This video demonstrates the complete repair process for 2009 5.3 Chevrolet engine heads, including pressure and vacuum testing to detect cracks (particularly around head bolt holes where the metal is thin), proper bolt removal techniques using oil and vise grips to prevent thread damage, welding repairs for broken bolts, and surface grinding to restore the head surface while maintaining proper feed rates and angles.
Deep Dive
Prerequisite Knowledge
- No data available.
Where to go next
- No data available.
Deep Dive
5.3 HEAD REPAIRAdded:
Remember that spot that was cracked?
It wasn't very long.
Okay, this is the second head. I'm going to take four off of that like I did the other one.
>> Okay, second head.
>> Let's cover the port.
Hey, happy Saturday. How are we doing today? Let's see what I'm working on.
Hey, I'm working on a pair of 2009 5.3 Chevrolet heads.
They're in here for a pressure test, vacuum test, and a surface.
If you have this head with this little battery insignia on it, watch out. These heads will bust down here around the head bolt hole.
Here's a cutaway view of that area. You can see that that area is very thin and when that head bolt gets clamped down, it causes the head to bust. Okay, I scraped it all off. Look at this head, it really tossed the gasket right here.
See if it leaks.
Okay, to pressure test it, I got to plug this.
And that's not drilled. Sometimes these are drilled.
But this one only has one.
So, I'm going to use a crack repair pin.
Put it in just like that. It's self-tapping.
Okay, here we go. At least this is a 243 and not a not a 706 or 862. Those are really prone to crack. Okay, this side looks good.
So, hey, I don't know if you notice there's bubbles here. I got 50 lbs of air into this thing and it flat the rubber just can't hold it back.
Last side.
Head can crack anywhere.
Check down them ports real good.
Let's get on this side now. Let's check the spot that's going to leak maybe.
Okay.
Check them head bolts really good. Let me check the whole head pretty good.
It it good. Sometimes it'll leak just like a sponge. Looks good.
Here's the fun part. Watch your body parts.
Always sometimes flipping this thing.
And if you got your arm tied up in there somewhere, get enough momentum to wipe you out.
Okay, this one's good.
Lots of air in there.
Hey, second head. Need a plug.
There you go. Okay, this head is the one that took the sensor, so I got to put That'll work.
Okay, second head.
Okay, here we are at the dreaded shop.
It's good. Maybe the intake.
Give it that death-defying roll.
Laying out of my secret sauce here.
All right, looks good.
Let me get out of here. Okay, no leaks.
Now I got a couple bolts to get out of them.
There's one here and another one down here.
I'm going to start out on this one, see if I can get it out with some vise grips.
First thing I'm going to do is spray it.
Now I'm going to beat it like it owes me money.
Nice.
>> I'm going to oil that. You don't want to pull the threads. The aluminum will pull out of there.
So, don't just reef it out. You won't have any threads. You'll have to use a coil.
Let go.
There we go.
Okay, now for this one. This broke off below the surface quite a ways. I ground on it just a bit with a die grinder so I can get a good weld on it.
So, the first thing I'm going to do is weld a washer onto it.
Well, that weld is so crappy.
Okay, I'm going to put a big nut on there.
>> You Huh.
I didn't get a bond.
Yeah, when I welded that washer, I don't know, the welder wasn't welding very good. Let me try it again.
I just went to edit the clip, I got it out, and I didn't push record.
It was like the same first go around, except there was less cussing and more success.
Uh let me vacuum test them now.
My vacuum tester, I just put it over the port and pull the trigger. If it pulls vacuum, the valve's sealing.
So, I just cover the port and it's good. I checked them all, so now let me surface them.
What you doing, bear?
You need a pat? I can't pet you, my hands are dirty. Let me surface these heads. Go lay down, the chips are going to fly.
No, I can't pet you. Sorry, buddy.
I had to go pet him then wash my hands.
There you go, you need a pat, didn't you?
Sure with your wrinkled face.
Okay, go on. Go lay down. Get. Get. Go on.
Go lay down your bed.
Go do something else.
I don't like that we're Look at that spot that was cut.
It wasn't very long.
Coming back at it.
Pretty surprising, really.
I slowed the feed down.
Reverse it.
Take another half.
I put some WD-40 on it.
Let's see. here won't hurt anything.
The gasket I'll feel that.
We got to worry about the compression firing.
Here we go. We're coming up on that cylinder.
Looks pretty good.
You know what? It's a little bit specially. I'm going to take another half off this thing.
>> So I'll speed it back up.
>> Here we are on the backside. This has got some little fuzziness around the edge. That won't hurt anything.
See where it's barely throwing any chips.
And now we're up to that spot.
Yeah, a tiny bit of haze in there, but that's going to be inside the fire ring.
I'm going to call this done.
>> There you go.
Just cleared the end.
All right. Let me get it out. I'll get the other one in.
So here I got our old gasket. You could see that's all inside.
Lot of glare from my phone there. But yeah, that's inside. It won't hurt anything.
>> Okay, that's it for the second head. I'm going to take four off of that like I did the other one. So that's just 2,000.
Okay, now I'm coming back at a thousand and a half. I'm still on rapid feed here. I'll do half on the way back.
There you go.
There you go. Couple of ugly five three heads.
All right, that'll do it for this one.
Thanks for coming along on this Saturday, you guys. Hey, you guys come back and see me again, all right? Be nice to each other.
Bye.
Related Videos
U.S. Military Just Flexed The Most Dangerous Aircraft Ever Built The F-47
MaxAfterburnerusa
11K viewsβ’2026-05-29
Heating Staying On On The Hottest Day Of The Year
PlumbLikeTom
507 viewsβ’2026-05-29
λ°μ ν¨μ¨μ λμ΄λ νμκ΄ μΆμ μμ€ν μ κΈ°μ μ μ리 #곡ν #곡μ #νμκ΄ #μκ³ λ¦¬μ¦ #μ¬μμλμ§
μ°νμ₯κΈ°μ
2K viewsβ’2026-05-29
Peterborough to Newark Northgate Driver's Eye View aboard an InterCity 225 - East Coast Main Line
TrainsTrainsTrains
822 viewsβ’2026-05-31
AI turbine design: hypersonic cooling leap #shorts #ai #hypersonic
bobbby_rn
671 viewsβ’2026-05-31
μ§κ΄ λ° κ³‘κ΄ λ°°κ΄ κ²°ν© κ³ μ μμ #worker #process #fabrication #pipework #clamp
μλμ΄μ΄
2K viewsβ’2026-05-30
How Far Can A Tomahawk Missile Actually Travel?
WarCurious
13K viewsβ’2026-05-28
Wire To Wire Connection Trick | Strong And Secure Electrical Joint #shortvideo #wireworks
ElectricianTips-b1h
5K viewsβ’2026-06-02











