head gasket
 

ok i know i have a blown head gasket because im now blowing white smoke that smells like coolant.. how do i determin which head it is.. is there a test i can do?:humm:

Pull the glow plugs and look for the wet one-then get a helper to crank the engine over and watch for coolant spray out the glow plug holes.

Good practice to do both sides at the same time though.

Ok should i pull them all or one at a time? i pulled one at a time there al dry. i bumped the engine over and let the pressure out of each cyclinder and nothing. i then put a pressure tester on the exspansion tank and pumped it up to 20 pounds and pulled them all again one at a time and still nothing.. am i missing something and doing this wrong? thanks guys for all your help :argh:

Pull them all at once so it won't start then crank,you could leave the pressure test on to get a little more fluid to come out the hole.

Ok i pulled all the plugs after i let it get to temp and i then put a pressure tester on it and pumped it up to 20 psi and cranked it over and nothing comes from any of the holes.. iv done a leak down test as well and theres no leaks anywhere. and for some reason when i start the truck no smoke except black when i gas it up.. but i get smoke out of the tank. it burps out then stops and the temp doesnt get above the first full line .. im losing my mind lol

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Ok i found the hose going from the water pump to the t-stat housing leaking . someone said that could be sucking air into the system and making it burp out of the rad cap.. anyone heard of anything like this before

Do it from stone cold-sometimes expansion from temp makes holes/cracks close up.

Ok i did the test with the engine cold after it sit for almost 5 hrs.. and still no coolant from the glow plugs.. and as i mentioned before i did find the hose going from the water pump to the t-stat leaking and a friend of mine said it's sucking air and putting air pockets into the system and causing the coolant to burp from the tank... ever hear of that?

Only time there is any suction on the system is when it cools down-not when it heats up.

Ok replaced the hose and clamps bled the system let it cool and pulled the glow plugs again and still no coolant comming from the holes ... what type of test should i do now? im about ready to junk this thing

How much coolant is it going through?

Sounds more like cracked heads or block than head gasket to me at this point.

New heads are very reasonable though.

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.

i have a metal upper hose because i have dual alternators so i had to use a cut to fit metal one to go around it. i got the t-states from the dealer along with the gasket and i let it sit at idle for 4 hrs today and no burping of the coolant nice constant heat from the dash right now i have a pressure test on it set at 25 pounds and im leaving it to sit