LUVTruck.com

Hello, I blew my head gasket and drove only 15 miles after realizing there was a problem. Took it to the mechanic (I don't have a place to work on it except in the street) to get the head gasket replaced. He said it blew between 1&2 cylinders and carved a groove into the block. I had this engine rebuilt 3 years ago and have put about 12,000 miles on it since then (ride my bicycle to work) and this is the same mechanic that rebuilt (farmed out to nearby machine shop) and installed the engine back then. Ran great, no overheating, got 25 mpg on the freeway and 20+ around town which isn't bad for a 4x4. This is a 1980. Does it make sense that the blown head gasket would carve a small groove between the cylinders? Why would the head gasket blow? Makes me wonder about the rebuild. Anyone else experience this. You can pictures of the truck and engine in the "Introduction" section.

The head gasket is one of the weak features on a LUV. I think one of the issues is that the aluminum head expands and contracts more than the cast iron block. They just don't get the miles per head gasket that other vehicles/ engines do.
My last HG went 8 years and 40,000 miles, but they do vary. Perhaps the head needed to be machined flat and wasn't.
Maybe the bolts were not torqued to spec. Some guys here say to re-torque after the first 6 months or so, and I think that makes good sense.

In any case I would not expect damage to the block from driving a short distance.

I recently posted a question on how many years/ miles people got on their last HG but had very little response. I still think it would be interesting to get more LUV drivers to share that information.

I'm not too sure about this mechanic. I took a look at the block and there is some carbon buildup and a grove that looks worn. Hard to tell how much the block is worn. I think this mechanic doesn't want to work on it. Maybe i'll move it to my driveway and look for a 2 liter bottom end. It could use a little more torque.

There are alot of variables but I have a hard time believing it caused a groove in that short of time.

I have two LUV's and my son has one as well. I have 104,000 miles on my '81 and blew the head gasket a couple years ago. Was working 60 hours a week and also going to school full time so I tried a "Mechanic in a bottle" type stuff called MEND TITE and have had no more issues. I have never been a believer in any of that stuff but I have to say it worked. My truck would empty the radiator in about two hours but I have to say it IS still working.

My other LUV has been parked for about a year while I work on it when time allows but has over 150,000 miles on it and as far as I know it's the original head gasket. My sons has over 120,000 miles on it and once again, as far as I know it's the original gasket.

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2005 Silverado 3/4T Crew Cab
1981 Luv 2WD
1979 Luv 4x4 Currently going through Open Heart and Cosmetic surgery
1995 Roughneck JetBoat
1981 Luv parts trk

I have found about 10 yrs and 80,000 miles about typical. Never found any head warpage but the blocks usually were. I planed the block on many of these. Many were pulled up and distorted around the head bolt holes which usually indicates over torque. I reassembled using 55-60 ft lbs, (not the 72 ft lbs called for). Nobody else (including Honda, Toyota, Nissan, etc) uses more than this on an alumunum head. I used Fel Pro gaskets and none ever came back even years later. Don't know, maybe just lucky.
The only groove between the cylinders would be the gasket itself, the block material is too hard to ever cut any groove by a head gasket failure.

I agree about the torque specs, as it is interesting to note that the 75 and earlier head torque is 58 lb-ft as compared to 72 for 76-up engines. Also the factory Isuzu head gasket seems to last longer than the Fel-Blow

I blew three head gaskets on my 80 in quick order. I decided to try a head gasket (Fel-Pro) for a later model Impulse with the 1.9. I torqued the head bolts to 70 ftlbs. I retorqued at about a thousand miles and again at about 5k. Been holding fine since about 20 months ago here in our fun climate. My question was if the one for a 2.0 turbo motor would work for a 1.8?

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Bob..the best guess would to compare the two side by side. I would be a little worried about how far out the fire ring was compared to the 1.8..but it would be interesting to find out if it did.

they looked exactly the same side by side. i have run this head gasket here in our "high desert" region with no issue for a couple summers now. I don't know if it was the retorquing or the different gasket..

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Tact is for people not funny enough to be sarcastic.