Yipee! Looks like my truck has a blown head gasket!

[1FASTLASER]

No the coolant loss points at either a head and/or head gasket possible even a intake gasket problem. Its really hard to say with out looking at the motor itself. When you pull the plugs take a careful look at them. You can see whether or not water has been present in the cylinder. The offending plug will have a glazed look to it.

[WTL]

OK! Now I get it, we are talking 2 different problems here. Cause I was trying to figure out how the atm fluid had anything to do with the coolant seemingly coming out of the engine....

If thats the case, when I replaced the radiator I used compression fittings on the atm cooler lines going to the new radiator...atm fluid is lighter than water...it wouldn't suprise me if it were possibly leaking there and me in my infinite irresponsibilty just allowed the level to get that low...what say you? Just regular copper plumbing compression fittings...?

[1FASTLASER]

Now u are on the right page. Regular compression fittings do just fine.

[WTL]

OK, brass tacks.....

I took one more look today, I still wont be able to do the compression tests until after the new year...but I found this pic on the net....and I can see the leak on my own truck very easily (its pouring out fluid!)



This is not my engine, but the same exact engine on the same model and I recognize the parts. I added the red color where its leaking on mine. Is this in fact the lower intake manifold? If so, I have a leaking intake manifold gasket, correct?

How does this repair compare time and expertise wise to head gasket repair?

[1FASTLASER]

No pic came through buddy.

[adamgambill]

Intake gaskets are simple, require less tools, knowledge etc. You just need to be extremely clean when putting it back together. Get a good PLASTIC scraper and some VERY VERY Fine sandpaper or emory cloth. Use brake cleaner on the mating surfaces before re-fitting the gaskets and intake. Those setups with the o'rings and plastic frames are notorious for leaking when they are replaced on dirty mating surfaces. Would highly reccomend a basic compression check but first get a cooling system pressure tester or just pull in to a garage and ask them to pressure up your cooling system 'cause youre looking for a leak. Tip the tech a 10 or something and go from there. If it is the intake or something external you will see a stream of coolant pissing out of the aflicted area. This will save you some time.

[WTL]

Ha Ha!



OK, now I have her opened up. It took several hours cause of various problems, things in the way, numerous different sizes of sockets need both metric and standard, but this is where I am. Tommorow, add gaskets and do everything in reverse.

[zooker]

cliton's or haynes manuals are the best $20 you can spend on and older ride..

zooker

[WTL]

Yea I have a haynes.

All the delays werent from knowing what needed to be done, I just kept having trouble getting the room to work. I spent an hour on 1 screw at the top of the valve cover. Finally found a 10 m open end 90 wrench that did the trick, but only after I tried everything in the toolbox.

[zooker]

yeah newer stuff is no fun to work on i tell ya.. ya have to have 6 grand in tools just to change the spark plugs on some rides now a days..


zooker

[adamgambill]

Sweet just be glad you aint crackin the heads off that bad boy.

[bassnman30]

Well, mines fixed and runnin like a scalded dog.
Not to worry there WTL, you'll get it.

[adamgambill]

Wanna come down here and help me with my cam swap? Free beer.

[WTL]

The explorer is back together. Still have some vacuum lines that I gotta figure out which goes where...pain in the *** cause I don't understand the diagrams. She wont idle right now, but I'll get it. Also I look like James Dean in Giant after he struck oil. Should have picked up some lava.

[1FASTLASER]

Originally Posted by adamgambill

Wanna come down here and help me with my cam swap? Free beer.

Hmmmm cam swap. Are we doing this to gain some performance or did the lobes go soft on ya. Man I LOVE putting performance back in a vehicle. Nuttin like hearing the deep growl of a finely tuned motor and saying "I DID IT" ........Only one thing better than that and thats drooping the throttle on a V6 Merc on a crisp morning and getting that ch** eating grin as you and a buddy head out to a fishing spot. IT DONT GET NO BETTER
Ya need any tips of help on the cam swap give a holler.....thats right up my alley.

[adamgambill]

Originally Posted by 1FASTLASER

Hmmmm cam swap. Are we doing this to gain some performance or did the lobes go soft on ya. Man I LOVE putting performance back in a vehicle. Nuttin like hearing the deep growl of a finely tuned motor and saying "I DID IT" ........Only one thing better than that and thats drooping the throttle on a V6 Merc on a crisp morning and getting that ch** eating grin as you and a buddy head out to a fishing spot. IT DONT GET NO BETTER
Ya need any tips of help on the cam swap give a holler.....thats right up my alley.

Naw just kidding around about the help. The LS1 is a beast to tackle as the heads will come off, the cover oil pan - everything but the block comes off. Im going with what would be considered a "radical RV cam". Should give gains somewhere around 35-40 RWHP. Itll be in the summer before I get after it. Toying with having the block bored to 5.7L from 5.3 size I think 4", putting in a set of flat tops and some ported heads-we'll see what the wallet can handle. But no my 5.3 is still running strong at 174,000 rough miles. I drive alot of highway but beat the hell out of her too. Thank Heaven for Royal Purple.