head gasket life
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 952
Likes: 0
From: Morgantown,WV USA
head gasket life
All,
I was wondering what the life of a stock, 1978 L48 head gasket would be. The car has only 26k mils and has never been opened up and had the coolant and oil changed regularly.
How long do the head gaskets in these stock engines hold together?
Thanks,
Dan
I was wondering what the life of a stock, 1978 L48 head gasket would be. The car has only 26k mils and has never been opened up and had the coolant and oil changed regularly.
How long do the head gaskets in these stock engines hold together?
Thanks,
Dan
Le Mans Master
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 7,739
Likes: 630
From: Unreconstructed, South Carolina
but
if the car has ever been seriously overheated (via hose leak, stuck t'stat whatever) ... that can lead to leaking gasket/cracked head ... even if it happened on way home from showroom.
if the car has ever been seriously overheated (via hose leak, stuck t'stat whatever) ... that can lead to leaking gasket/cracked head ... even if it happened on way home from showroom.
Team Owner
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 37,637
Likes: 3,118
From: Crossville TN
Serious overheating is a bad thing. A few years ago, I had the heat riser valve (right exhaust manifold outlet) freeze-up in the closed position. I didn't realize it for a while and the result was a blown head gasket between cylinders 4 & 6. Other than overheating, having low bolt torque applied, or using a junk quality gasket it should last for a very long time.
