Hello I need some help. I posted on here before about some issues I was having and was pointed In the direction of a distributor. So some back story real quick when I went to buy the truck the old owner warned me of hard starting but did not tell me it was losing coolant. Fast forward we got it home pulled the heads and the head gaskets weren’t blown I’ll attach a picture at the bottom showing them on the truck. We went ahead and replaced all the gaskets on the upper end head gaskets, intake ect. It did good for about 4,000 miles but during the whole time it never really had full power and was vibrating like crazy (it would rattle the back glass under load). I replaced all the ignition stuff from distributor to plugs all acdelco or Delphi and ngk plugs. Right at my 5k mark I pulled it in the garage for a service and to replace the valve seals. I put air to cylinder one and instantly had coolant bubbling out the thermostat. So now I believe the head gaskets are blown again, it’s been shaking violently, burning oil and coolant, misfiring, low power, hard starting or stalling multiple times on start up. I am completely stumped because it was doing the same things when I got it I’ve replaced the head gaskets that wernt blown to begin with and I’m back to square one and don’t know what to do. Also all cylinders were at 155 but cylinder one was at 135. The two pictures of the block is with the head gaskets on it the the picture of the thermostat is when I put 80 psi to cylinder one and closed the valves. Any help is appreciated thanks
You must be registered for see images attach
You must be registered for see images attach
Greetings Little blue,
It's possible that you had a good head gasket/seal between a
cracked cylinder head and your
short block? Here's a couple of possible scenarios -- possibly we can tighten up the problem
description a little further?
* How did the #1 spark plug look?
1) Too clean? If so, look for a crack where the coolant was being metered into the combustion chamber.
(ie: crack in chamber itself, or crack in intake port/intake valve seat?) Coolant > steam = effective
spark plug /combustion chamber carbon remover.
2) Spark plug looks normal. If this is what you found, then focus on water being introduced
after
the combustion chamber. (ie: crack in exhaust port and/or near exhaust valve seat.) Bonus points if
exhaust had more visible steam/whitish smoke than a 'known good' car had during the same weather conditions.
* Also, how much coolant was the engine consuming? (Should be zero/near zero.)
EDIT: I went & found your original post from back in June, and you did mention coolant being
'burned'. (June posting) Small/moderate amounts of oil consumption is to be expected, but
any coolant usage is a sure sign that there's a problem that needs attention.
* Has the engine ever been subjected to a bad overheat?
* How does the oil look? Any water/oil mousse? (I'm assuming no since you didn't mention it.)
****
These are just educated guesses based upon your reported symptoms. For a definitive
diagnosis, you would need to find a machine shop that can pressure test your heads. (Or
magnaflux, Zyglo dye check, etc.)
****
By the way, good on you for paying attention to the coolant port while putting the compressed
air to cylinder #1. Give the associated spark plug a look-see and let us know what you find.
(Also try to look for evidence of steam/leakage on the combustion chamber & ports.)
Best of luck --
