Another bad topic for me....hopefully some day i will be able to help others.

I recently bought another truck. a 1977 f150 ranger (4x4 with 351). Test drove it and wanted to use it for my daily driver. I then had a buddy tow it home for me as it was about a hour away and did not want to drive it home. I let it sit in my drive for a couple of days and changed the oil, checked the plugs and all that fun stuff. I decided to drive it today since my other truck currently has issues (separate thread). Started up went to the gas station filled it up...oil pressure was good temp was good, etc.

Got about 5 miles and all the sudden i started losing oil pressure. i put it in neutral and shut the engine down and coasted to a stop. Got out and the engine was smoking bad and seemed to have oil leaking from the valve covers or the heads. Was dark and could not see much. I towed it home and then after work i went out to investigate. The engine will still turn over and start. But it appears that while being towed the radiator drain **** was bent and there currently is no coolant in the radiator. As soon as you put coolant in it, it leaks out of the bent drain ****.

Question...my temp gauge never went up and i stopped as soon as i started to loose oil pressure. I am hoping i just blew a head gasket or valve cover gasket. How much damage could be done? What else should i check? As stated above it still does turn over and start (but i will not run it until i fix the drain ****).

I guess i should have checked the coolant... i just assumed since the gage read good i was ok. But i am assuming that the gauge will not work correctly if there is no coolant in the system

I can not handle another day like this.....

Thanks again for reading

Rich

 

That is a real bummer to hear on your new project.

As to your questions. If there was no coolant in the engine or it all leaked out on the way to the station, the temp gauge will not do much as it does not measure air temp which is basiclly all that was in the engine was air.

As to what damage is done, there could be scored cylinders, with the loss of oil pressure you would have bearing and or crankshaft damage.

At this point get the drain fixed, it will just thread out and you can purchase a new one. Although it might not come out that easy if it has been in there a while. Make sure to put some teflon tape on the threads of the drain to keep it from leaking. Personally I would plum in a mechanical oil pressure gauge to see how much oil pressure you really have when the engine runs. If that is low I would say you are looking at an engine rebuild. If it sounds bad while you are running the engine my guess is you are looking at an engine rebuild. At this point you will not hurt it much worse because if there is any, the damage has already been done.

Most times running an engine with out coolant for an extended amount of time does not end with good results. It usally is not cheap either.

Good luck on your project, as I hope I am wrong in saying you are looking at an engine rebuild.

Jeff

 

Went out this morning and removed the radiator and the drain **** is ripped out of the radiator. It is actually torn out....not broke at the threads.

It is a brass radiator and brass drain ...i believe stock. There is a hole where this was mounted in the radiator. Was wondering if this is something that could be repaired?

Can i clean up and solder or can a radiator repair shop fix this?

I also put a thread in the cooling forum. Need to get this fixed then move on to the engine.

Thanks
Rich

 

rad shop may be able to braze on a new one. If no coolant was in contact with the temp sensor then no It will not work Properly. And sadly by the sounds of it, Your engine is likely toasted. As the above post said, mechanical gauges are the only thing i would ever run in my vehicles. Of course in this case it wouldn't have saved you anyways, but in the future i highly recommend them. Unfortunately in your case the coolant leaked out as it was being pulled so the old girl didn't leave you any signs or evidence (puddle) once it sat in your drive way. Best of luck!

 

If a rad shop can not fix your tank, they should be able to install a new tank. However I would have them look over the entire radiator since the drain rotted away, there is a good chance the rest of the radiator is shot too. I purchased a brand new aluminum replacement radiator for my 65 from my local napa and it was only 200 bucks and some change. I also got a pretty good deal on a replacement radiator for a 73 from a local rad shop after they tried to fix my original piece. At any rate I would have them check the whole thing out as cheap insurance from melting down another engine.

Jeff

 

Sorry, typo on this edit

 

Update...

Kentucky has had a bad storm the past couple of days. No power at my house since Tuesday.....

I got my radiator repaired and installed it last night. Installed new upper and lower hoses and filled the radiator up with coolant. I started the engine up and she started. I left the radiator cap off to see if i lost any coolant or could see any air bubbles. I did not see either. I let the truck run for approx 20 minutes and did not see any change in the coolant. I also looked at the valve covers, heads, engine, etc and could not see anthing or hear anything unusual. The temperature on my gauge was approx 195 degrees.

Question. I was going to run it and see what happens. I will check the oil to see if it gets milky and check the coolant often. Is there anything else to look for?

If i do not see anything with the oil or coolant what does this mean? I am sure oil leaked out when she overheated because there was oil on my driver side header and on my passenger side valve cover.

Just looking for advise.

Thanks

Rich