advaqua

Hello all! First time poster to a Chevy forum, although I've had a number of different vehicles and have been on many of those forums.

I have an 02 Avalanche, 142k miles. Unfortunately, I mine is one of the ones with the castech casted heads that are notorious for cracks, and it is showing all of the signs that at least one, or maybe both have failed. I have decided to tear down and replace the heads (and of course gaskets, bolts, miscelaneous seals, and everything else that comes with the gasket set).

There is so much information on the internet, but for the life of me I cannot find a video or procedure for doing this while the engine is still IN the truck. Every video I can find doing this job with the 5.3L has the engine outside of the vehicle and on a rack. My question is, can this be done with the engine still in the truck? It looks as if it could be done without a whole lot of headache, with the exception of a few bolts that may be tricky to get to. Anybody have experience with this?

I'm sure some will ask, so symptoms are: Started out with slow loss of coolant with no visible leaks. Low coolant every 2k miles or so. After pulling a load for a couple of days, got much worse (probably blew a gasket) although it never overheated according to the temp guage. Last week, it lost 1/2 gallon within 60 miles. Steam from exhaust, coolant coming out of reservoir overflow, and oil residue in the coolant reservoir. No knocks, ticks, or strange noises and I stopped driving it after the quick loss of coolant. Never a single drop of coolant anywhere else in the engine compartment, water pump, etc. Only steam in exhaust and loss through the high pressure releaf on reservoir.

Even if a gasket is the problem, with the history and service bulletin regarding these 706 stamped castech heads, I'm not taking any chances. Any tips or tricks for a successful swap would be appreciated!