Hello,

Just yesterday I was driving along the highway at approximately 60 MPH, when all of a sudden the temp guage went up and the check guages signal came on.. I removed a few pieces of cardboard that I had stuck in the front of the rad and let it cool down.. I thought that that was the problem.. It wasn't, when I limped into town, I noticed that there was no anti-freeze in teh rad, so I filled it up thinking that there was a leak... The engine was not labouring or anything, all good... Unfortunatley, I check today for leaks, none to be found - I did however find the Anti-F in the oil.. How do I figure out if the head gaskets are gone, or if it is the intake gasket? Any help would be appreicated.

Thanks - Toby.

 

you could do a compression check, you can pull a plug to see if its fouled, but if you plan to run the engine change the oil.

More than likely you have a bad head gasket and after you change the oil, fill the rad plumb full start and run and look for bubbles at the rad cap.

 

I'm thinking an intake... These seem to go out on the rangers every now and then. But like the post above mine mentions, fill the radiator and look for bubbles. if you see bubbles its probably a head gasket.

Also welcome to FTE!!!

 

Hey guys,

Thanks for the quick responses.. So far I have taken the intake manifold off of the truck, there only seems to be 2 water jackets that are being used (in the front), and there are no signs of the gasket being broken down / water tracks etc.. Now being that I am not sure what the water tracks look like, I am not sure if this is could still be the problem. I will try to have someone look at this, someone who is a mechanic. Again thanks for the info, if there is anything else that you can recommend, please do.

Oh, Happy New Year too!

Toby

 

So why did you stick pieces of cardboard in there? If you were having a problem with overcooling, it means you have a bad t-stat, and making the cooling system less efficient isn't the best way to fix it. I suspect that there was an underlying problem. The system got neglected, the engine overheated, warping the head till the gasket begins to leak. Better hope it is not the head gasket, because intake leaks are much easier to fix.

 

The reson why I had the cardboard in is because it took a little while to heat up when it is quite cold, I only do this in the winter time when it is cold.. I changed the T-stat about a year ago to try and see if it would heat up any faster, it helped a bit but not that much.. Anyway, thanks for the advice...

 

Just hope you didn't crack the block! Friend of mine bought a used (PO)S-10 once and within a few days the block cracked and the oil and anti-freeze began mixing making a chocolate shake looking concoction in the oil and radiator overflow tank.

 

What year B4000 is this? I'd be much more concerned with cracked heads on the OHV than the SOHC version.

I agree...change the oil add antifreeze and watch for bubbles, that's the best test you got available right now.

 

Actually, if you are having a serious coolant loss problem you would be best served using plain water. Coolant costs $$$ and it is very simple to drain out the rad once you find the leak. Just don't do that and let it sit over night in freezing temps. Then you will really have a leak.

 

Thanks for the additional info, the truck is a 2000 B4000, and the engine is a old push rod. I was speaking to a mechanic who has done worked on these 4.0 liter engines, he is kind of leaning toward the gasket behind the water pump, he said that he has changed a few of them in the past little while, same symptoms etc... I am going to have him look at it to see if it is the cuplrit. I hope that this is the problem, I will post back when I find out..

Again thanks for your suggestions.

 

Make sure a compression check and cooling system pressure test are performed.

If the lower intake gasket looks OK, then I'm inclined to think your looking at failed headgasket(s) or cracked head(s).

 

An update:

I ended up sending the truck to the local garage, I had both the intake and timing chain cover exposed, and I didn't see a thing for bad gaskets. To my amazement, the garage told me that it looked like the intake gasket was bad (I don't know)... So they put it back together and voila it is running. There does not seem to be any coolant in the oil, and it seems to be working just fine.. I will keep a close eye on the oil and coolant to see if there are any more issues etc.. The garage told me to change the oil at about 200 miles and throw a bottle of rislone in at the same time.. I will do this..

Anyway, I am happy that things kind of worked out, I would like to thank all of you who helped me with my questions..

Thanks again.

Toby