This was about 2 years ago, before car prices really shot up.

Mechanics mostly told him it was a lost cause. Either replace the engine or junk it, with the economical decision to be to junk it.

I think I convinced him to buy a complete head-gasket kit and go for it. He did. In his garage, only hand-tools and YouTube. He used a very-cheap, rather old, not well maintained torque-wrench of mine for reassembly.

It's worked perfectly. He's driven it on long and short trips since. I call it his Zombie Suburban.

Now I'm wondering what components of the Variable Displacement System he replaced. I think more than just the failed peice, but I know he did not delete it. It is a pretty miserable system - very little benefit at the cost of greatly increased complexity and unreliability.