Head gasket shot?

[Erik the Awful]

Yup, #2 is the determining symptom.

He got home yesterday saying it was smoking out the exhaust but didn’t overheat (per the dash gauge).

My son said the same thing when he got the Suburban so hot it cracked the block. I rebuilt the engine and didn't magnaflux the block and had symptom #2.

When he takes that head off, he needs to try and lift it off all in one go. He should look carefully at the head gasket to see if he can spot where it was broken and leaking. If he can't, he needs to consider tearing it down and having the block checked. His engine restarted, so I'm inclined to think it'll be alright with a new gasket. My Suburban had no compression after my son parked it in the driveway. Fortunately, he pulled it up close to the garage.

 

[east302]

So life happened and the truck sat in the driveway all week. Without starting since then, coolant has dropped probably two inches in the radiator.

I went out tonight to move it into the garage and it cycled three times and banged the whole time never starting so I stopped.

I repeated last week’s trick, pulled #7 plug and rotated it (with little effort) by hand just shy of 90-degrees. Thinking it would then start like last week, I put the plug back in and it binds immediately when cranking.

Any thoughts on why it would rotate manually but not with the starter? I didn’t try it 360-degrees, guess I should have. Flex plate teeth weren’t rounded over and shiny when I pulled the starter, but I didn’t pull the cover plate off to see the whole wheel.

 

[smdk2500]

Maybe have multiple cylinders filling with coolant now. Maybe try pulling all the plugs on that side and turn it by hand through a few rotations and see what it does.

 

[351FUN]

Sounds like that engine's hydraulic now. I wouldn't wast time with anything other than pulling the heads and seeing the damage. It may just need a gasket and a shop vac, but the more you crank it the more chance something gets damaged.

 

[Erik the Awful]

Every time you crank it and it bangs, that's another chance of a ring land getting pinched. If you have to go for a full tear-down, reusing the stock rods and pistons is a huge money-saver. The factory pieces are good, even if you're going for a performance upgrade.

 

[east302]

Finally tore it down. It was #5 that was flooded. Head gasket isn’t broken and I don’t see any cracks in the block. There are two cracks in the head at #5 and between 3-5.

I guess that’s the source, the crack in between 3 and 5 is a coolant passage, right?

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[Supercharged111]

That's a smoking gun if I ever did see one. . . Time for some Etecs!

 

[east302]

That's a smoking gun if I ever did see one. . . Time for some Etecs!

Lol, this is my 16 year old son’s truck so we’re going to be minding the budget on it.

Any recommendations for heads or thoughts on new versus reman? The reman prices are attractive, but I’d worry that it’d be a ticking time bomb with the factory casting.

 

[PlayingWithTBI]

Any recommendations for heads or thoughts on new versus reman? The reman prices are attractive, but I’d worry that it’d be a ticking time bomb with the factory casting.

If it were me, I'd magnaflux the block and check for flatness, maybe even deck it. Then go with both new heads, the best your son can afford to buy. Build it to last another 20+ years

 

[RedBurb]

Cracked head and 240K miles. I'd either pull the engine for complete rebuild or slap on the cheapest head money can buy and let it roll. Immediate open heart surgery or take an aspirin and live another day.