Hey y’all. So I have a 96 7.3 F350 with about 370k Miles on it. While driving to work the other day my Engine Temp light came on & I saw some smoke coming out the exhaust. About a mile later I saw some smoke coming out the engine bay & immediately decided to pull over to not risk anything. While pulling over my engine shut off & I just rolled into place on the side of the road. I didn’t attempt to start the truck again. I noticed a lot of leaking coolant on the passenger side right in front of the wheel too. While driving it also sounds like there was a liquid squirting around in the engine bay. I got it towed to a dealership & they say I’ll need a new motor for the truck. Which devastated me honestly... but other diesel mechanics say it’s prob just a head gasket & that’ll fix my issue. Also, I’ve heard of blue devil gasket sealer. What do y’all think? Thanks!!

 

I'd advise against the blue devil sealer. Not in something that gets driven all the time. If it were a beater farm truck used once in a great while and was nothing more than a running pile of scrap, maybe.

 

Agree with Zombie. Sealer is not the way to go.

Did the dealership explain to you where the engine failed? Did they state it was at the head gasket or somewhere else. After all, they have more to go on than 'other diesel mechanics' as they can actually see the engine. However 'other diesel mechanic's' may also be right, if it did just fail at the head gasket, replacing that and not the whole engine might be the solution. If it were I, I would pressure test the coolant system, after re-filling it, and look to see where the coolant was coming from, when it leaks out.