[turnerd]

Heck yea an AW30-80LE Trooper! (I have one too and they are reasonably uncommon so that's why I'm excited lol). Anyways, head gaskets are a quite common issue on the 4ZE1 when people don't take proper care of the cooling system. Your best bet is probably buying a new head from clearwater as they are prone to warping or even cracking when overheated-- note that it does not come with air injection ports from the smog pump, so only go this route if you don't have to clear an emissions inspection. That is what I did on my '88 after it blew its second head gasket and now I couldn't be happier.

 

[turnerd]

Thanks Turnerd. I'm in California so I will have to get this to pass a smog check in order to register it. Since the truck came from Texas it's already had its emissions disabled. I'm hoping this doesn't create a long set of hassles for me. If I do buy a new head I'll have to keep the emissions requirements in mind.

Yikes... I sure hope you have all the emissions equipment because it's hard to find some of that stuff. You can always try to reuse the old head-- just have it checked and potentially resurfaced by a machine shop.