I have smoke or steam coming from my valve cover and a horrible idle. It looks like I have water mixed with oil in the tube going to the air cleaner. When I put it in gear it knocks but stops when I push in the clutch. I don't see signs of water in the oil, except in the valve cover. Could this be a head gasket or cracked head? Please help.

 

It's probably just a head gasket....I just replaced mine head gasket a month ago....not that hard and alot cheaper ($600 quote from one of the shops around town). Just pick up a Haynes or Chilton book, if you don't have one already. They tell you how to do it. It's also probably a good idea once you have the head off the truck, take it to a machinist and have them check it out. How many miles do you have on your truck?

 

I have 130000 miles on it. My Haynes manual doesn't show much about it. I have broken two vaccum hoses and I hope I remember how it goes back together. Do I need to pull the inspection plate for the push rods to get the head off? I got the intake and exhaust manifolds off and I quit for the day.

 

Yeah you will have to pull the push rods, just loosen the valves, don't take the bolts all the way out, just loosen them enough to get the rods out. The easiest way to remember how to put the rods back in, is to grab a card board box and label on the box "front of engine" and push the rods through the box in the order you took them off. That way you can remember what rod goes what cylinder. The Chilton book goes into pretty good detail about how to do it.

 

I got the head off and it looks like the head gasket was leaking coolant into the cylinder. The head does not appear to be cracked. I am still wondering how the exhaust gasses and steam was coming out of the valve cover. All the pistons and cylinders look like there in great shape. any ideas? The head gasket will be replaced but I still think there is something else going on.

 

If you're real worried about it being more than the gasket, take the block and head to a machine shop and have it checked for cracks.

 

*MOST* of the time a crack in a combustion chamber will be obvious(mine was), but it's not that high to have it Magnafluxed. Good idea while it's off to have it checked and at least
surfaced to give the gasket a good surface to seal to. If you were getting a lot of water/steam into that cylinder, then it could have been getting past the rings into the crankcase and out through the valve cover, or possibly through the guides and seals, especially if they aren't in top shape anymore, but that is a little scary and the crack check would be a good idea.

 

if you wire wheel the combustion chamber, and look carefully enough you should be able to see a crack if there is one. Look carefully for a discolored fine crack between the valves or around the valve seat somewhere. From what you say about the amount of water and steam in the cylinder/crank case seems likely that it is just a gasket gone awry though.

Your big problem now is to get the water out of your lubricating system and out of your cylinder. Drain your oil as soon as possible and refill it. Spray the inside of the cylinders that got water/steam in them with wd40 or equivilent and leave it a bit moist with oil. This stuff will rust VERY quickly. After starting the engine briefly, rechange your oil again and do so until oil is clear. Make sure you clean all gasket areas with a wire wheel or whatever.. just make sure all the old gasket materials are off.. if you are going through all this and if you plan on keeping the truck a valve job wouldnt hurt if you can afford it.

Hardest part of doing this job for someone not familiar with motors is the distributor. Placing the distributor and setting the timing after a job like this can be a bit frustrating if you didnt mark the distributor and rotor position before taking it off.

Good luck, hope this helped a bit.