Recently my truck had over heatd and blown the old radiator apart, so I replaced it with a brand new one, got it back on the road and it happened again, this time with a loss of power and alot of white smoke, when I checked the oil it had water in it, alot of water. So I changed the head gaskets, put motor flush in and changed the oil and filter. In all that I forgot to fill up the radiator before I drove it again, so it got hot, I shut it off and let it set where it was overnight to get good and cool, today it would cranks bet not start, or even try, finally when the batteries were almost dead I tried using starting fluid (its currently 92 degrees if that makes any difference) and it started right up, but made a loud thumping noise like an exhaust leak was coming from only one cylinder, and had no power. So I'm totally stumped now, everything looked fine in the motor when I had it apart, the one thing I did think of was the CDR valve, and how thick the oil water mix was maybe it clogged the CDR? as far as not starting? Glow plugs? Injectors? Help please! I just want to be able to drive to work so I dont get fired!

 

How long was it run without coolant?

As for water in the oil, it could have also come from the oil cooler or even be cavitation, but I'm guessing that if you had the engine apart, cavitation shouldn't be the case.

If starting fluid worked, then I would think the glow plugs are not working, you may want to check them with a test light to see if they burned up. Its even possible that the wiring harness is damaged from the engine overheating.

As a safer alternative to either, you can use a heat gun pointed down the intake to help start the engine.

 

well i added 4 gallons so according to the chilton book it was half ful and it idled a few minutes then went 2 miles, got hot and was shut off. as for the thumping (if it was a gas motor i would say its missing on one and check the plugs) cdr valve? got any ideas? not sure what you mean by cavitation, but if you mean holes in the piston or cylinder, then no. And testing the glow plugs will any test light for electrical circuts work? I will look up the process to test them in the chilton manual.

 

went to check the cdr valve, and after the truck had sat in the shade for 3 hours cooling off from the 1/2 mile drive it was still hot to the touch, not warm, hot, like 10-20 degrees hotter and it could cause minor burns. thats really hot, especially after only driving it 1/2 mile right? I would expect it to be cooler than that after 3 hours of cooling down, even if I drove it 85 mph up a mountain pulling a trailor. Im so confused i am thinking about breaking down and taking it to a shop, but I know they will want to charge me more than the truck is worth to fix whatever is wrong with it. they wanted $1000 labor to changed head gaskets. truck cost me $2500, couldn't justify paying almost half the value to fix it. please any advice anyone has, Im not a mechanic but I am smart, and Im out of ideas.

 

To test the glow plugs, disconnect each one from the wiring harness at the glup itself, then connect the lead of the test light to the positive terminal of the battery, and place the probe of the tester on the tang of the glow plug you are testing, it the plug is good, then the light should come on. What you're checking here is the continuity of the glow plug itself, which is why you have to disconnect it from the harness before testing it.

OK, so as far as overheating, you had the cooling system at 1/2 full, and it got hot on you, did it throw the temperature warning light?

If not then I think it should live, I thought it was run completely empty of coolant.

The CDR valve can affect engine performance, but not such as to keep it from running alltogether. High oil consumtion is usually the worst of what you can expect from a clogged or bad CDR (at least in the short run).

As for it being hot after sitting for 3 hours, I feel that if it was at full operating temperature (idling will warm it up all the way in hot weather), then it may not be much to worry about.

When driving it, can you feel a bump in the engine that lines up with the loud "thump" that you hear? Have you been able to track down the locatio of the noise? A wooden broomstick handle will work very well to pinpoint it. I wonder if it is indeed just an exhaust leak.

 

I will try to get a test light to test the glow plugs tonight. As for the CDR valve the oil consumption was all that happened when it was clogged before, so your probably right that the CDR and warm motor are nothing to worry about. When im driving it has a loss of power and I beleive it has a bump that corresponds with the thump. It is at all RPMs and temperatures though causing it to idle rough and the whole 9 yards.

 

If you have access to a compression tester, that would be the best way to narrow down the problem. In the mean time, you can do a power balance test to locate the cylinder, or cylinders that is "thumping".

To do a power balance test on a diesel, you start it up and loosen each injector line at the injector just enough for the fuel pressure to bleed out through the crack and keep the injector from firing.

My feeling is that the heads probably got very hot being at the top of the engine where gravity would keep the coolant further down if the coolant is only at half capacity.

I'm not sure how the injectors would react to such heat, but I think its possible that some of them could have been affected by the high temps.

The other things to check would be if you actually do have an exhaust leak, or if the head gasket has failed again (assuming you haven't already).