What to do when your doing a head gasket on you 12 valve Cummins 

Great Stuff man- thanks for all the info. Keep up the great video content!

Good bit of info Sir. Thanks from "Freezing" FL 👍

awesome, informative video budI am using the xotic stud as well with 5x.013 injectors, that same head you have in the video thats been ported though. hxsuper 9, 18* advance, delivery valves. the usual other parts thats est 550-600 hp. been using them four months with 1500 miles of abuse and towing and they work awesome!

Just did complete oem Cummins rebuild on 12v with the exception of studs. Went with track tech studs and I’m already having to redo a head gasket after 50 miles!! Head was surfaced and block was checked. Max boost spike was 37psi during those miles. Head is leaking at feont and back pouring coolant. From what it looks like the studs stretched!! I’ll be going back to ARP.

Another great video that is so important to a new to diesel old man. Am I able to ship my head to you for surfacing ?. I just don’t trust any place around me to do that here is Northern Indiana .

Good video

Hey rob i have the cheap xotic head studs in my 98 12 valve. So far so good had them in there for about 6 months. I have a s366 turbo .025 dv's and 5x14 injectors unsure of the exact power its makeing that truck gets run hard and put away wet on the drag strip and streets and the studs are holding like a champ

Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions, hope you had a good Christmas and were able your shop organized. The machinist working on my 12 valve head said it needed to be milled .025 to true it up, how do you measure the deck thickness on this head, what are the specs and would you run a head on the low side of the spec? Also, I bought a set of slightly oversized stainless valves and the shop said the seats were rough and the slightly larger valves would be good for cleaning up the seats. I asked to have the valve recess close to .060, but how much can you take off a stem to correct stem height? Thanks for all you do helping us out, I gather you are one busy guy and I appreciate you taking the time.

Ive been running power driven cap head bolts on my ‘99 for about 100K miles now. They’ve been great holding 400 whp and 40+ psi at full send. I wouldn’t trust them much over 500 whp tho.

quick question: 12v Cummins, pressure testing coolant system leak from back side of engine. does not appear to be any coolant lines in that area...hard to see back there. I'm assuming heads and or head gasket is the only thing in area that could leak? since your wrenching on these engines your experience is highly valued. thank you

Very informative! Do you have any experience with the ProMaxx 12v Heads?

Have you ever done a hamilton head stage 1, 2, or 3 replacement on a 6bt 12v? Trying to find some insight on whether these 2k+ heads are worth it over a factory head.

Have you ran into doing a HG and head stud on one, that was not blown or anything like that, no mixing of any sort, truck ran perfect no smoke or anything but when the head was pulled cylinder walls were messed up?

Question: If you have 4 thousandths taken off the head to get it all flat, what size gasket are you using then when reinstalling the head? Standard ?

Have you had any problems with the dowel pin holes being too small? I can not get my new head to sit flat, the pins measure .630 and the holes on the head are .616 Is this normal. The holes on the old head are .621

Deciding whether or not I need to pull my head. I did my Cummins swap over this past year and freshened up my donor 94 engine. I had the head checked and resurfaced and made sure the deck was flat. I installed a Mahle head gasket and used the ARP 2000 studs. I seem to be building excessive pressure in my cooling system, so much that it keeps blowing the lower radiator hose off. I've tried 3 different radiator caps and used the block test kit and it does not appear I have combustion gases in the cooling system. My temps stay nice and low, always under 170 while cruising and I've never seen above 192 while towing up a steep grade so I don't suspect a thermostat problem, either. Can you offer any suggestion as to what might be going on? I would assume that even if I did have a HG problem that my radiator cap would vent the pressure at 15-16psi but for some reason it just seems to build pressure to the point where I'm blowing that lower hose. My swap uses the Dodge rad and hoses.

Hey Rob, if I had a head gasket blow 100 miles after rebuild (head and block were surfaced, oring, and new 625 arp studs), would I need to get both resurfaced? The head gasket was standard, and should've been 20 over, and studs needed bottom tapped, didn't do a retorque after initial startup. Oil looked fine, lost coolant in overflow, and had a minor spike in temps with mild exhaust increase. I have my pump geared at C for 10 degree advance. s362sxe wastegate maxed at 45

Just bought this 8912 valve and there seems to be water leaking from the thermostat housing hopefully and not the head gasket?

Will head studs stop the head gasket problem by the thermostat?

I can see factory milling patterns on that head surface in the video...is that ok to install with a MLS gasket?

If I have my head surfaced do I need a thicker head gasket?

What about pressure in coolant ? Head gasket or rings ?

How can you do a leak down test?

Do you think a head gasket or valve seats would cause oil in the exhaust as well?

What is the best head gasket?

What brand head is that?

What about oil in your coolant system ?