So ready for a story? When I bought my 69 f-250 I later noticed that it was kinda pieced together over the years from the junkyard. Steering box, engine, radiator etc...

Well, when I redid my front end (this engine bay was a pig stye in everyway possible lol so I had to disassemble, clean, organize, repaint, reassemble) I noticed there was a zip tie keeping the non stock radiator to the front of the trunk on the lower half of radiator, tops bolted in fine. Well when I put it back I forgot to zip tie it.

So my junkyard 302 was running fine. And did so for months since my ownership. Even after my reassemble. Anyways yesterday on the freeway since the lower half of the radiator was not secured, the wind pushed the radiator towards the fan and the fan chopped up the lower half of the radiator getting water everywhere in the engine bay, running the engine dry of a cooling system, so when I slowed to a hault on the shoulder the engine shut off at about 3 mph and I popped the hood and there was just smoke, I called AAA and got home.

I for some reason thought it was running on no oil pressure, my oil pressure gauge always kinda went down and up and I did have an exhaust leak on the passenger side, so as this was happening I can just hear a knocking on that side getting louder. Like my exhaust leak times 10 in volume lol so I looked at my oil pressure and I think it said 0 and I didn't even look at my temp because I thought the engines oil pump died and it was running dry, but I was on an overpass with no shoulder so I had to keep going (I was just waiting for it to throw a rod).

So with that said I believe I blew a head gasket, I did see what appeared to be oil leaked where the head meets the block. Leading to my blown head gasket theory.

My question is what next? Do I need a rebuild? Little out of budget... I was thinking disassemble the heads take them to machine shop to be inspected if it all clears just change the head gaskets? Any help would be great!

 

Deleted comments.

 

I have some more info to ad.

There was no smoke coming from the exhaust. The smoke from the engine bay I take it was from all the water that got splashed everywhere.

My buddy said it might not be gone. Because it was only driven for about a minute or 2 and that's including when the fan began to chop up the radiator and I heard the noise.

My buddy thinks that maybe it shut off because it got too hot and when I did try to crank it over as soon as it died (of all things I had to park right next to a bush full of bees right) I tried to move it like 5 feet but it just cranked slowly like the battery was dying. He says that could have also been because it was so hot it didn't want to turn on. Don't know if it's true but kinda makes sense.

I looked at my dipstick and the oil looked good? I don't know if it looks to clean but I only drove it about a little less than 100 miles before this happened after its last oil change.

 

??? Why deleted?

 

Your oil pressure problems may be due to a faulty gauge or sender. Is this an electric gauge or a mechanical?

Your overheat condition would lead to hard cranking. Usually when they quit due to being overheated, your pistons are melting against the cylinder walls, leaving some material behind. That makes for a knocking smoker down the road.

Oil leaking from between the head and block--this is unlikely. Clean the area and look for the source of the oil. Was this on the front driver side, near the oil pressure sender? That is a likely suspect. The head gasket does not control pressurized oil in the SBF. Oil travels up the pushrods and down via drains in the heads and block. Those drains are not pressurized. If they are blocked, oil builds in the valve cover and you have a leak of some kind up there.

SBF's like to blow cylinder heads between cylinders. It is possible to have a dry blown head gasket.

What is next? Pull the plugs and turn it over. See if you have water on any plug or water in a cylinder. If you have water in the cylinder, pull the heads.

If not, proceed to trying to get it to run.

Can you get a radiator in this thing, or at least connect the hoses with some method of filling it up? Leave it open so you don't pressurize. Once you have water in it, check for leaks. Then see if it will turn over. Have someone watch for leaks, oil and water. Pull the coil wire when you do this. If it turns over, and no leaks, hook up the coil again and see if it will start. If it starts and hits on all cylinders, fix the radiator, fix the exhaust and run it.

If it misses, do a compression check and compare numbers. Look at the plugs when you pull them and look for water--a sure sign of a wet cylinder head blow.

This is not all-inclusive and other methods to do this exist. A good fix-it manual will help you as well.

 

Having deleted comments myself in the past, imo, it is best not to ask why....

 

Tough call...since it didn't run long and is an all iron engine it could have survived. Only way I would know is to do a compression test. If they all come out good except for one by itself or two side by side then it could be just a blown gasket. Remove all the spark plugs and watch the oil pressure when you're doing the compression test.

When you pull that head take it and have it checked, it won't cost much if it doesn't need any work. That way you won't waste any gaskets by putting a damaged head on.

Good luck

 

I failed to catch "all" of your comments. You answered my questions before I asked. :-)

 

okay cool sounds good i will do this thanks 85e150six4mtod, it is the stock mechanical one...

i will do as you suggested.

other question... should i maybe take off the valve covers? or not yet?

i will attach pictures.

Well i decided i need a new radiator so i'm going to be buying one.


when you say turn it over, do you mean manually? or do you mean with like a remote starter switch? And do I do this with the current jacked up radiator and dry, or should i install a new radiator and thermostat first and fill it.

Turbo dog, i was kinda thinking the same thing, it is good ol' american iron

i take it the only way to check for melted up pistons is draining the oil and looking for metal? or when i remove the cylinder heads (if i have to), taking a look at the pistons.

 

 

No need to pull the valve covers yet.

You can turn it over with a remote switch, just make sure your coil wire is pulled until you get to a point where it will hold water--either connected hoses or new radiator etc.

No need to check for piston material on the cylinders. It is unlikely. If it did happen, it may or may not be a smoker/knocker. You'll have to run it to find out.

Once you get this all square, time to get your PCV hooked up.

 

Okay cool sounds good. I take it if there is water that it will shoot out if there is while cranking?

Also the pcv valve was another question. How do I hook that up? To the chrome air filter? I don't see any spots on the carb for it? I know my old set up had it going to the big air filter

 

If you have water with a plug out, it is a blown head gasket or cracked head. Either way, the heads have to come off.

As for the PCV, is there a bung in the base of the carb or in the spacer under the carb?

 

One side lets air in, the other has the PCV valve to regulate the gasses coming out. The fresh air side looks to be the chrome one on your truck, since it has it's own filter/breather there on the valve cover there is no need to hook to the air cleaner. The hose from the PCV valve side goes to a large vacuum source, usually there is a port on the back of the carb spacer for it.

 

Man I don't want to sound like an idiot but... When you say bunge what exactly am I looking for? Like a hole for the valve?