I was told 6.2 heads will work on a 6.5. Does anyone know if thats true? If not, does anyone know where I can buy heads for my 6.5, without having to rob a bank? Both heads on my 6.5 have tiny cracks between the valves. Is this common?

 

Most early 90's 6.5's and 6.2's have cracks between the valves. The cause of the cracks is not what most will say. The popular belief is that they are weak there and that is not true in fact it's exactly the opposite of that. The crack is a surface crack because the water jacket between the valves is too far from the head surface. In the late 90's they put less metal between the water jacket and the surface and the crack stopped. The majority of these cracks crack just deep enough to get to cooler metal and will stop cracking causing no problems for future use. In my own trucks I make sure the head is dead flat put the cracks out of my mind and re install them with head studs or new bolts. The toughest part is trying to get a machine shop to leave them alone if you do need other work done.

A 6.2 head will bolt to a 6.5 the only problem is the injector is at a different angle and can cause problems putting the injector line on and clearance between the injector and the turbo.

 

Thanks for the info. I got to wondering what the heck was going on. Every 6.5 head I could come across had these cracks. Anyway thanks again, I have to get this truck back on the road,i'm losing work.