I have a 2000 Silverado 5.3 with 243,000 miles. It’s my daughter’s truck and has served our family well, being beat up by my son for several years prior. It has been experiencing slow coolant loss for sometime now. I have suspected the heads were probably the culprit, since there has never been signs of a leak and the oil cap has had moisture on the inside. I recently replaced the valve cover gaskets and noticed the driver’s side head gunked up and could see the tell-tale signs of the hairline cracks around two of the middle head bolts along with coolant in the bolt wells. My questions: does a rebuilt head swap on one side make sense at this mileage? Or do both heads? Or clean up the two hairline cracks and JB Weld them (would it even work?) and call it fixed?
Any thoughts?
Thanks in advance!
Matt