Stranded

[BRIM]

`95 6.5L TD left me stranded 5 miles out from town. Past 6 months, low coolant would light about every month & 1/2. Only need to add not even 1 gallon. Go to tow boat up to resevior & barely got out of town. Truck probably had not even been running 15 minutes before it shut down. I was cruising along, truck hesitated maybe 6-8 seconds, didn't think much of it. Still running around 200 degree, about that time, my passenger asked if truck always smoked that bad? I said "WHAT???" and looked in mirror, but no smoke coming from tailpipe. Then I glance @ temp & it was now pegged. I look to pull off road & Engine shut itself down. I inquire as to color of smoke. "White." My heart just fell to the pavement. pop the hood, everything smoking from heat. hour later, refill cooling system, go to crank, & no go. Little to no compression. Then I hear all the air making its way to the coolant resevior. Preasurized system in less then 30 seconds with a non running motor. Just my luck. My guess is blown head gaskets and/or cracked heads...

Anyone want to chip in with some advice. I will be tearing `er down slowly but surely.

[Dvldog 8793]

Howdy
Sounds like head problems but make sure you check your block while you have it out.
Take advatage of the engine out to clean and check your radiator.
Have FUN and good luck...
L8r
Conley

[BRIM]

Surely there is more knowledge out there to advise me in this adventure.

[DmaxMaverick]

Originally posted by BRIM:
Surely there is more knowledge out there to advise me in this adventure. HUH???

Looks like DVLDOG offered some pretty sound advise. What do you want to hear? Your initial "guess" sounded right on. If it offends you, don't take the advise, don't look for other things that might be wrong, don't check/clean your radiator, and don't look past whatever you think you might find as the problem.

You won't know what you have unless you get the heads off, or more. The problem won't heal itself. DVLDOG assumed (accurately) that you (or someone) would be having a look inside the engine, and offered some limited, but sound advise. Get inside the engine, then ask for further courses of action. Sorry....My clairvoyant abilities and X-ray vision are on the blink this week.

[BRIM]

DmaxMaverick,

I have no intentions of doubting DVLDOG's advice, or anyones on this matter, including your own.

I do realize the true diagnostics won't be known until teardown of engine.

Intentions were to share interests & information; thats all.

[Dvldog 8793]

Howdy
When my block cracked I had similar coolant issues but never bubling in the resivoir. My coolant system held 14 PSI ove night but once I took it up to 16PSI then I had coolant at the oil drain plug. My problem was OBVIOUSE. I took the engine apart saw the HUGE cracks and decided to go with a new AMG long block and the General even chipped in some cash! If you want specifics I can give you detailed STEP by STEP on how I went about taking the motor out. I dont think you want that as it sounds like you've done this stuff before. Things that I corrected that are common problems and EASY to do with the motor out were:
Radiator clean and check
Oil cooler replace and new good lines
Remote oil filter and bypass kit
New injectors
New Glows
Check ALL wire conections
Check all grnd conections
CHECK ALL GRND CONECTIONS
Relace starter cable - battery cable.
Replace ALL hoses with Goodyear lifetimes
I also Pressure washed everything and under coated with 3M rubberized.

Hope this helps. Do a search on antifreeze consumption or cracked block or head gaskets. The search feature really does work.

L8r
Conley

[moondoggie]

Good Day!

[i]

[Marty Lau]

Moon Doggie hit it right on!

[Kennedy]

My best suggestion is to pull the engine and get it on a stand so you can do a more thorough job without standing on your head. You'll be SO darn close to there anyhow...