Victor Reinz sold head gaskets with a high failure rates (Black Onyx). This was very expensive for many people. These gaskets are STILL being sold with descriptions such as " Victor Reinz Head Gasket Set Black MLS", clearly avoiding the word "Onyx". Plenty more uninformed people will be enduring the expense, inconvenience, and frustration caused by this product. No call backs, replacements, or restitution from the manufacturer. < period. Maybe the Black Diamond gaskets are a significant improvement, but I can completely understand the hard feelings and adamant refusal to use them.

On the other Hand,
Many factory gaskets failed due to torque to yield head bolt stretching, and even a few that weren't properly torqued during manufacturing. Over heating the engine with a dummied down gauge on the dash, a redesign of the EGR cooler that couldn't stand the heat of clogged oil cooler because, the coolant passages weren't flushed of casting sand properly and the coolant had silicates it it because Ford didn't sell a silicate free coolant, because, because, because...How about having hard feelings with the IH engineers for signing off on an engine with 18:1 compression ratio and only four head bolts per cylinder instead of five (or six) ? Or harboring resentment toward Ford for contracting with IH to put these engines in our beloved f250 in the first place?

For me, I'll say many Victor Reinz parts have went through my garage over the years. I think they have a long history of making quality products. It looks to me like you can save about $165 using these (BD) gaskets over the the Ford branded parts. That's enough money to entice some people to try them. Hopefully, they deserve a try and make customers happy. I have no intention to be a early adopter, but IF they do prove to work...defecation occurs, and it's usually better to make decisions based on logic than emotion.
(I know, "thanks Mr. Spock" )

 

Did you find the cause of the HG failure to begin with? They don't just go bad. Oil cooler gets plugged and overheats the egr cooler it pops sending coolant into the cylinders and then your pressures increase the tty can't take it heads lift HG blow. Or you crank the crap out of the motor with a tuner and the stick tty bolts get hot and can't take the increased pressure and the HG fail. There are reasons for continued and repeated failures.

 

Ditto, oem headgaskets that are INSTALLED CORRECTLY and the heads where checked for cracks and flatness along with the block, and cleaned correctly with arp studs very rarely fail. And when they do is for those reasons you mentioned above. I know one guy that gets on here and he said he was going to use VR headgaskets and I everyone told him not too. He did anyway and 11 months later they blew. He didnt come back on here and admit that, hmm wonder how many other people has done that?

 

Mine were bad originally. Replaced, studded, egr delete and new oil cooler. 48000 miles later degas bottle puking. Replace cap. Still white residue. Run innovative diesel tunes. And no I didn't baby the truck I ran it. Never egt over 1300. So once lifter went checked heads, warped yes they were checked first time and ok.

Ford diesel tech did the work. So I'm pretty sure it was right but who knows.

 

If $150 is a big deal, how big of a deal would it be if you have to replace them again? Stick with Ford gaskets...

 

there has been enough flailing about non-oem headgaskets
on most of the forums that i would not consider using them.

neither would the shop that rebuilt my 6.0. VR, black onyx,
black diamond, and black BS headgaskets all come into his
shop to be replaced with OEM, after they blow.

the cost for me to test and possibly save $200 on parts breaks
down like this:

$3,500 R&R on getting the thing out of the E van.
another $500~$1,000 in stuff that gets done when
you pull a motor out, just 'cause.

a weeks lost work for me, as an electrician without
a service vehicle is pretty pointless. i bill at $85
per hour, but rarely work hourly.

a weeks lost work can easily cost me $4k.
so, we are betting $8k against $200.

i'll just work an extra two hours next tuesday, and
call it good, instead.

but, if you want to be a lab rat, we'd all like to know
how it works for you.

 

X 2
$150 is less than a full tank of fuel, 44 gal tank in the ex. Add the cost of arp studs and the risk vs reward just isn't there. If you can't spend $150 now, you certainly can't afford to do it again later. Just my 0.02, been down the cheap way many times, rarely does it up costing less in the long run.

Sent from my Sprint PC36100 using IB AutoGroup

 

The biggest problem here is how the job is prepped...this question pops up a LOT on a facebook powerstroke page, and major repair and performance shop Maryland performance diesel actually uses the VR? the ones that look like ford but the blue is a different color, gaskets, on every truck they stud and have 0 issues. They are made on the same assembly line as ford gaskets from what they say...a shop that big isnt going to want all the trucks they do coming back for warranty work.

 

Probably true, but to a diyer, how would be know the diff between black onxy vs black diamond vs. Xxx. I know what i'll get from tousley/autonation

Sent from my Sprint PC36100 using IB AutoGroup

 

Oh yeah, I only use oem gaskets but just sayin

 

Again this thread was about experiences using the new BLACK DIAMOND Headgaskets. We all know BLACK ONYX headgaskets were a failure, But they were a ground up redesign. BLACK DIAMONDS are OEM copys on everything but the sealant color. I get that everyone has gut feelings and has heard of this or that about victor reinz. But this thread I was looking for facts about BLACK DIAMOND headgaskets. It has become a "Why would you do that" kind of thread... we all know your feelings about useing non OEM headgaskets....now lets try for some facts. I actually gave up on this already, but its been brought back up.

AGAIN I KNOW BLACK ONYX WERE BAD, THAT IS NOT WHAT IM ASKING> THANKS /rant over

 

It's a good question...I'm going to ask one of the actual Ford diesel engine engineers I know the exact same question.

 

I am curious - what specifically are you looking for in this thread?

Proof that VR or Mahle makes Ford's OEM gaskets?Proof that Black Diamond gaskets will perform as well as (or better than) OEM gaskets?Even if a few stories of failures initially pop up, how can you assess the cause of failure (ie poor surface prep, poor installation/torque, etc)?

It is a very good question, it just may not be that there is enough experience / info available to answer it for quite awhile.

 

I was asking for instances of Black Diamond headgasket usage. It was really that simple, I just wanted facts. I would like to get a concensus of their failures vs non failures. I know it will take time to prove them. But if no one asks, it will never be known! Honestly I'm sick of throwing money at my truck. And it needs headgaskets and studs. I'm actually very disappointed in ford over the headgasket/headbolt issue. I have a hard time buying parts from them to fix the problem they could have corrected at any time during production over 6 years.

 

Just wondering if you bought your truck new or used? Any tuner ever used on it?