All you're doing is unbolting pieces from the short block (alternator, coolant lines, intake plenum, fuel rails, head and putting a gasket in and rebolting it with a torque wrench in reverse order. Its very simple. All engines function on the same principles. If you can change a head gasket on a ford, u can do it on any other car. Hell if you can hold a wrench in your hand you can change a head gasket. So in short yes its easy...it is however very time consuming.

Visit forums that specialise in your make/model of vehicle, I bet you will find a good selection of ex-mechanics of the company that makes the vehicle working independently.
I needed a head gasket done in 2011 got the usual £1000 quote from a garage, went online and got an ex landrover guy to drive from Birmingham who did a bloody good job for £450 cash. He even spotted the faulty "new" radiator I'd had fitted !

unless the engine was put in a compartment too small... or made to 'fit', whereas 'repair' isn't a priority.

so while i agree with you that it should be very simple.. most of the time it's not. at all.

webmasters used to build cobra replicas in their garage (andy dunn). my how times have changed. anyway man, if its running cool like you say it is now drive it down to carmax and dump it asap. better yet, tow it 1 block from there and drive it onto the lot and tell them you're interested in selling and dont want to trade for anything. i assume you've got the title on hand. i've dumped plenty of cars off at carmax. they'll cut you a draft check that will clear in about 4 days or so.

Then May i suggest watching a video or looking at a picture of the engine bay, because its freaking huge hahah its a v8 truck its not a nissan 300zx. Yea you run into issues but theyre usually always fixed by a jack, a torch, or breaker bar..or a combo of all three lol. If youre not mechanically inclined and cant tell your ass from your elbow then yes it will be hard. This is a simple job in terms of mechanics. Id rather do this than install headers, now THATS hard. Either way a FSM will tell you exactly how to do it. Having the right tools helps a bunch as well.

sounds good

Good ol' carmax. Them is some nasty motherfuckers. Selling to them I guess you'll be okay but don't EVER buy there :winkwink:

Mechanic work fucking sucks, no matter how straight forward it is (or is supposed) to be.. It may not be the end of the world, but christ can it go bad on you fast.

I don't know shit about dodge but that guy in the youtube clip said they almost always have other cracks when they have a blown gasket... I still think just swapping a used engine in might be a good idea

Def agree with you that it sucks when you HAVE to do it, its fun when you do it on your own time. As for cracks, thats why you send the heads to a machine shop, they put it in a solution that cleans all the gunk out and shows where the cracks are. I think he should do what he can to get by and sell it. Get yourself a honda/toyota/nissan and itll last till 3-400k. Pref nissan because they use timing chains, no need to replace a belt and water pump every so often.

Nissan is a solid ass motherfucker of a vehicle. Tend to have problems with rings going at around 200k on many of their engines, but who cares, it's a solid motherfucker. Honda I heard had quality issues in a few recent years- but I love a honda... Toyota and Honda, you can't even go wrong with either, though. Except both of them have a problem making an auto that lasts.

I know exactly what you mean. When I had the money to make someone do all of my automobile repairs, I did a lot of what I could, myself. So much EASIER when you are doing something because you WANT to. Funny how that works.

They make stuff that you can add to the coolant that will plug the leak, as long as it's a small one, it does work, use it sparingly. Bars has been making coolant leak fix for the longest I believe.
If it is just a gasket, you are talking man hours to fix, the intake has to be removed and then the head, take it in and have a shop resurface it, then put it back together, use a torque wrench, make sure all the setting are correct. Last one I did, took better half of a day.

Not exactly.

Over head cams etc = nightmare, getting a chain one tooth out = car runs like an old goat.

However not exactly impossible to figure out Tony.

Get yourself a workshop manual if you are worried (usually find them online) and all your parts would be less than $100 ( head gasket, inlet, exhaust, oil) - assuming the 5.9 is a v8? if so identify which bank has the problem.

maybe its time to get a car that doesnt do 10 mpg so you can afford to repair it

Nothing beats the sound of a V8, a carby fed, fuel and air gulping behemoth of an engine :thumbsup

A cam so lumpy you think the car is stalling, rocking the car at idle like a 1970's washing machine...

A mate's car (old school blown) almost stops the blower surge is that dramatic, sit it in gear at idle with foot on the brake and the rear tyres slowly creep round and round with the entire car itching to surge forward...

a diesel does :2 cents:

get full coverage insurance on it with zero or low deductible, drive to a gas station in the ghetto and jump out to go grab some smokes leaving the door open, hopefully will be gone before you return :2 cents:

Missing key element...revs :thumbsup However each to their own.

absolutely - it's all fine and dandy when you can afford it

i know, i know

im confused

but, nothing beats the sound coming off a start line

'what the fuck is that douches problem'

'DIESEL BITCHEZ'

nobody in the hood wants a pickup truck. maybe they will steal your battery and whatever gas is in your tank, and rip the cats off for the platinum but they dont really want an old truck

Haha seems like a good idea

Its a durango I live in northeast ohio suvs really popular here especially for the winter

bus tokens :2 cents:

theres no regular bus service where i live.

Zip tie the timing chain to the pulley and take it off, just keep to keep tension on it so it doesnt skip a tooth on the bottom pulley inside the timing chain cover. And if you do have to take the time chain cover off and the bottom pulley u mark it. Its really not as complicated as it seems if you have common sense and an FSM.

He will need head gaskets (plural) he will need an intake manifold gasket, and exhaust manifold gaskets for the job.

It's a BIG job

Taking heads off a V8 is work.

You'll probably need to replace some hoses along the way, a new serpentine belt, have to take the rocker arms and push rods out. I forgot about the valve cover gaskets also :)

It's a project. I used to have to do it for a living and it sucks.