New here. Arlington, Va

[Renntag]

Hello,

I am new here. We live in Arlington, Va and have traveled all over the eastern seaboard with our diesel powered family cruiser. I am enjoying the tech info and other general info available on this site. I am currently making various upgrades to my Silverado as well as repairing a coolant consumption issue with our 99 Burb. More info on the silverado in a later post.

It seems as though we may need to replace head gaskets or even the heads based on the symptoms and tests. I have read that AMG is now making the 6.5 and has made a better cylinder head. I am hoping to find a source for these new castings.

Here is a pic of the Burbulator in the snow.

http://www.thedieselpageforums.com/photopost/data/539/medium/january_2004_burb_myrtle_lane_019_a.JPG

[Renntag]

Here is another picture of the Suburban taken near Washinton DC.

http://www.thedieselpageforums.com/photopost/data/539/medium/Burb_Va_washington_monument_a.JPG

[ercaduceus]

Nice looking burb. Welcome to the Page. Navistar casts the official replacement 6.5. There are others out there made by other manufacturers. Be careful. Pensular Diesel is where I plan on getting an amg motor if mine fails.

[Robyn]

Nice Burb

If you are seeing coolant going away then its time to get the heads off and fix the issue.
Long term running once the gaskets start to seep can cause erossion of the deck area of the block where the fire ring seals.

Left too long can errode things beyond repair.

There are some fairly good aftermarket heads out there for good prices.
I bought a set through Clearwater Cyl Head in Florida.

I paid $670 to my door for a set. I wont say they are as good as the new AMG heads but the reports from many users is very positive.

I have over 30K miles on my rebuild now (94 Burb, summer of 06 I believe)

There is a lot of junk out there so do be careful.

If $$$ is not an issue then the AMG stuff is definately the way to go.

Best

Robyn

[Renntag]

If the AMG heads are the ticket, then that is what I would prefer. I saw not long ago that there were heads available complete (new replacements) for aprox 300 each.

We did drive it for a while when searching for the coolant loss. I guess, once the heads are off we will see if there is any long term damage. I would hope not since a major repair/ replacement is not in the cards at the moment.