Check Your Coolant Levels! :Doah:

Went to the store at lunch. When I came back out and started the truck it looked like a smoke stack spewing sweet white smoke out of my tailpipe. It stopped, but I kept a nervous eye on the temp gauge all the way back and made it.

Then I went to leave and the damn truck would not turn over. I thought I might have warped the engine. It eventually started, but then the smoke returned and then the smoke came back while the gauge started going up. I got to a parking lot before it over heated and did real damage (I hope).

I knew I should be checking the coolant, because I have a slow leak or something. I hadn’t in a while because my latch sticks and nothing around the house fit through the grill. Lucky I was parked in a Home Depot and was able to buy a piece of rebar to get the hood open.

I called my mechanic for reassurance….twice. I love Penn Auto. He said check the coolant and make sure that there was no coolant in the oil. The oil checked out fine. There was some pressure in the radiator and it was pretty much dry. He said as long as the oil was clean I could fill it up and drive it home, just make sure to watch the gauge and not let it over heat.

I had half a bottle of antifreeze and there was no station in walking distance. I put the antifreeze in, said a prayer and nervously made my way home.

The gauge moved a little back and forth, which I wasn’t too worried about since I knew that there was probably air in the system and not enough coolant. Another thing happened was the heat finally started coming out the vents. Not sure why the blower wasn’t blowing?

So now I’ll be on pins and needles the next few weeks, even with bringing the truck in for an oil change and look over on Friday. All of this was unnecessary, as I was just to irresponsible and lazy to go buy a piece of rebar or something to help unhinge the hood.

The other thing that makes me nervous is that the engine would not turn over. How could that be related?

Any how, do as I say, not as I do.

Thanks for listening, it was quite cathartic.

You may have gotten lucky ….BUT why was your coolant level LOW to begin with ?

I service a fleet of cabs that run 24/7/365 and very rarely do I need to add any antifreeze,but I also do a flush once a year.

As hot as your engine got, the engine block would expand, locking the pistons into place. Once it cooled down and shrank back to its normal dimensions, the pistons were released. Scary, ain’t it!

Hate to say it, but its head gasket or intake manifold gasket time. the white smoke is anti freeze in your cylinder(s). Your engine was hydraulic locked, meaning your cylinder had liquid in it. This will not always make your oil turn white right away.

Sounds like the head and/or gasket is leaking coolant into a cylinder causing a cylinder to hydralic lock. The white sweet smelling smoke is coolant being burned through the exhaust.

I hope you don’t run it untill you get it fixed or you’ll do more damage then is already done. Stan

Should have bought a……

Mac!

Sorry for making light of your situation Mike. Hope it works out for the best.

I got until Friday to bring it into the shop. I got 2 days of work. So the consensus is don’t drive it even if I watch to make sure it doesn’t overheat?

I should add once I added anti freeze there was no smoke which I thought was odd. I would think that it would have made it worse?

Never mind. It looks like the oil level went up magically overnight. So is this a manifold gasket leak? What $$$ am I looking at?

Never let an engine get hot or run low on oil. Both are terminal. Sorry to say but you have most likely shortened it’s life greatly.

No doubt about it, your engine has a real problem. Sooner you do a teardown and fix it, you are only doing more damage by trying to run it now.
It will not fix itself, don’t put any or this MOUSE MILK stuff in the radiator or crankcast,it is a waste of money at this stage.

Hope this helps.

Start a fire under the hood and have an insurance claim……….

i had anti-freeze get into my oil……headcasket. cost me about 1500 bucks……….i think. i had it also tuned up. cheaper then a new truck and the truck had like 190,000 miles on it. dont qoute me on the cost, mighta been closer to 2 grand. now got something draining the juice from the battery.

My wife’s Jeep starting losing coolant magically, overheating and the temp guage would go wacky. Ended up being a cracked head.
Full top engine rebuild was $3200.

These last posts probably has Pug over in a corner hurling into a waste basket. Making me quesy and it’s not even my truck.

