Castech head coolant loss

[masapell]

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

[j cAT]

are you sure this is a 2000 silverado ? these castech head crack failures are 2001-2006.. removing the cover should see castech .

your problem with some coolant loss is most likely the WP gaskets.. these bolts hold a very large WP .. the bolts are too small in diameter so they stretch .. then you will not see leaks because the engine when hot pressure rises the coolant vaporizes. I have this 2000 5.3L ..

oil cap will have water droplets under the cap when cold weather hits.. should be just clear water.. if you see dexcool colored droplets then this is a coolant leak in the engine. 240K miles sure can be the gaskets if you used tap water and low % of dexcool .

I use 65% dexcool and 35% distilled water so when I do the coolant 3-4yrs the T stat housing is with no corrosion .

many have had the WP gasket leaks ..

[masapell]

JCat-I did not positively identify the Castech logo, but I know for sure that the head is cracked around the bolts. The oil cap moisture is also Dexcool orange. I have always used the pre-mixed Dexcool in the system when adding to it and have had the system professionally flushed and filled.

When I get some time, I am going to pull the heads and replace with remanufactured ones and see how many miles I can squeeze out of the old truck.

Thanks for the response. I apologize for taking a couple of weeks to respond, but work has been crazy!

[j cAT]

since orange color droplets then a coolant leak . water does not float oil does so the coolant can damage the crank bearings . and also other internal damage.

I do have your engine 2000 5.3L sil 1500..

when you do the heads some of the head bolts do require replacing I think the big ones are to be replaced then an odd ball torque procedure .