Venture Head Gasket Replacement

My brother has a 1997 Chevy Venture with blown head gaskets, the coolant in the radiator is almost pudding like and brown. The van has 120000 miles on it. Any advice on what to expect during the repair??

If the radiator is like pudding, expect to find all coolant passageways clogged, and probably the heater core as well. Depending on how long it ran like this, there could be permanent internal damage. The Cams have been known to snap in the middle from this problem and not getting enough internal lubrication. Especially if the coolant was leaking into the oil or vice versa. The pudding in the radiator sounds like oil leaking into the coolant, so it will need to be flushed chemically, probably multiple times, and may not be salvageable (radiator). Also expect to replace coolant hoses because i'm sure they are also clogged and them make sure to bleed the coolant system to get all air bubbles/pockets out. Good luck though. I know that just the manifold gasket repair is 3-400 bucks at a local shop (read: not the dealer) but the headgasket will set you back 1100 bucks or so locally including everything. It might be worth considering.