Condensation and milkshake in my trucks valve cover

[patracy]

But for all we know it could be a pin hole casting flaw. He really has nothing to lose. I don't expect it to work. but I would try if it was my truck.

Rest assured, he's got more than a pin hole casting flaw.

Looks like I am going to be looking for a motor. Pressurizing the coolant with 10lbs overnight yielded no coolant in the combustion chambers. What I did observe, was that it only loses pressure when the engine is hot. Once it cooled off, it stabalized at 5 lbs overnight.
In the morning, I cracked the drain plug and another couple cups of antifreeze came out of my fresh oil change.
I will probably not do anything until spring, and ill drive it in the meantime as is locally. It has to be a cracked block, that is my best guess after running these tests and looking it over.

Probably doesn't have anything to loose, I did it in mine before tearing to down. But I very much doubt it will solve anything at all.

 

[mobileauto2000]

We don't know that his block is cracked. I agree it probably is. But I have seen a pinhole flaw in a 4cyl jeep engine and sealed it with stop leak because the customer could not afford a new block.
His head gasket may have been damaged across a water port to a oil drain back port. Long shot yes. But I have seen it happen by setting the edge of the head down on the gasket. Stop leak may fix that too. Would i bet my lunch on it fixing his truck? NO. But like I said stop leak is cheap.

 

[patracy]

I put 4 bottles in mine. Made no change at all. Honestly he can pick up a engine for probably $1K all said and done. Head gaskets and machine work will be that much. I wish I'd have just gone with another engine to start with.

 

[RAYZER]

I agree with patracy, you can spend way too much valuable time worrying about what it's going to take to fix a problem like this because of all the unknowns and all the work that it will take to figure it out and then the possibility of having to do the engine replacement anyway.
Pull the engine and replace it with a known good one and then tear the bad one down to diagnose the issue, if it's fixable then you have a spare or at least spare parts.
I have an engine waiting in the wings in case I blow mine up,
Having the spare gives me a warm fuzzy feeling!

 

[mobileauto2000]

You are all missing the point.

He said he can't take the truck out of service right now.

It would be just plane stupid not to try stop leak if you are going to drive it anyways.

I am a professional mechanic. I own a repair shop. I understand the limitations of stop leak.

Why does a simple suggestion end up a argument.

 

[RAYZER]

I agree with you fully to use stop leak for now.

 

[RAYZER]

Actually I think black pepper works well.

 

[gimpyrobb]

I can vouch for pepper! I have used it more than once.

 

[skinnyR1]

Pepper? Really?

The blowby this truck also has leads me to believe it was probably overheated when the head gasket previously blew. It all ties together. Im learning.

I have such a love hate relationship with this truck that I am just going to step away from it and drive it at a minimum as needed until spring.
I dont have any sort of gantry system to pull the motor either. Ill have to figure that one out too.

 

[gimpyrobb]

Look at the front motor mount x-member and see which one it is. If its the unbolt-able one, you will not need big equipment.

 

[skinnyR1]

Looks bolted to me if this is what you are talking about.

 

[gimpyrobb]

Nope, not the bolted in one. I'll try to post pics of a bolted in one.

 

[gimpyrobb]

Heres a pic...

 

[skinnyR1]

Another defeat on that one. Thanks for the info, none the less.

 

[patracy]

You are all missing the point.

He said he can't take the truck out of service right now.

It would be just plane stupid not to try stop leak if you are going to drive it anyways.

I am a professional mechanic. I own a repair shop. I understand the limitations of stop leak.

Why does a simple suggestion end up a argument.

I wasn't aware I was engaged in an argument? I was just stating what my experience was with this type of failure. His instances just sound too much like mine.

The only thing I have against the stop leak is all the "plugging" it does besides the "fix". And I guess I have a little regret for not just swapping the engine to start with.

I'd make a different suggestion since he needs to keep it in service. Pull the thermostat out completely as well as the radiator cap seal. Since multifuels are cold natured already and it's almost winter, I doubt it'd overheat. And if he's got a crack that's expanding when it gets to temp, this might slow it. And of course try the stop leak.

 

[patracy]

Pepper? Really?

The blowby this truck also has leads me to believe it was probably overheated when the head gasket previously blew. It all ties together. Im learning.

I have such a love hate relationship with this truck that I am just going to step away from it and drive it at a minimum as needed until spring.
I dont have any sort of gantry system to pull the motor either. Ill have to figure that one out too.

Didn't know you had blowby, that can be from the HG as well.

 

[skinnyR1]

Didn't know you had blowby, that can be from the HG as well.

It chugs like a train out the slobber tube. It has been like that since the day I picked it up with the new head gaskets.

It has the new style gaskets. You are implying this could be a minor head gasket failure?

 

[Tow4]

Just pull the heads if you think it's a head gasket. You can see if the head gasket is leaking, if not, get the heads checked for cracks. Either way it requires taking the engine apart. If you really need to use the truck, follow patracy's and others advice and use some kind of stop leak and hope for the best. If you keep running the engine with coolant getting in the oil, sooner or later, it's going to fail.

If you are going to keep running it, start looking for a new engine now. Good luck.

 

[rustystud]

We don't know that his block is cracked. I agree it probably is. But I have seen a pinhole flaw in a 4cyl jeep engine and sealed it with stop leak because the customer could not afford a new block.
His head gasket may have been damaged across a water port to a oil drain back port. Long shot yes. But I have seen it happen by setting the edge of the head down on the gasket. Stop leak may fix that too. Would i bet my lunch on it fixing his truck? NO. But like I said stop leak is cheap.

As a heavy equipment diesel mechanic for over 35 years I can tell you there is a big difference between a Jeep 4 cyl. gas engine and a diesel Hercules with a 22:1 compression engine. How this problem is described, using any stop leak is like "pissing in the wind". It will only get you wet. Having personally experienced it just like Patracy, I know that either the heads or block is junk. I have personally tried to save 4 diesel engines that had a coolant leak into the engine. I replaced the engine in everyone.
Your right "mobileauto" stop leak is cheap, but I just wouldn't waste my time.

 

[m-35tom]

so i went back and re read this whole thread. a LOT of what i saw is just guessing and wrong information. there is one thing we can assume and that is that the heads were not resurfaced. someone to cheap to do the job right is certainly not going to do that. add to that i have never seen heads on a multi that did not need re surfaceing even if it is only .002". (and that matters) i also know how hard it can be to really prove head gaskets are leaking. after you take it apart you may never find the problem, it needs to be diagnosed first and this guessing is not helping. if this were my engine, the very first thing i would do is this: http://www.blockchek.com/ i have used this stuff for 40 years and it will find problems when nothing else will. then the oil cooler, but i bet the head gaskets are leaking.