well i have an issue i first thought it was a head gasket but idk let me start by saying 2 weekends ago my truck over heated not bad just about 220 anyways it was low on coolant i top off the coolant and drove it for a day around town, then parked it, it set for 2 days and i came out to go to work and started it let it run for about 5 min before i left i made it about 2 blocks and it started to get over the normal mark and then went right back to the normal mark within a few sec. so i went ahead and jumped on the interstate and headed to work (about 20 miles) i was about a mile from the shop when it started spuddering like it was out of fuel looked in the mirror to change lanes and it was smoking so bad you hardly couldnt see through the greyish white smoke then it died i was able to coast all the way to the shop but cant get it to start now not even on starting fluid it turns over and acts like it wants to fire but then goes back to a steady rotation, you can tell that it still had compression does not sound any diffrent than it ever did before while cranking it, just wont start, oil is still new and clean, but the coolant is so low you can not see it in the radiator, however when you crank it it does not build presure into the radiator, i have not ever had a coolant leak that was visible i would think that if the head gasket blew into a water jounal enough to suck that much water into the cylinder it would build pressure into the coolant system also. let me add that when it started sppudering and died it was still showing normal water temp. any input would be appriecated thanks in advance

 

well if its loosing coolant into the engine it most likely won't create pressure in the cooling system. Usually when you see compression in the cooling system you will usually have a constant overheat problem even at idle with minimal coolant loss. The first thing I would do is fill the radiator again, put a pressure tester on it and see if it will hold pressure. If it doesn't and there is no visible leak start pulling injectors, or glow plugs and see if one is cleaner than the rest. If there is that is the cylinder thats leaking.

 

Tried that today coolant system holds pressure I'm officially baffled no leaks visible and held 16lbs allday today cant figure out why it wont start or where the coolant is going. going to pull injectors and glow plugs tomorrow see what happens. Either way it goes wife said to fix it right so wheres the best/ cheapest place to get arp head studs or equivalent for this idi motor, what head gaskets do you all recommend think im just going to start rebuilding. Any suggestion on what all to use i love this truck and motor want to fix it right and completely