My ranger has been using coolant for a while now. Our mechanic said it was leaking by the water pump so he put a new seal there and put a new cap on the radiator and it seems fine now. Might be a good place to start.

You guys are supposed to be making me feel better.

Well, nothing I can do about it now. Its in my mechanics well trained and honest hands. Hey, I guess I’ll get an oil change out of the deal too.

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My ranger has been using coolant for a while now. Our mechanic said it was leaking by the water pump so he put a new seal there and put a new cap on the radiator and it seems fine now. Might be a good place to start.

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One of the first questions the mechanic asked was if there was any leaking and there hasn’t been any.

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My ranger has been using coolant for a while now. Our mechanic said it was leaking by the water pump so he put a new seal there and put a new cap on the radiator and it seems fine now. Might be a good place to start.

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One of the first questions the mechanic asked was if there was any leaking and there hasn’t been any.

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Yep the bad outcomes start with no leaks. Oh, wait. We’re supposed to be making you feel better..

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My ranger has been using coolant for a while now. Our mechanic said it was leaking by the water pump so he put a new seal there and put a new cap on the radiator and it seems fine now. Might be a good place to start.

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One of the first questions the mechanic asked was if there was any leaking and there hasn’t been any.

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Yep the bad outcomes start with no leaks. Oh, wait. We’re supposed to be making you feel better..

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If it helps you to feel any better, I had a very similar problem on my previous truck. At right around 100K miles it slowly started to loose coolant without any visible coolant leaks. Also every once in a while, but not consistently, there would be white smoke when I first started the vehicle. No coolant in the oil. Just like you I was pretty concerned so brought it in to a friend and we did a pressure test. We added dye, pressurized and left it overnight and in the morning using a blacklight we still couldn’t find any leaking.

We decided that since there was no coolant in the oil and it was a very slow leak that rather than spend money to replace the head gasket we would start by just adding a $3 container of stop leak (I believe it was Barr’s) The leak went away and I never had a problem again for another 60K miles. Definitly get it checked out but it might be nothing much at all

Thanks a lot for the feel good response Will. What part of torturing Pug dont you understand?

I’ve used bars leak before also, it works sometimes.. other times it plugs up your heater core.

So with winter coming on you may have to bring a window scapper and hand warmers while driving.

Or leave the windows open

Don’t feel too bad Pug. I went in to get my root canal checked ealier this week only to find out they can’t save it so I need a 4000 dollar surgery to fix it and my insurance ah doesn’t cover it.

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Don’t feel too bad Pug. I went in to get my root canal checked ealier this week only to find out they can’t save it so I need a 4000 dollar surgery to fix it and my insurance ah doesn’t cover it.

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You don’t need that. Unlike a vehicle, the body will heal itself.

Seriously, though, have you gotten a second opinion? Never get any kind of non-emergency surgery without a second opinion. The current dentist just might be behind on his Mercedes payments.

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Don’t feel too bad Pug. I went in to get my root canal checked ealier this week only to find out they can’t save it so I need a 4000 dollar surgery to fix it and my insurance ah doesn’t cover it.

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You don’t need that. Unlike a vehicle, the body will heal itself.

Seriously, though, have you gotten a second opinion? Never get any kind of non-emergency surgery without a second opinion. The current dentist just might be behind on his Mercedes payments.

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Lol

Yeah I’ve seen the pictures and been to a specialist. I don’t have to do it right away. It is one of my front teeth so I’d like to find the btard the punched me when I was 16 and rearrange his domicle.

I can help you find him for…… 1 million dollars bwahahahaha

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I’d like to find the btard the punched me when I was 16 and rearrange his domicle.

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You want to offer him free interior decorating service?

hey pugslee time for a new ride

Drove past the shop at 4:45. She is on the operating table (in a bay)and the doctor hasn’t come out to give me any news. I wish in this case no news was good news, but I know it isn’t. But you know what, I don’t give a damn. What is done is done. I got Labor Day weekend up at the Horseshoe chain with my Michelle, our friends and Michelle and Karen’s moms.

To top it off, it is the 7 year anniversary of being with Michelle. PM me for our address to send sympathy cards to her.