and they offered to refund the purchase price of the gaskets but I still feel like I got the raw end of the stick because I had to pay for ~13hours or labor to solve the problem.
Does anybody have any idea why these gaskets didn’t work? I feel that this is a case of false advertising since these gaskets clearly didn’t work for the ls3. what are my options here? Perfect world summit would cover the labor costs but I know that’s going to be an uphill battle.
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-111652
and I was told that they would work perfectly fine for my stock ls3 application but they ended up leaking coolant. I sent the car to a shop to deal with it since I didn’t have time to spend on my car anymore and they replaced the gaskets with gm oem gaskets which solved the problem. I called summit and they offered to refund the purchase price of the gaskets but I still feel like I got the raw end of the stick because I had to pay for ~13hours or labor to solve the problem.
Does anybody have any idea why these gaskets didn’t work? I feel that this is a case of false advertising since these gaskets clearly didn’t work for the ls3. what are my options here? Perfect world summit would cover the labor costs but I know that’s going to be an uphill battle.
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 1,593
Likes: 267
From: Halfway back on the Highway to Hell...again!
Agreed. Possibly improper install, didn't clean decks thoroughly, etc. If you paid 13hrs labor for one head gasket, you literally paid double and got ripped. Unless it's in some kind of car that requires pulling motor to do the job.
What car was this LS3 in?
What car was this LS3 in?
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Dec 2015
Posts: 86
Likes: 2
So the thing is, both head gaskets were leaking. If it was just one I agree with you the most likely culprit would be an improper install but chances of me messing up both? Very unlikely. This was also a bran new motor never turned on so there wasn’t anything to clean off of the decks or anything like that. The dealership I brought it to said that it was because the summit ones are 3 layer versus the 5 layer oem.
I guess lesson learned is to use GM headgaskets when possible. That is all I use on my built LS7, and I've never had any problems. I dont know anything about Summit head gaskets. I do know I've read that their lifter trays aren't as heavy duty as the GM trays. Personally, I stick with OEM stuff on things like this when I can, but maybe that's just me......
TECH Fanatic
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 1,802
Likes: 333
From: Wilmington, De
So the thing is, both head gaskets were leaking. If it was just one I agree with you the most likely culprit would be an improper install but chances of me messing up both? Very unlikely. This was also a bran new motor never turned on so there wasn’t anything to clean off of the decks or anything like that. The dealership I brought it to said that it was because the summit ones are 3 layer versus the 5 layer oem.
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