Blown head gasket?

Can someone help me diagnose what is going on with my coolant please?

Just bought this truck last week. Drove it home almost four hours. When I left, coolant was clear and normal looking. Oil level was full when I left, when I got home it was about three quarts low.

I am now seeing this white foaming bubbles in the overflow tank. I’m not a rocket surgeon, but it sure looks like a blown head gasket to me.




https://youtu.be/DCSzHqBmVao

what does the coolant reservoir smell like when you pop the cap? take a good look in the fuel tank, whats in the bottom? what I am geting at is that head gaskets usually put combustion gasses in the coolant which are black and sooty/greasy. A leaking injector cup seal can allow fuel and coolant to trade places(fuel in coolant, coolant in fuel) Your missing coolant may be on the bottom of the fuel tank.

Will check the fuel tank and report back.

The coolant level hasn’t risen or dropped, but my engine oil has decreased three quarts over a four hour drive at 50 mph.

No strange smells in the coolant overflow.

No blow by at the oil fill cap or steam rising out.

Fuel tank is crystal clean.

when I feel the coolant with my finger it has a jelly type consistency.

Would a radiator pressure tester tell me anything? I can rent one from Napa.

The coolant in these trucks from sitting can turn into a jelly like substance from it seperating. mostly it is rust colored in the older radiators at the bottom. Driain the coolant into buckets and see wha comes out. Sometimes if they have a coolant filter the filter will be full of jelly as well.

look at transmission level usually coolant in the oil is a head gasket or something in the head when you have oil in the cooling system its an engine oil cooler or trans oil cooler.

are you sure you read the oil dipstick right? In the two readings........ which was a cold / done after sitting a long time and which was done while engine hot and just run?

Sorry, I misunderstood, I thought you lost 3 quarts of coolant. if engine oil was making it into coolant I think it might be darker. But snowtracks suggestion of oil from the trans in there makes sense.

take a sample, heat a piece of metal with a torch and put some drops on. If there is oil in it you will smell it when it cooks off/smokes... A large sample of coolant with oil will also separate if allowed to stand in a clear container.

Will check the trans dipstick tomorrow to see where we are. I haven’t checked that yet.

I believe I checked the eng oil level correctly, it was cold both times. I haven’t been driving the truck because it won’t pass inspection because of a busted windshield. Now I’m actually afraid to drive it till I know what’s going on with this coolant issue.

something I didn’t mention was on the way home I would smell small whiffs of coolant, but it was early in the trip, and I thought perhaps he had overfilled the reservoir or something. It only happened a hand full of times.

Should i not pressure test the System?

I will drain a few gallons of coolant into a bucket to see what comes out.

Ronmar
i will fill a clear jug with some coolant and let it sit overnight. Will report findings tomorrow.

https://youtu.be/_DKJYkXQ6pU

Found this adept ape video of a failed injector cup getting diesel in the coolant. My coolant doesn’t smell like diesel though. ..not yet anyway. I drained some anti freeze into a bottle and will wait for things to settle out.

I had one with a bad inj cup. It was missing on that cyl though. There is a coolant path around the cup where it sits in the head. Every stroke of that cyl it would push some coolant up into the valve train.

Yes, that is what he says in the video. Fuel pressure is 100psi while running, so fuel moves into the coolant. When shut down, coolant is 15psi still, so can cross the other direction, although this is more rare.

I definitely don’t smell diesel though. I’m thinking it is oil. Been reading lots of stories about 3116 in marine applications blowing head gaskets, seems it was pretty common.

Buy a bloc-check kit. Cheap and you will use it again somewhere. It has blue fluid that turns yellow with gasses of combustion. It is fool proof and will detect an extremely small leak, one that you would not even know about. Used it for 40 years or more.

Let coolant stand overnight, but I don’t see any discernible oil in it.



Today i rented a pressure tester and pressurized the cooling system to 15psi. It does not hold pressure, and slowly decreases to zero over a ten minute period.

