i can get a set of heads for around 300 bare brand new but i wanted to find out which one is bad since its in a van there a little bit of a pai to remove. not sure if there is another test to do.. im not losing much coolant its burping out of the tank

Have you pressure tested the rad cap-it might be bad,but that don't explain why you get coolant smell from the exhaust.

i have 4 diffrent rad caps and they all pass. and im going on others word that the smoke smelled like coolant..it did smoke a lot when i first started it then but hasnt done it since. i cannot for the life of me figure out why im burping coolant out of the tank. i did a bleed down test and still nothing . with the new line from the water pump to the t-stat housing it holds 20 pounds of pressure. when its hot it drops down to zero after it cools off for 5 to 6 hrs

Might be chasing a problem that is not there.

If resivoir is overfilled it will spill excess coolant out-fill only to cold line on a cold engine and ensure no air pockets.

when i check it when its cold its below the cold level line and when i turn the key on the low level light comes on.. i turn the key off fill the tank to the center level and put the cap on, ill start the truck drive it around all day temps stay at the first line and it runs great no black or white smoke at all unless im going up a hill and give it a little gas. let it sit over night go out coolant is low and the light comes back on till i refill it

Sounds like it has leak somewhere,any weeping from the waterpump when cold?

ok what i found is when i put 16 pounds of pressure in the system its leaking from the hose going from the water pump to the t-state housing im starting to think thats my place of the coolant leak as i dont see it leaking from the heads.. theres no oil in the coolant no coolant in the oil no coolant comming from the glow plug holes when the system is under pressure no bubbles in the tank and when i did a leak down test no bubbles in the tank there either.. i ran the truck till its warm pulled the plugs pressured the system and cranked the engine no coolant from the plug holes.. same results when its cold but everyone still says heads

That is from the description of coolant smell in the exhaust-it has to be burning coolant to get a smell there.

If it is just evaporation causing the smell from your bypass hose leak and the wind blew the vapors that direction-then its not anything to worry about after the bypass leak is fixed.

right now i replaced the bypass hose bled the system of air thru the valve at the t-stat housing and i have pumped the tank up to 25 psi and im letting it sit and then go out and crank it over cold and see what it does.. if nothing im putting it all back together and going from there

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Ok i have put everything back together added coolant fired it up and it took about 30 min to get to temp and another 20 min for the electric oil cooler to kick on,,, how long does it take to bleed the system an whats the normal warm up time? its 77 here now ..

As long as it takes for the upper rad hose to get hot and you can feel flow through it.

Have you considered faulty thermostats causing your problem?

AC Delco ONLY for thermostats in these trucks,Robert Shaw are supposed to work but all others won't.