Head gasket?

Discussion in 'Heavy Duty Diesel Truck Mechanics Forum' started by zbright85, Nov 8, 2019.

  1. zbright85

    zbright85 Bobtail Member

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    5ek motor, I start the truck and it smokes white like crazy till it warms up then it goes away. Doesn’t smoke going down the road and is running good. At first I was thinking it was an injector and I have about 10k miles since I first noticed the smoke. Last week I noticed a couple drops under the overflow hose so I grabbed a water bottle and it.. had the bubbles. Day after I didn’t notice any loss in coolant but the third day I put in a gallon and ran it 4 more days without adding any. And one day even being empty if I stopped at a light and went to take off it felt like it would load up on take off and white smoke would puff out but it has only done that on that day.

    So talking to people and trying to research I’ve come to head or head gasket or liner. The truck was suppose to have 300-400k miles on a rebuild when I got it and I’ve put 150k myself. I did replace all injectors last May, it had a miss after shifting up for a second or two. But replacing them fixed that.
    So now I have some down time I’m going to tear into it. I got home and did the bubble test with the over flow tube and there was still bubbles, if I pop the radiator cap there is no bubbles. Then I put the cap back on and there was no bubbles... until probably 30 seconds and it started to bubble and a big splash like it was releasing and then stopped bubbling but returns again after a minute and stops and repeats that pattern...(that’s when I took the video) there’s nothing on the radiator or oil cap or valve covers, it’s all clean.
    No oil in the water or vice versa.

    just wondering if anyone has seen this before.

     
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  3. spsauerland

    spsauerland Road Train Member

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    Get an oil analysis. Elevated potassium and sodium would indicate it is burning coolant.
     
  4. DieselTech_Aus

    DieselTech_Aus Light Load Member

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    Eliminate air compressor by doing the same test but with the safety valve in the air compressor head removed.

    Eliminate any air controlled heater valves if fitted by blocking off air supply.

    If bubbles still are present it’s likely bypassing the head gasket. Regardless of what any tech tells you with liner heights being ok or within spec, remove the liner on the relative cylinder to the fire ring bypass signs.

    Often a bypassing heAd gasket will measure up ok. But it will be recessed into the deck and have material under the liner flange Missing on one or 2 corners. The hold down bolt torque used for measuring protrusion won’t flex the flange as much as when the engine is running and therefore won’t show the recession into the deck

    Cathead gaskets 99% of time only fail from a dropped liner

    It will likely need counter bores but and shims installed
     
  5. Rideandrepair

    Rideandrepair Road Train Member

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    I suspect the compressor head gasket, along with an air leak, causing it to cycle.
     
  6. Rideandrepair

    Rideandrepair Road Train Member

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    What make and year Truck?
     
  7. zbright85

    zbright85 Bobtail Member

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    1995 379. I sent an oil sample off today. I disconnect the line from the compressor to the tanks. Is there any others I should take off?

    just read previous post above, thanks
     
    Last edited: Nov 8, 2019
    Rideandrepair Thanks this.
  8. Rideandrepair

    Rideandrepair Road Train Member

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    I’m pretty sure that should be good. There’s 2 lines for cooling. But I think if the main line is disconnected, all air made by compressor escapes. The reason I asked about year, as DieselTechAus said, check heater control valves. Bunk and cab, some 99 and older Trucks had air over electric valves. They have a 1/4” airline running to them. When bad, once set temp is reached, and they close, air pushes past them into system. You get the on and off effect, like what yours is doing. Simple way to check, (if you do have one or two of those type heater control valves),is to simply turn off the heater hose water valves at the water pump.Isolating the engine from the heater valves.
     
    zbright85 Thanks this.
  9. wore out

    wore out Numbered Classic

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    Well I ain't trying to be the bearer of bad news but the compressor head gasket and smoke is not gonna cause the smoke.......

    I agree on a oil analysis for sure, I always pull the exhaust pipe off the turbo and take a bright flashlight and look in the back side of turbo. If its burning antifreeze you will see little grains of sand looking stuff. That's coolant burning in a cylinder.

    It could be a number of things from a pin hole in a liner to a dropped liner or head gasket. If it's a head gasket you need to find the cause it's rare for one to just go tits up
     
  10. zbright85

    zbright85 Bobtail Member

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    I agree on the liner or head gasket.

    I just thought it would bubble the whole time. It almost makes me think the compressor was pressurizing the coolant since it isn’t constant bubble and once it reaches pressure it releases it through the overflow. Along with a bad injector leaking so tomorrow I’ll check the turbo and pull the manifold.

    I left the radiator cap off last night to release the pressure and started it this morning it was cold out below 32 degrees but still smoked way more than it should have. Went to tighten the cap and smoke appears to come out of the radiator fill hole and maybe a little more blow by than normal. I guess it’s all just starting

    I’m prepared for a rebuild if necessary and I do appreciate the input.

    I may have found a 6nz with 100k on a silver rebuild so then I’m not sure if I want to swap or rebuild what I got.. just about have the tire bill paid ya know something will go wrong hahaha
     
    Rideandrepair Thanks this.
  11. swaan

    swaan Road Train Member

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    The smoke is usually the result of low compression on a cylinder . Compression is getting into the cooling system and or the base.
     
    Dino soar, Rideandrepair and zbright85 Thank this.
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