What next??

[Floorman]

Ok guys, here's the story:
My 98 k1500 with 180,000 on it overheated on me. I was 2 hours from home and in the middle of nowhere. I let it cool off and limped it to the nearest place to get some water in it. Topped it off and when it started I knew immediately something wasn't right. It sounded terrible and the engine light came on. I limped it home but stopped at autozone to have the code checked. It came back as a misfire in cylinder 3.
I bought new plugs, wires, rotor and dizzy cap. Started it up and it it's still sounds bad.engine light is off but it still sound like it has a miss.
The oil looks good (not milky)
Wondering now what to look at to troubleshoot this issue.
Any suggestions would be appreciated

 

[1995sierraz71]

It could possibly have a burnt valve, had that issue on a couple old ford 351s after they way overheated

 

[slowburb]

You probably have a problem with or on one of the heads. Either as stated above, or a crack in one of the heads.

 

[Justin S]

could be a bad head gasket as well, possibly blew out between two cylinders

 

[kennythewelder]

A compression check will tell you where the leak is.

 

[Justin S]

The engine that came in my project was severely overheated before I bought it. The lower hose split wide open and lost all coolant. It still ran, but rough. No milky oil or smoke out the exhaust, but when I tore down the engine, the head gaskets were shot between cylinders 3 and 5, and 4 and 6. I could see light in between the compression seals

 

[kennythewelder]

The engine that came in my project was severely overheated before I bought it. The lower hose split wide open and lost all coolant. It still ran, but rough. No milky oil or smoke out the exhaust, but when I tore down the engine, the head gaskets were shot between cylinders 3 and 5, and 4 and 6. I could see light in between the compression seals

I would agree, you probably blew a head gasket, but the only way to know for sure would be to pull the heads. Like I said in my first post, a compression check is where to start.

 

[superdave]

Head or head gasket is the right direction. As has been suggested, start with a compression test to see which side. I would want to know where the problem was, but if I was that far into the motor, I'd have both heads reworked. I'm a "while I'm at it " guy.

 

[kennythewelder]

Head or head gasket is the right direction. As has been suggested, start with a compression test to see which side. I would want to know where the problem was, but if I was that far into the motor, I'd have both heads reworked. I'm a "while I'm at it " guy.

supersave is right, if you do one side, you will want to do both.

 

[slowburb]

His #3 misfire code tells us it's the head on the driver side of the engine.