I have a 96 with the 4.9. I think I may need to do a head gasket. I have noticed small areas around where the head meets the block that don't look good and on 2 or 3 of my spark plugs I had oil on them when I changed them. I would do a compression test first but the genius who had this truck before me cross threaded the hell out of one of the plugs. So when I went to take it out I had to use a massive breaker bar. Then when putting the new one in I could only get it half way in. I have been told by a few guys on here that that's an easy fix. Just get a thread chaser and clean the threads up. Which I probably will still do that too but I'm just thinking ahead at what I will probably still find.

So any suggestions or things to look out for in the future when I dive into this?

 

Oil on ur plugs might not be head gasket, it could be rings or vavle seals. Are you gettin oil and coolant mixing?

 

I'm not sure. I know there was not any coolant in the oil when I did the oil Chang but idk if there's oil in the coolant.

 

If you're taking it off you might as well put a new gasket in there.