As usual, I read EVERY post by Tom FLOGoR. There are not many folks here that can show this old sled dog sumthin new. Thanks Tom. {I'm glad I dubbed thee long ago! }
Remember the REST OF THE STORY:
The gaskets failed due to CYLINDER LINER CREEP.
Dodge became aware of this as '93 cars added miles. (At one time in '94 I had the highest mileage privately owned RT/10 in Dodge warranty records! [Al F. told me] )
Most owners drove FEW miles.....and it took almost 2 YEARS to discover the numerous problems emerge, and I.D. that flaw, which impacted and damaged (weak) gaskets. RDCs began in late 1994 to improve 'creep'and the gaskets lasted longer on 95 cars. It was fixed by 96. Thos cars warranteed with the "OLD" gaskets are probably going to be OK becasue the CREEP issue was fixed.
Those owners who faithfully torqued cylinder heads of 92-95 every 3000 mi or so prolonged the inevitable. I bet Tom HAS torqued his heads on occasion. Those owners who were repaired with OLD gaskets should definitely TORQUE THE HEADS every 5000 mi or so...
History Class DISMISSED....because I feel old and need to rest now!
This has been dicussed before. and you are not entirely correct, in fact you are only about 25% correct. Yes during the first few years the headgaskets were leaking and Arrow indicated that it was to due to the cylinder lining creaping. BUT if the liners were going to creep they would have done so the first 10K miles not on cars 10 years old with 20K miles. Also metal core gaskets will not prevent the failure if the liners creep. I have seen first hand evidence of this. The issue is really that the fiber gasket will fail due to the constant expanding and contracting of the block to head mating surface. It also does not help when the cars do not get driven a lot and the gasket "dries out". Then when the car is driven the dry gasket can not take the pressure in combination with the thermal expansion. Chrysler had this same issue with the 95-00 Neon's. You are correct regarding torqing the heads, and you should still do this with the steel core as well as torquing the intake.
BUT, I now have 62k on the car and no signs of problems yet. <fingers crossed>
