I noticed it first when I stopped on my way to college to fill up on diesel. Started it up, it runs fine with no noticable lack of power-but then again it is not loaded-but there was white smoke coming out from behind me like crazy. I have never seen anywhere near this amount before, and the engine was warm. Drove half a mile and the smoke went away. It was smoking some last night, then I shut it off, came back in 10-15 minutes. I went to start it, and it was hydrolocked, but not too bad. It stopped the engine from turning, but on the third try it turned over and started. There was white smole like crazy, so I checked out under the exhaust. THere was a growing decent size puddle of what smells like alcohol. It doesn't smell exactly like diesel, but it definitely isn't water. I was thinking maybe a sticky injector that stuck open and dumped some diesel into the cylinder? I put in a bottle of injector cleaner to see if that fixes it. It is running fine now, no smoke at all, just started up fine in 30 degree weather a few minutes ago. Any thoughts would be great.

 

White smoke and hydrolocking?? Sounds like your truck is trying to warn you that it's time for attention RIGHT NOW! If the fluid smells like alcohol, it's coolant. I'd suspect a bad head gasket. Simple way to check - one evening, pull the glow plugs. The next morning, hook up a remote starter switch to the starter solenoid on the passenger side fender liner. With the key off, spin the engine over and look for mist shooting out of one of the GP holes. That'll be your bad cylinder.

 

You need to do as dave stated asap,if your lucky when it locked it didnt bend a rod!Year and engine,(6.9/7.3)etc may help diagnose it.

 

it's an 89 7.3. The heads/gaskets were done I think within the past 20000 miles. It's running fine now, no more white smoke or anything. One other factor I didn't mention is that it was raining both times this happened-I don't know if this is significant or not. If it were a head gasket, why would the white smoke go away? I would think that if it were a leaky gasket the problem would continue. The truck was warm both times this happened too. I will check coolant level in a bit to see if it's lost any-I topped it off right before making the drive to college.

 

ok I think it lost maybe a gallon of coolant and it looks as though there is oil in the coolant as well. Damn. Guess I will try that test to see which cylinder it is coming from. SHould I warm the truck up first to pressurize the system to force coolant into the cylinder? ALso, would it be a problem to drive the truck back home first before doing the job-most of my tools, as well as my garage is at home.

 

What brand gaskets should I get? Should a replace both sides while I am at it-the gaskets were done recently (but not under warranty), so I don't know if the job wasn't done right, or bad gaskets were installed, or maybe just a fluke thing. Any thoughts?

 

Every start is a roll of the dice.Probable causes are,1 headgaskets(more prone to 6.9's),2 oil cooler,3 cavatation.Unfortunately im leaning towards cavatation(been there done that).If you do the test mentioned above and the #8 or 7 cyl show signs of water out the gp holes i would put money on it being cavatation.Good luck,let us know how you make out.

 

The problem started suddenly, within the past few hundred miles at least, because no coolant was being lost before that. Is there any way to find out definitely whether it is cavititation or head gasket without changing the head gasket (assuming that it it is #7 or #8). Does cavitation show up suddenly? THe oil cooler orings were replaced right before I bought the truck-so maybe 11000 miles ago. The metal right around the orings was pitted, so jb weld was used to fill in the metal. Would the oil cooler cause hydrolock though? I know it would cause coolant and oil to mix, but it doesn't seem as though it would cause significant coolant loss. I will try to glow plug test tonight to see what it does and post again with the results.

 

Well it dont look pretty,head gaskets were done,oil cooler was done.Cavatation shows up as soon as the hole in the cyl shows up.If it indeed shows in a gp hole then the head will have to come off anyways,then you will be able to find out if its one or the other.

 

The truck hasn't been acting up at all today. I just took it to the grocery store and had it up to 200 degrees, and no white smoke or anything. I will do the glow plug test maybe tomorrow if I have time-I don't know if I will till after 9 though so it might have to wait till friday. Where does cavitation show up, and what do you do to check for it? The truck has had coolant additive in it since it was brand new, if that makes any difference. The problem has only been with the engine hot-after being driven for over an hour is the only time I noticed it. Thanks for the help already.

 

[QUOTE=pnose]Well it don't look pretty,head gaskets were done,oil cooler was done.Cavatation shows up as soon as the hole in the cyl shows up.If it indeed shows in a gp hole then the head will have to come off anyways,then you will be able to find out if its one or the other. jb1390-look at the gp's closely as you remove them, sometimes moisture will collect on them if that cly is leaking coolant. if you find coolant in one of the jugs and you want to narrow your search down and know pretty much what you are looking for before ripping into it ,do this. modify a gp by brazing a male qd to it so you can hook a air hose to it and pressurize the cyl. in question. remove valve cover and push rods on that cyl. fill rad. to over flowing, put piston at bdc, hook up air line and pressurize cyl.(use as much pressure as your compressor will muster) now watch rad, be patient, half hour or so. if coolant slowly over flows from the rad. neck, stop the test and move the piston to tdc and restrain the engine from rotation,re fill rad.and pressurize cyl. same deal ,watch for over flow. if coolant over flows, piston down but not up= cav. if coolant flows piston up=cracked head or head gasket leak. old geezer

 

Would corrosion/pitting around the oil cooler cause white smoke/missing antifreeze such as this? I can see how antifreeze would end up in the oil and vice versa, but how would antifreeze be used up by then engine? Would the antifreeze boil and be sucked in through the cdr valve? I know there was a problem with pitting on the oil cooler right around the orings-which was fixed maybe 11000 miles ago with jb weld. If all three (head gasket, cavitation, oil cooler) have the same symptoms, which is the best place to start? I will do the glow plug test-am I correct in assuming that if it is the oil cooler, then the glow plug test will turn up nothing? The hydro locking only happened once, and no symptoms have been displayed since a few days ago. Intermittent problems are annoying to diagnose.

 

With cavitation the hole could be at any height on the cylinder wall.
If the piston stops below the hole, the coolant goes into the cylinder and will not compress, so it is hydrolocked.
It the piston stops above the hole the coolant goes into the oil pan and the engine will start normally.

Look for bubbles or pressure in the radiator when it is running.
Keep a close eye on the oil for signs of raising levels and water.

Water in the oil would be really bad if it got deep enough for it to displace the oil from the oil pump pickup tube. I don't think antifreeze has the same lubrication properties as oil does.

 

I checked the oil, there is no coolant in it at all. There also is hardly any oil in the coolant-I thought there was more than there was. There has always been some-because right before I bought the truck the oil cooler orings had been replaced, because the oil cooler was spewing oil into the coolant. Anyway, I put in less than a gallon of water to top off the coolant-which is the max it could have lost over about 500 miles of driving. There is no white smoke at all, and no bubbles show up if I let it run without the radiator cap on. It seems like if there was a hole leaking coolant, the problem wouldn't be intermittent like this, but I really don't know. Anyone have thoughts? I will try the glow plug test this weekend-I don't have time until saturday at the earliest.

 

alright, I tried the glow plug test today-got a few hours of sunshine so I went at it. I tried starting the truck a few hours before, and it would no turn over-I beleive it was hydrolocked again. However, when I spun the engine over, there was only a minimal amount of mist shooting out of the second cylinder in from the cab on the drivers side. I couldn't find any antifreeze on the engine afterward either. I've never had an engine hydrolock, so I can't say for sure that it was, but it seems that it was, and the engine spun over very quick once the glow plugs were out. Any more definitive way to diagnose this before I rip into it, or is the only way to take it apart and see what it looks like inside?