I installed an EGR gasket w/ screen on my Jimmy 4.3L back in January. After 6 months of driving and 15,000+ miles I decided to pull it off and service it (supposed to clean it every 10k miles according to mfg instructions).

The screen was clean. I went ahead and dry brushed the wires to a nice shine. Then reinstalled.

So no problems to report and all seems to be going well.

All except the head gasket I have to replace sometime this summer...

head gasket is gone?

I suspect the headgasket is compromised as oil is leaking into the coolant system.

I will test my suspicions with a compression test.

I suspect the headgasket is compromised as oil is leaking into the coolant system.

I will test my suspicions with a compression test.

And what makes you think this?

Two things make me think that my head gasket might be the problem:

1) I get oil in my coolant, but not coolant in my oil. Everything in the coolant system is new (raddy, heater core, etc). I have to flush the coolant every couple of weeks because of this.

2) A mechanic told me he thought that there might be a gasket leak back when I first got the truck in Nov '04.

So now whether the compression test will be a good diagnostic tool in my particular case remains to be tested.

Two things make me think that my head gasket might be the problem:

1) I get oil in my coolant, but not coolant in my oil. Everything in the coolant system is new (raddy, heater core, etc). I have to flush the coolant every couple of weeks because of this.

2) A mechanic told me he thought that there might be a gasket leak back when I first got the truck in Nov '04.

So now whether the compression test will be a good diagnostic tool in my particular case remains to be tested.

Then why aren't you going to get it fixed instead of wasting money replacing coolant every two weeks.

1) I don't have the money to get a mech to do it

2) I'm lazy :grinno:

(I'm putting it off and getting other projects done)

But you have the money to keep on replacing coolant and gumming up your cooling system?

But you have the money to keep on replacing coolant and gumming up your cooling system?
From what I have seen it is not "gumming it up" such that flushing/back flushing does not clear it out.

And $10 in anti-freeze every 3-4 weeks and 30-45 mins work is an acceptible trade off compared to the 2 days that it would take me to do the head by myself for the first time.

So there you have it. Flame me if you want.

From what I have seen it is not "gumming it up" such that flushing/back flushing does not clear it out.

And $10 in anti-freeze every 3-4 weeks and 30-45 mins work is an acceptible trade off compared to the 2 days that it would take me to do the head by myself for the first time.

So there you have it. Flame me if you want.

I am not going to flame you, I don't know where that came from.

But bandaid fixes will cost you more in the long run.