Why not replace only the leaking cylinder head?

My daily driver 2000 Silverado 5.3 engine with 131000 miles is slowly loosing coolant from the tank. The oil fill tube has coolant colored emulsidied oil inside it. I suspect I may have a leaking head, they are 706 castings. I am going to pull off the valve covers tomorrow for inspection.

The truck is worth about $4000.00 so I don't want to put a lot of money into it. I hope to keep the truck for 10 more years and let it become our spare/emergency back up vehicle in a couple of years.

I am thinking about just replacing the leaking head with a rebuild 706 casting and leaving the good head in place. I realize the original head will have carbon on the intake valves, the seats are worn ect.. and the rebuilt isn't.

Do you know any reason not to do this?

Merry Christmas!

you plan on keeping the truck for long, so do the job right. if you have the castec 706 heads, and is cracked in the common spot, i would replace them both. you can get 862s for a decent price on the forums.

You are the second person that told me to go with the 862 casting. I am concerned about getting a rebuilt 706 head that will leak eventually.

Do the 862 heads need a different gasket set than the 706 head uses?

nothing different really between the 2 heads except for the cast number. same gasket and same flow numbers minus the leaking problems.

They're cheap and its better to be safe then sorry imo.