Blown head gasket on a 7.3 turned into a 3 week saga

Last month I took on a 1999 F-250 with a blown head gasket, thought it would be a weekend job. Pulled the heads and found two cracked injector cups and a warped deck that needed 0.008 cut. The machine shop in Wichita quoted me 5 days, took 12, and then the new gaskets I ordered showed up with the wrong torque specs printed on the box. Got it all back together last Tuesday, fired it up, and the passenger side exhaust manifold is leaking like a sieve because I reused the old bolts. I should have known better, but I was trying to save the guy some money since he's a regular customer. Anyone else had a simple repair spiral because of parts or machine shop delays, or is it just me?

2 comments

2 Comments

drew_park21d ago

Honestly that timeline sounds pretty smooth compared to most 7.3 jobs I've seen. Three weeks for a head gasket, deck cut, and injector cups is basically a gift. The machine shop being a week late is just how it works, they're always backed up, and the wrong torque specs on the box is just a reminder that reading the actual manual beats trusting the sticker every time. The exhaust leak though, that's on you for reusing those bolts, but even that's a 45 minute fix once you've got the truck back. Sounds like you got lucky it wasn't a cracked block or bad pistons, which would've turned that three week saga into three months.

lisak2620d ago

Drew_park, I've been down that road with a 7.3 myself and the one thing that saved me was taking pics of every bolt before I pulled it apart. Labeled the bags too. Made putting the exhaust back on way easier and I caught a hairline crack in the manifold before it became a leak. Machine shop ended up being two weeks late on mine, so your one week delay sounds like a win. Next time, just order new bolts with the gasket kit and torque everything by the book, not the sticker.