From: ddoyle9570@aol.com
Date: Tue Oct 22 2002 - 21:47:58 PDT
Dunno what I may have failed to address earlier...try again and I'll see what I can do. One thing I won't do is discuss turning up engines (don't want someone else's scrap iron laid at my feet).
But first to the matter at hand. A number of things can cause head gasket failure. Overheating is one of them, and is always a suspect in a LDT failure. These engines tend to be somewhat sensative to overheating, and in fact the capacity of the cooling system is one of the oft-ignored differences between the LDT and their higher powered brothers, the LDS. It is imperative that even a stock LDT's cooling system be well maintained, and if you replace the LDT with an LDS, or turn up the fuel on a LDT, it becomes doubly so. Increase the load on the truck...high speed or heavy cargo, towing, or rugged off-road use, and the coolant temperature will climb.
In order to induce a head gasket failure, only a small part of the engine must overheat...it is possible for this to happen and the temperature gauge still read in the normal range.
There are other causes of head gasket failure, but overheating is number one.
Anything that is done that increases the fuel consumption of the engine will also bring about an increase in temperatures in the engine, and should also bring about increased maintenance checks, and vigilance when driving.
Hope this helps,
David Doyle
numerous multifuel powered trucks....zero head gasket failures...all engines running stock several years, several miles.
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