Hope van didn't blow head gasket - Diesel Forum

e444 · 12-07-2012, 05:08 PM

started out this morning had intermittent heat, got to job all seemed well went to lunch got hot on way back 4 mile round trip checked and added 3 gallon of antifreeze on way home was white smokeing on decelleration and idle. ran good didnt get hot but used 1/2 gallon of antifreeze,[45min. trip] no leaks that i can see oil is 1inch over full but didnt look milky any way to tell for shure if it is the head gasket thanks

chuckster57 · 12-07-2012, 05:25 PM

If there isnt any obvious leaks (water pump, hoses, radiator) then I wouldPull the valve covers, take out the GP's and pull the PCM fuse (maybe #30). Then spin the starter and look for water vapor. Make sure you get as much oil out of the GP hole before you remove it.

If you don't see any obvious signs, then a compression test might help narrow it down. If that doesn't yield an answer, then I would still leaving the GP's out, do a cooling system pressure test. I would run the starter with the cooling system pressurized to about 20 PSI. If you don't see any water vapor, then reduce the pressure to 5 PSI, put the GP's back in and try the starter again watching for an INCREASE in pressure.

RT · 12-07-2012, 05:51 PM

I'd want to know why the oil is one inch over as well. Did you do your own oil change last time?

**klhansen** · 12-07-2012, 06:02 PM

A blown head gasket would have been preferrable to what I experienced. Lost the engine due to a crack in the lower part of Cyl #3, caused by a spun cam bearing contacting the lifter for umpteen thousand miles. It ran fine, but lost a gallon of coolant in a 10 mile test drive after refilling it. Definitely check to see why the oil is overfull.

e444 · 12-07-2012, 07:04 PM

yes i changed the oil thanks

RT · 12-07-2012, 07:22 PM

OK - so if you changed it - was it an inch high when you changed it? If not - the increase had to come from somewhere. Its possible that if this is a new leak, the oil hasn't had time to emulsify yet. That doesn't take very long, but something to think about if you did the oil change properly.

chuckster57 · 12-07-2012, 07:39 PM

If he drove 45 minutes, that should be plenty of time to make gallons of milk shake shouldn't it? 1" higher is a concern. Maybe a sniff test for fuel dilution is in order, and he just discovered another problem. I have done diagnostics for people and discovered totally unrelated issues.

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e444 · 12-09-2012, 01:26 PM

drained the oil today it was like sludge and reeked of antifreeze debating on wheather to put head gaskets on or sell as is has anyone ever put head gaskets on an 02 van with motor in van thanks for all responces

e444 · 12-09-2012, 01:30 PM

looks pretty tough to pull engine

RT · 12-09-2012, 01:59 PM

I kind of doubt its a head gasket. It would be a little rare to have a passage that big that would allow that much coolant without hydrolocking a cylinder. You are more likely looking at a front cover cavitation issue. It wouldn't hurt to pull the heads as it would make the engine easier to come out in the long run anyway, but I wouldn't count on it being that easy. The engine comes out real easy once you get the body off the frame.... You can also sneak it out the front if you completely dissasemble the grille / bumpers / hood/ everything else up front...

e444 · 12-09-2012, 02:13 PM

i always put additive in my antifreeze

RT · 12-09-2012, 04:43 PM

It still happens - Kevin just went through something similar, although his turned out to be an internal rupture that required a new engine. Wish it was an easier diagnostic. I think if it were me, I'd do this in stages. Pull your oil cooler and separate the caps looking for a torn o-ring. If that was good, I'd probably pull the glow plugs and pressurize the coolant - go looking for water intrusion into a cylinder (boroscope, or just spin the motor looking for fluids shooting out a glow plug hole) - if that didn't pan out, I'd pull the heads and look for an obvious water path through a gasket. Barring that - I'd pull the engine...

The confusing part of your story is the white smoke - that would point to a head gasket, but the quantity of coolant you lost should have locked up your engine.

e444 · 12-09-2012, 09:23 PM

my thought was it was burning most and some was getting in to oil that was the smoke

RT · 12-09-2012, 09:32 PM

But when you turn the engine off, the pressure in the cooling system would push coolant through the defect - if it was to a cylinder, it would fill up.

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**klhansen** · 12-10-2012, 12:32 AM

The shop that figured out my engine was toast pulled the dipstick adapter and stuck a borescope camera in the crankcase and pressurized the coolant system. They saw coolant running out a crack in the lower part of cylinder #3. The crack didn't extend up thru the ring travel, so I didn't see any evidence of coolant coming out the exhaust.

I'd suggest having someone do the same. Your crack might extend up into the ring travel area, which would put some coolant into the combustion chamber while running, but it might not hydrolock if the piston stopped above the crack.