Hello I recently blew a head gasket on a '12 H.O., running only a DPF/Cat/EGR delete, K&N intake, and H&S 120 HP tune. Stock exhaust with delete pipes. I am getting the truck studded and an external wastegate installed today. I was wondering if anyone else has this setup on a '12 H.O., and if it worked for you? Also, what is the max. safe boost pressure to set this at? I do get on it while empty, but not while towing. The truck weighs 9,500 lbs. empty, and I frequently tow around 5,000 lbs. max with it. Gasket blew at 24,000 miles. I did all the mods at around 5,000 miles. I think everything was fine with the HG until I did a floored run from 70MPH to 120MPH (fuel limiter hit at 120) on a "private road"-head gasket started leaking the next day-probably from continuous over-boosting (I do not have a boost gauge and I do not have the H&S tuner with the "defuel" feature-I have the XRT PRO junk tuner). I did have the injector timing set to the max advance though-that may have caused the hg to fail also...This is only my second diesel so I am new to the "DO NOT"s of diesel modifications!!

i wouldnt go back with a stock gasket talk to mike or lucas at lazersmith. get the vulcan head gasket with studs its the only way to go.

THANK YOU!!! I am looking into the Vulcan gasket now.

also the stock turbo has a lot of drive pressure when running higher boost. look at coorsman sig. he has a silver bullet

We use ARP 625 studs and oem headgaskets. And with a good machine shop thats can finish the head good you shouldnt have any issues

I have a external wastgate on my 12. I pull a little heavier then you 38 to 42K

I don't know how much the external wasgate helps but I do hear it working (a lot) I don't go over 32 psi of boost.

I would junk the factory turbo if it wasn't for the exhaust brake. That is the whole problem.

I wouldn't advance the timeing even with studs.

I have just seen to many ppl have failures with the oem gasket 2 on me with studs i went with the vulcan and o rings with no fails with 40k miles so far
On ith with my block being far from perfect it was kinda a rush job and i didnt have time to do it right and deck the block (thanks to lucas and mike at lazarsmith) for making this thing hold together. Im dead set on the vulcan gasket.
they have an actual jake brake out for the 6.7 now. have you guys seen them? make it just like the big rigs except its to far out for my little pockets

You will be fine with a stock gasket if your running studs and a waste gate. Drive pressure is what kills the gasket and your gate will take care of that...

friend of mine blew his with 625's and waste gate so i wouldnt say your exactly safe at all. keep the boost out of the 30's with the stock turbo that will help also if your running $hitty tuning or dont know how to adjust your settings and stock turbo its going to fail at some point.

so what is the optimal setting i have mm no waste gate or studs(i put them in march when ill be home in m garage) im running 3mild while driving and stuck when towing about 5 k also i defuel at 30 psi should i change something?

They say 3/mild is close to stock, I would keep it below 30psi until you stud.

after i blowed a gasket i done some testing on the drive pressure. i found that 24 lb boost = 24 lb of drive pressure. also when i used my exhaust brake i had 60 lb of pressure on the head. at 32 lb of boost = 60 lb of drive pressure. thats how i came to the number of 32 being safe. the vgt turbo is a great little turbo because of exhaust brake but has limits. i just watch my boost instead of using a waste gate which is a good idea too. several things can be done to help but what coorsman done to his truck with lazersmith gasket, studs and the bigger turbo is the best way to go.

As a newbie, what is drive pressure?? I am just about to do the EGR/DPF/COLD AIR/H&S XRT PRO. So should I install wastegate?? My truck is a daily driver, no pulling, no dragging. Thanks

Theres a few things that lead to the cylinder pressure that causes the blown headgaskets you see. Box tuners don't help much custom tuning helps alot I am running MCC tuning on my 2012. How and when the factors that cause the pressure come in are a big factor in blown head gaskets. Coorsman is right if you do blow the gasket you should put a vulcan in it the first time. The vulcan is designed around the 6.7l. Good luck with the fix

If you are using the default timing witch is 3 don't use the no power or defuel settings, the mild 2 no att is the safe setting and works good for towing plus the auto trans shifts better.
Stay below 1/2 throttle until she warms up to 170 deg.