Hey guys I just traded a motorcycle for a 1981 Ford f150 2WD. I drove it home 3 hours and a long the way I stopped plenty of time to let it rest and fill up on gas. The issue is that steam is blowing out of the coolant return line. There is also a tiny amount of smoke coming from my head cover gasket and from my oil filler cap (where i think the pcv vavle should be.) I changed the oil on it and had no signs of coolant or water in the oil. I also changed the thermostat and had no change. Also, the hot cold guage does not work.

 

Ok picture #1 I cant make out what it is you are trying to show us?
The grey thing is called a valve cover and under it you have rocker arms and push rod that work the valve in the head.
It looks a little wet like the valve cover gasket is leaking.
Some times you can snug up on the bolts but not too tight or you can bend the valve cover lip, push the gasket out and have it leak more than it is.
Gaskets are cheap so yo umay want to just get a set and replace them.

Picture #2 looks to be where a hose connects to and then to the side of the air cleaner housing.
In the housing there should be a filter on the side that the hose goes to.
This is how clean air is pulled into the motor from the PCV.
The PCV should be in the other valve cover (#1 picture) at the rear.
Clean air goes in on 1 side thru the motor and out the other side into the carb to be burned when the motor is running.

Picture #3 is a combo of windshield washer (wires go to the pump on that side) and radiator over flow (green fluid).
I cant tell but the hose if it goes in the top is over flow and if long enough to reach almost to the bottom can act as a recovery.
With motor cold remove the radiator cap and check the fluid level. If the hose went to the bottom and the cap is good the level should be pretty close to the top.
When the motor get up to normal temp the cooling system expands and coolant is pushed out to the over flow container.
When the system cools off and the cap works and hose to the bottom, coolant should be pulled back into the radiator keeping the level to the top.
You may want to top off the coolant and make sure the hose goes to the bottom and then check the radiator and over flow levels and adjust from there.
You might have seen steam if the radiator is low. Again if the hose is in the fluid, cap works the radiator should not be low.

Now your no temp gauge issue.
I am guessing you have a fuel oil and temp gauges and the other 2, fuel & oil, are working right?
With the motor cold (so you dont get burnt) find the temp gauge sender and wire.
Is the wire on the sender and somewhat tight? If so remove the wire and jump it to ground.Any where on the motor is fine but it has to be grounded good for this test. A jumper wire with clips on each end works great for this.
Once the temp sender wire is grounded turn the key on just to run, no need to start the motor.

If everything from the wire back to the gauge is in good working order the needle should move to the hot side.
Do not let it sit long on the hot side as you can hurt the gauge. As long as it moves to say half that is good.
If the gauge moves then the sender is bad and needs to be replaced. Do not use pipe tape on the threads as the sender needs to ground to the block and the tape stops this.

If it dose not move when the wire is grounded. you will need to dig deeper on why.
I would check fuses. maybe do this before the wire grounding?
Is the wire in good shape as far as you can trace it back to the gauge?
That should give you somethings to check and do.
Dave ----

 

Picture #1 is just trying to show the steam coming from the valve cover so yes it’s probably a valve cover gasket leak.

Picture #2 okay there is a hose that comes from the top of the valve cover where I think the pcv valve should go, there is a hose that comes out of the top of it as shown but I am unaware of where that hose goes, it could just be loose… I’m at work currently so I will have to check into that this evening.

picture #3 so I have put new coolant into the overflow tank but I thought that it would flow into the radiator if it needed. I have not checked the cap or the actual level inside the radiator. Normally what happens is steam is pushed out of the overflow pipe and makes the coolant in the overflow tank bubble. Also, idk if this matters but, I had to take the main radiator hose off when replacing the thermostat and when I replaced it, it was loose. Test drove it after I replaced the thermostat and the steam was shooting out of the radiator instead of the overflow hose going into the overflow tank.

Thank you for the reply I will check into the radiator cap and radiator itself this afternoon.

My biggest concern is a head gasket leaking causing this to happen.

 

For that valve cover, just take a 7/16 socket that is 1/4" drive and snug all the valve cover bolts, you may want to snug the oil pans bolts too. Doing that a few years back helped mine. Remember you are snugging them, not trying to break them.

Can I assume this is a 302 engine ?

You might need a new radiator cap. Buy auto parts from a local parts store, I like NAPA, don't buy cheap parts on-line, cheap parts and quality parts are not something you see these days. Besides, you can go back to NAPA and talk to them if you have issues. My local can get replacements in 2 hours in most cases. On-line, can't do that.

 

Yes it is a 302 and I will try that this evening as well

 

As Dave said, when the engine is cool, check the radiator and top it off if needed, up top the ridge at the bottom of the neck.

Sounds like you have some mechanical ability...we don't know how much, but you have come to the right place for help.


Years back, my temp gauge would suddenly jump up to HOT. I knew it couldn't get that hot that fast. Took me a while, but I seem to recall after replacing corroded terminals on the coil, the gauge worked fine...IDK. So what I'm hinting at is, check for corroded terminals.

 

Okay so I have an infrared thermometer and I’m letting the engine warm up now. I do not see where a hose should go when coming from the oil filler cap.

I added coolant to my radiator and it seems like my temperature gauge is wanting to work, it only will rise a little bit though. I have also noticed that the same color smoke is coming from my oil dipstick. The top of my valve cover is reading a consistent 195-198 degrees. I’m going to try to post a video with everything that I’m seeing.

 

Update temp has rose to 205 degree

 

Smoke/vapor out of those areas could be "blow-by" of the piston rings

 

How would I check for blow by? Also, if I do have blow by would it be worth fixing if this is just going to be work truck?

 

If you can take a picture of the motor a little farther out so we can see the full motor would help.

The "steam" you are seeing from the valve cover oil fill is oil vapor or blow by,
A hose goes from that oil fill tube to the air filter housing on the side.
The PCV should be in the other valve cover in the first picture to the back and a hose to the base of the carb / intake manifold.

When you changed out the stat did you top off the radiator when back together before the test drive?
You should have and run it with the cap off till the stat opens once, the level will drop, then top off, install cap and make sure the over flow as something in it before the test drive.

A little hint when replacing a stat drill a 1/8" hole in the flat washer part and if it fit to the front of the housing put the hole at the top.
This little hole will let air pass thru the stat when filling the radiator and when you first run it to get the air out of the system.
Dave ----

 

I did not top it off before the test drive… i will post another picture shortly. And look for where the hose from oil fill needs to go.

 

 

Can't tell what your over flow bottle is doing. As was said make sure you have something in there. All these overflow bottle systems are different. I always warm up and then top off using 50/50 mix. In the overflow I put in a gallon of coolant as well. Mark the levels of initial and hot and cold levels. Some of these overflows do not allow expansion and contraction I've seen. I wouldn't use the type that won't draw coolant back into the radiator when cold. Maybe the draw straw is missing on those? We've seen a few here.

 

Okay so after I ate dinner I went and checked on the truck and all the coolant was gone out of the tank so i opened up the radiator and it was full. So I added coolant till the coolant tank was around have full and then my girlfriend and I took it for a 20 minute drive and when we returned home the same thing happened. Once i turned it off coolant started pouring out of the tank and the overflow hose was blowing so hot and or hard that the overflow tank sounded like it was boiling.