Well its about 30 degrees here and I went to start the truck. (it was plugged in) Drove it down the road about a mile and I noticed that my temp was up. So I was going to stop at the next road when my engine temp light came on and ...Pfshh pfshh pfssh. Sounds like a head gasket. I pulled in and shut er off. Anti freeze was rolling from the hood. I popped the hood and she was hot. I let it cool down and started it back up just to pull it into a spot to park. Im guessing my thermostat is bad or water pump. But being it was drove for about 4-5 minutes its the thermostat. Any ideas here. I checked my anti freeze about 3 weeks ago and it was good to about below 20. Also what is a going price at a shop for a Driver side head gasket replacement?

 

Can you pin point better where it's spewing anifreeze from? Maybe your lucky and just a hose let go. (like the heater hose with the "T" fitting)

 

I hope your meaning -20F if it was +30F and you ran it with 20* water then it froze the rad most likely..

Caution...
The specified/required thermostat does not contain an internal bypass, since the bypass is located in the cylinder block. Whenever the thermostat is replaced, it is mandatory that only Motorcraft E5TZ-8575-C or Navistar 1807974C94 thermostat be installed.

 

Parts plus about 22 hours shop time for a 7.3 turbo head R&R.

 

Yes, i did mean -20. I could not tell where it was comming from it was dark. I had to tow it home. Ill look in the morning.

 

Head gasket rarely spews antifreeze pressurize it and find where the water is coming from. It sounds like you may have a bad thermostat or even had a leak that you didn,t catch until it was low and it got hot and blew a hose or something.
It is always a good idea to change the thermostat after one has truly overheated.

 

Well I checked it out this morning and all I can tell is that anti freeze is everywhere on the driver side, same side as the leak. I also checked the radiator and man its got a lot of crud in it. Looks like someone had pored a few cups of mud in there. I would say that its due for a new one. So there is part of my problem. Also when I parked it the other night just after I shut it off I squeezed the upper radiator hose and it was tight. Which leads me to believe that the thermostat didn't open up.

Now to check for where the leak is coming from, could I start it up and see where it spews from? Or shove a hose in the radiator and create pressure and see if it leaks? I'm leery of starting it if the cylinder is full. (but i did lastnight after it sat for about 15 minuets.) I would hate to create more problems.

 

If there is concern pull the glow plugs and spin the engine over and see if you get coolant blowing out any of the holes.

 

Bump it a little at a time for a round or two if it seems harder than usual pull the gp's and still bump it easy don't try to spin it as water on a cylinder can bend a con rod.
If it is spewing out I have my doubts it is a head gasket more likely a pin hole in a heater hose or something like that.

 

yeah on my old engine i roasted my head gasket in some hot temps and crap old engine. It wont spew out of a head gasket. There is not clearance for that. I would try to pressurize the system and see if it reveals a cheap fix. I hope for your sake anyway. I would never do just one gasket by the way, that makes no sense. The hard part for the labor is getting the engine out. It is cheaper for the labor on an engine re and re. With it out there is only about an hour added plus the gasket. Spend the money if it is the problem. You will thank yourself later.

 

If the coolant is on the drivers sid it could be that the hose to the coolant recovery tank has come off or has a hole in it allowing coolant to spray all over. Might be worth a check.

 

I think I would check the upper radiator hose and radiator first.

How high up on the engine are you seeing coolant?

If you have the equipment, it is actually faster to pull the engine to change head gaskets than it is to do it in the truck.

Standard shop rate book has a head gasket job at 22 hours in the truck, with a helper I can pull the engine, R&R the heads and back in the truck in 16 hours.
Plus you get a much better job on the head gaskets since you can stand on the ground with the heads at a height you can handle them.

Much better than fighting them in the engine bay.

 

Ok I filled the radiator up to try and find where it was leaking. I was able to crawl under and look up and I found a slow drip coming from just below the head, right at the head gasket. This is the highest i found it leaking, Im guessing around the front cylinder. I found another spot. I think it was just above where the oil filter is attached to. But I couldn't get in there to see. I did see some coming from just above the motor mount too but I couldn't see in there either.

Called a shop they quoted me $1050 to do both head gaskets, not including having the heads looked at that would be 100-300. Depending if they need any work done. I hope one is not cracked! With this in mind, if they do pull the motor. Should I look at getting anything else replaced while its out? Might as well do the oil pan gasket. And I wish I had a bigger down pipe to put on.

 

Have you cranked it yet. Have you any way to pressurize your cooling system.

 

I think a cooling system pressure tester is in order before you pull the engine.

First I would pull all the glow plugs.
Next put pressure on the cooling system, see if you can see where and how much it is leaking.
Next, while wearing safety glasses and not real close tot he top of the engine, crank it over and see if coolant blows out of any of the glow plug holes.
If it does, note which one.

If you did have coolant in a cylinder, go on to the next test.

After that, if I had an adapter to screw into a glow plug hole and shop air, I would pull the valve covers and remove all of the rocker arms, keep them in order for each side.

Now fill the radiator and leave the cap off.
Put shop air in each cylinder with as much pressure as possible.
Watch the radiator neck for the water level to increase or bubbles out of the neck, a minute or two on each cylinder is good.
Note each cylinder that made the water level raise or bubble while air pressure was in that cylinder.

Word of caution, when you apply shop air with the rockers removed, the valves will be closed in each cylinder.
The air pressure will cause that piston to go to BDC, so watch the belts and fan as you apply the air.
Fingers, hoses and cords in the wrong place may be damaged.

While pressure is in each cylinder, listen at the intake, by the exhaust and watch the radiator.
Note water level increase or escaping air noises for each cylinder.

So now with that information, coolant in the cylinders, coolant leaking externally, air escaping for cylinders and to where, you now shoulfd know exactly where your problem is located.

After the teardown, knowing exactly where the problem is located makes finding the problem much easier.