No visible coolant was leaking from hoses or block or anything.

I checked the transmission dipstick today and did not find anything abnormal there. Quantity is where it should be, and no visible coolant that I could see.

block-chek is the only thing that will tell you positively head gasket combustion leak. I know I said that already but it is like magic. Now your problem could be many things including the tester leaking down. The pressure or coolant is going somewhere, my money is on the tester leaking. Did you fill coolant right to the top before testing? Do not run the engine yet, any coolant will bve in the bottom of oil pan of engine or trans, crack drain plugs and see what you get.

Bubbles in the coolant points towards air. Perhaps a bad compressor head gasket. Could put the tester on and run it and see how much pressure you get.


If the truck isnt running bad then i would not suspect a blown cylinder head gasket.[SUP][/SUP]

I don't use pressure testers, I apply pressure using a regulator to that little hose port just below the radiator pressure cap. This way has the advantage of testing the cap in place sealed against its native surface. The radiator cap has two seals, one seals the outer lip, the other seals the inner lip. That port is between these two seals. The inner lip has a spring and will lift when internal pressure rises and sealed by the outer lip seal will be forced to vent out that small hose port. On the inside of the inner seal it also has a lightly sprung inner flapper type check valve that allows the system to draw fluid or in this case air, back in as the system cools. Applied air at that port will flow easily into the system thru that flapper and pressurize the system. You can use a little bit of paper towel or the tip of a toothpick to hold that flapper open then pressure can flow both ways. Then a gauge and a valve on that port can seal the system after pressurization and observe any leak down. Since you have blocked the port where overpressure normally escapes, you must NOT apply too much pressure(10-15PSI max, use a regulator and a gauge.).


So if you apply 10-15 PSI with a pressure regulator and pressure is leaking(if the leak is large enough you will hear air flowing thru the regulator), a couple possibilities exist.

1. It is leaking out the cap outer seal or a port or hose above the coolant level. Not many of those, so easily bubble mixed looking for air bubbles.
2. If you didn't find any air leaks, it is either airtight or it is pushing fluid somewhere. You were not loosing any coolant, so you should probably confirm this is the case. Remove some coolant from the expansion tank so the level is observable in the lower sight glass. Apply 10-15 psi to that port under the cap and watch the level over time while maintaining 10-15 PSI on the port. if you are loosing fluid it is either going to the outside and you will see a leak somewhere. To the motor oil via oil cooler or bad gasket or crack, to the fuel tank via bad cup seal, or to the transmission via bad trans oil cooler...

If you are not loosing any fluid, and cannot find any air leaks, then perhaps as suggested, your coolant is going funky and simply needs to be changed.

All excellent ideas. Will give it another go tomorrow using the recommended techniques. I’m a little leary of continually pumping coolant into the engine while running around with soapy water looking for air leaks though.

Was also told the water pump gasket likes to leak allowing air to enter the system and cavitating the pump.

Game plan is...

-Drain a bit of oil and see what I see.

-Pressurize the system again and check for leaks with soapy water.

-Watch coolant level while pressurized to see if it decreases.

-Go to napa and get a block check kit (Might do this first)

I have already started reaching out to local repair shops. So far nobody wants to touch it because of the special tools/experience needed for the 3116.

Finally got some more time to trouble shoot today.

first thing I did was drain about three quarts of oil out to look for water. Did not see any.



Next i I used the radiator pressure tester and pumped the system up the 15psi. The pressure held pretty good this time. I then tilted the cab and sprayed every cooling system hose, clamp, union, pump, thermostat housing, everything I could find with soapy water. I got no bubbles.

Next I used the block checker/combustion gas checker with the correct diesel fluid.

https://youtu.be/pOOisUrKjVo

I got some bubbles in the fluid, but nothing crazy. Not sure how much you’re supposed to see. The good news is after about twenty minutes and lots of suction with the bulb I had no color change. When I was done I took the tester over to the exhaust pipe to see if I could force it to change color, and it did.