Unhappy new year - Smile, it can only get worse from here

[MaxPF]

Well, when I was leaving work today I stopped to chat with a coworker for a few minutes. My truck was running during this time and he says "You have a puddle under your truck...". I get out and look - sure enough: There is a BIG greenish puddle . I take it over to my buddy's house and check it out. The leak is coming from the head gasket area . So, now I am tearing the top end off my motor. Hopefully it is just a head gasket issue, but I have never seen this happen before. Usually a head gasket fails between a coolant passage and a cylinder. This leak is near where the coolant passages to the spark plug boss are located... and I have seen heads crack there Man, I hope it is just a gasket issue that a pair of Fel-Pro perma-torque's will fix.

One thing I was dismayed to find was coked oil in the rocker boxes There is also some dull orangish residue all over most of the rockers and pushrods. I've never seen that before, and I have seen the inside of a LOT of motors The residue isn't rust - it rubs off with your fingers. Wierd. Obviously the PO didn't maintain the motor very well. It doesn't use any oil though...

Anyways, cross your fingers for me. I can't really afford to build a new motor right now...

 

[pauly383]

Well , hope for the best . Don't worry too hard though , theres someone , somewhere , with a runner in your price range . I see em on craigslist all the time .

 

[85mudblazin]

Hey im doing the same thing now

Got both heads off and just need some gaskets to slap it all together. I drained the oil today and for about 4 seconds was straight antifreeze

 

[BlaKK54Speed]

man that sucks, mine burns oil really bad. i went through 3 quarts in about 100 miles of driving. it doesnt leak at all just eats it. i dont have any clue what is causing it either.

 

[southernspeed]

I hope you're ok man but I've just found similar deposits on my tear down and it was copper from the mains and ends!

 

[broncoman6524]

man that sucks, mine burns oil really bad. i went through 3 quarts in about 100 miles of driving. it doesnt leak at all just eats it. i dont have any clue what is causing it either.

you prolly dont have ANY oil rings... or it could be leaking from the valve seals realy realy badlly.

 

[k5floyd]

i looked over my truck today as i havnt driven it in a couple weeks and although i dont have something as big as a leaking head gasket i found that i have a wheel cylinder that is leaking pretty bad and a leaking pinion seal. happy new year

 

[MaxPF]

This is strange. I pulled the offending cylinder head today and found... nothing I expected to see a leakage path on one side or other of the gasket, or on either the deck surface or the head, but I can't find anything. No visible cracks though, which is good. Still, I can't help feeling that I am missing something I am certain that the cooland was leaking from between the head and block - I saw it spewing out. So did my friend. Yet, there is no evidence of a leak or damaged/ruptured/blown gasket. Very strange...

Anyway, I am going to pull the other head tomorrow, clean everything up, and check the surfaces for basic flatness with a straight edgr and a feeler gauge. If everything looks OK I will throw new gaskets on, screw it back together, and hope for the best.

 

[MaxPF]

Hey im doing the same thing now

Got both heads off and just need some gaskets to slap it all together. I drained the oil today and for about 4 seconds was straight antifreeze

I drained the oil today and had the same thing . Well, now the engine is hanging off of my cherry picker in the garage. I figured it would be easier to work on out of the truck, and it has oil leaks that need to be adressed. Unfortunately it looks like it is the origonal engine, which means it has nearly 200k on it. I really want to rip it apart and build a 383, but the $$$ isn't there...

 

[MaxPF]

Well, this sucks. So, I pulled my engine and stuck it on the engine stand:



See the red-orange stuff in the coolant passages? Not good. I pulled the drain plugs out of the block, and othing came out. There was sludge blocking the drain holes, again (I had already flushed a bunch out when I bought the truck) . I said f**K it and knocked all the freeze plugs out. What a mess:





There was about an inch of orange sludge mixed with stop-leak in the bottom of both water jackets. It took me an hour to flush that crap out. No doubt the bottoms of the cylinder barrels were running very hot, especially the rear cylinders. Anyway, the water jackets are reasonably clean now. Hopefully it will run a bit cooler. After cleaning out the passages I dropped the pan, only to find an even more horrific sight :



That reddish brown over everything is a varnish like substance. Apparently, the PO didn't believe in oil changes anymore than he believed in flushing the coolant . Here's a closer look:



That substance isn't liquid or sticky, it is hard and brittle!!! What I think is that the poor coolant flow to the bottom of the cylinders caused the oil to get excessively hot. Combine that with not changing it routinely and this is what you get. Those main bearing bulkheads are right below the cylinders - I bet they were getting smoking hot. I'm surprised this motor hasn't lost a bearing...

Anyway, I've got it partly cleaned up. I will finish the job tomorrow and bolt it back together, and hopefully stuff it back in in a couple days. A new motor has definitely moved up to the top of the list though

 

[Hossbaby50]

If you mix red & green coolant brown sludge can be a byproduct. The PO may have done that along with total neglect. It sucks when you find out that a PO just didn't care enough to do standard maintanence. I don't understand it but some people are a little off.

Harley

 

[chevyguybc]

i had a ****ty new years too man dont worry

but mine involves me, not my truck

was sitting on a ledge 12 feet up, when this chick lunged at me, i lost my balance and fell on my back 12 FEET. fractured some ribs and a peice of my spine, but i can walk and talk

just hurts to lift, move and cough

 

[beater_k20]

personally, i woudlnt mess with bolting it back together just yet. take the block and have it cleaned and checked for cracks. there's a reason that stop leak was in there, and it wasnt because the engine was keeping all of its coolant.

 

[MaxPF]

personally, i woudlnt mess with bolting it back together just yet. take the block and have it cleaned and checked for cracks. there's a reason that stop leak was in there, and it wasnt because the engine was keeping all of its coolant.

Not much choice. This truck is my DD, so I need to get it running ASAP. Besides, a new motor is in the works

 

[beater_k20]

ah... well, hopefully it doesnt leak too bad then.

 

[uglytruk]

Just linked to this thread from my "just bought a K2500" from Oregon...

So how's the sludge-bucket runnin'???

My "Mix Match" '87 Sub 6.2 Banks was the same thing.... And the PO said he took care of it. They ALL say so... Haha.. Ug

 

[pauly383]

Gregs been driving the truck daily since he fixed it , and went wheeling a couple times too .

 

[uglytruk]

And his oil change frequency? Grin...

 

[MaxPF]

Once every 3k miles. The motor still doesn't burn any oil or have much blowby. The oil pressure at idle is a bit low (10psi at idle in the summer when using 10W30 ), but it runs great. When I get my diesel done and swapped in this motor will end up in a buggy

 

[uglytruk]

Funny how it should be toast, but runs gr8!

My '83 POS is also beat ta ****, but has lots left. Overheated several times. Manifolds glowing cherry red with out any oil! NOTHING!!! It all pumped out the front seal when I was cruising at 80mph in O/drive.

I still plow with it, but I noticed a wrist pin rap today....