I think I have a blown headgasket.

Symptoms are as follows:
Tons of white smoke
hard to start
stumbling at start up
goes away after it warms up
loss of power
evaporated milk on the inside of my oil filler cap
milky dipstick


the compression test is what we use to test for a blown HG?

The truck did sit for a couple of weeks in a damp garage with the oil pump off.... But it did stumble once on startup right before that.

Clearly I have coolant or water in my cylinders and clearly it is burning off. There is a slight chance that it could be water in the gas, I suppose, but that never really happens I guess.

I have noticed less smoke the warmer it is outside.

How would you guys proceed?

Many thanks!

White smoke is from your coolant and also coolant in the oil is the white cream you see. Its either a blown head gasket or a crack somewhere.

better to swap in long block or put in a new head?
short block has 165xxx miles on it....


head = $400 or so shipped
long block = $950 plus shipping...

Any advice at all? In relation to timing chain, how hard is headgasket?

A guy I know can work me in his shop on a saturday for a good rate. Couple of guys I know are saying so long as the truck didn't overheat, just slap a new gasket in there. I'm a touch skeptical but I don't know if I would be better off putting a new head on an old block or not -> fearful that a new head might cause the old short block to fail prematurely.

Anybody out there just slap new gasket in there and roll with it?

thanks!

Take a deep breath and call around to the machine shops and have the head pressure tested and the bottom touched up in case it's warped.

No sense in doing this half-arsed. While it's torn down, consider tossing a new timing chain kit in it and drive it like you stole it.

ALSO CHANGE YOUR OIL AND FILTER; they're contaminated.

I probably won't get around to wrenching on this for a while - should I drain the oil out now? Or just leave it in until I get to wrenching on it...

thanks

Park it where you want it to sit and go ahead and drain it while we have your ear.... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/notooth.gif" alt="" /> Ya don't want to space it out later on.

Gonna solve all my engine problems... and put a new one in!

Looks like at the moment I will go with a place called overbore.com. Found em on Ebay. I would love to go with EB and company or some other guys in Oregon but the shipping would be killer. Shipping is much cheaper from NY.

the guys core charge comes out to like a couple of hundred if anybody wants my "core" - busted headgasket but with new oil and water pumps and a new TC
Just trying to look out for y'all...