I just feel like crap

[redkneck]

Finished installing the rear end this afternoon. Went to crank it and realized I had left the key in the "on" position for a week now, so the battery drags bad when I crank it after charging. The u-joints have got to be replaced, but the rear end sounds and drives ok. But when driving around I noticed the temp was too high. Not red zone, but too high. I left it idling and was going to add some water to try to get it right. Unscrewed the cap and let off the pressure. Went to unscrew it and the volcano of hot water came out and burnt me, nothing serious. Left it idling and started adding water only to get gobs of air burping through throwing half the water I was adding out.

When I parked it in the spring everything was ok, except for the drivetrain, now I'm afraid I have a blown head gasket. I have driven it at least once a month to keep it charged and in decent condition. Any words of wisdom would be nice to have right now.

The corolla also blew a p/s pressure hose on the way home..... yay!

Any helpful words would be welcomed now.

thanks,

john

[jcot2773]

OK, have you changed the oil? a milky white oil is often your best indicator of a blown head gasket. You can get into compression checks and what not, but that takes a while to do and is not recommended unless your with someone that has done it before. the thermostat is burping (letting air out) dont fill it all the way, just fill it until you can see the antifreeze, then wait, it will go down when the thermostat opens. also, get it up to operating temp. (the temp gauge measures water temp not block temp) so drive it for 15 minutes, and then as redneck as this sounds put it to the floor. it is good for it to be done sometimes but not everytime you drive it. just to get the engine working a little harder, and get the rpms up.

let us know what the oil looks like when you change it. i would suggest that first.

[LETMGROW]

First of all. Let her cool down. You are lucky you didn't get scalded. These new cooling systems are not very forgiving.

With the engine cool, fill it to capacity and wait. Let the water level burp itself for a while and keep filling it until it levels out and you don't hear any bubbling. Install the cap and start the engine. Bring it up to temperature and shut it down. Let it sit for an hour or so and SLOWLY loosen the resevoir cap. Fill to capacity again. Seal the system and restart the engine. Watch the temp. and if it stays around the 200 deg. mark you are probably good to go for now.

The coolant must have gone somewhere. Not necessarily a head gasket. These engines are noted for water pump to block gasket failures. If you know someone with a cooling system pressure tester this could be checked out rather easily. Obviously there are a lot of other places it could leak, but I'd look there first.

Also sounds like the battery may have bit the dust. Either try a known good battery in the truck or fully charge the battery you have and have it load tested. Batteries tend to get lazy after they sit around for a while.

Good luck, keep us posted.

Lynn

[redkneck]

Thanks for the advice. I already let it cool down before I read your post. I calmed down and figured I must have just run it low on water, and got a little hot, then was trying to force some water in it. Filled it up, let it cool 2 hours, ran fine after that. The truck has always lost coolant from day one when i got it in cherry condition with 29K on it. I guess it was just lower than I thought, and I was already worked up from fighting the other repairs all day, plus the blown hose on the toyota. New U-joints and I'll be getting there.

Thanks for the advice!

[redkneck]

Also Lynn, I replaced the water pump, t-stat, and gasket (of course) last year, so I doubt that's the leak area. Really don't have a clue where it leaks, but as long as it maintains its same slow pace all will be fine.

Will try to pick up a couple of u-joints tomorrow and see how it drives. Always hated replacing them in that aluminum driveshaft.

[LETMGROW]

Some of the early 5.3's had a weak cylinder head around the headbolt area. They would crack and seep coolant slowly.

GM dealers have a coolant stop leak tablet available which will slow down the leak. I am not into "Band-Aid" fixes, but this one is effective for a while. Keep a close eye on the coolant level. Any overheating can aggravate the crack if in fact this is the problem.

There are certain markings on the suspect cyl. heads you can look for. This requires rocker cover removal. If you decide to investigate, Shaun or I can tell you what to look for.

A problem with the Dex-Cool anti freeze is it doesn't cloud up or turn the oil milky as fast as the old green stuff.

Best way to check for coolant in the oil is to let the truck sit overnight and drain some oil off into a clean jar. The water or coolant will be on the bottom of the pan. This will tell you if you are getting coolant into the oil.

Lynn

[redkneck]

Thanks Lynn for the advice. Dropped 2 new U-jts in this morning, runs much better. I still have a high-frequency driveline vibration that shows up at around 50 mph. I'm pretty sure it's not in the steering, or at least I cant feel it. Is there a serviceable bearing where the driveshaft plugs into the transfer case?

Hard to diagnose those things to me.

[LETMGROW]

2 or 4 wd? If it's 4 you could have a front shaft joint gone bad.

The rear shaft runs on a bronze bushing. Seldom are these a problem.

Lynn

[redkneck]

4x4 Lynn. I just got in from an overnight trip to the deer camp. I'll check the other shaft today, I hope that's all it is to it. Does that shaft turn all the time, even in 2wd? Or are you talking about the halfshafts that go to the wheels?

[Goinghuntin]

It does turn in 2WD John but it isn't driven by the transfer case it's driven by the left front wheel. So that could be your problem.

Nathan

[redkneck]

Good call Lynn. The rear U-joint in the front shaft is toast. Guess that will be a project for next weekend, along with seals for the x-fer case and front diff, and oil change.

[Shaun_300]

Sucks that you had more problems John. At least you have them figured out. Yeah like Lynn said the only real coolant loss problem on the new LS based engines is the waterpump gaskets between the pump and block. I've only seen one bad head gasket in over 5 years being in this trade on those engines. I know like he said the first designed heads that had a Castech casting some had problems with small cracks near the oil drain holes. This wasn't a common occurrence though. Now that you have it all filled up with no air in it, you should put some coolant trace dye in it and if it starts going down, check for the dye with a black light.

[redkneck]

Sucks that you had more problems John. At least you have them figured out. Yeah like Lynn said the only real coolant loss problem on the new LS based engines is the waterpump gaskets between the pump and block. I've only seen one bad head gasket in over 5 years being in this trade on those engines. I know like he said the first designed heads that had a Castech casting some had problems with small cracks near the oil drain holes. This wasn't a common occurrence though. Now that you have it all filled up with no air in it, you should put some coolant trace dye in it and if it starts going down, check for the dye with a black light.

Thanks Shaun. The truck has always used water a little bit. Replaced pump and gaskets last year, I doubt that's it, but I'll have to try it sometime. I figured the water was seeping into the intake or something over time. Picked up a couple of U-Joints yesterday, but got home last night and put a p/s hose on the toyota instead, it just saves SO much more on gas. I'd also like to get some seals to put in the x-fer case and front diff before jumping on the front shaft anyway.