Loss of coolant leaking radiator leading to white smoke

Tiny
WILL REY
  • MEMBER
  • 1998 GMC SIERRA
  • 5.7L
  • V8
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 175,000 MILES
Vortec engine. I had a radiator leak, the guy drove it after it overheated. The dash gauge said "check gauges" The gauge says red all the time even when the truck is off. Turn back on the truck has not even reached operating temperature and the gauge still is in the red. He changed the radiator but might be too late. There is white smoke out the tail pipe and it appears to be leaking coolant from the edge of the muffler itself.

Mechanics are saying to replace the entire engine. But, they have not inspected the vehicle just off the back they are saying to replace the engine.

Can it be a blown head gasket? Or is it possible the block faces are warped or the cylinder heads are warped. Or if there are any other possibilities can anyone share?
Sunday, September 3rd, 2017 AT 7:55 PM

7 Replies

Tiny
KEN L
  • MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
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Yes, it can be just a blown head gasket which if they found which side they can do the one. Or it is burnt to a crisp and everything is cracked it all depends on how bad it is. By the sounds of it with the temp gauge pegged it probably needs a motor. They do not want to gamble it.

Please let us know what happens.

Cheers, Ken
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Tuesday, September 5th, 2017 AT 2:57 PM
Tiny
WILL REY
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So here is an update we did a short compression test like I mean seconds short cause we saw water coming out of the spark plug ports
youtube. Com/watch?V=GhPRAh0zyp8

we removed the head on one side still have to do the other side but look at this engine block and this is after we soaked all the coolant out of all the walls
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Friday, September 8th, 2017 AT 9:19 PM
Tiny
KEN L
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Nice work, the youtube URL does not work can you double check the address for me please? Can we get more pictures of the engines condition (cylinder walls) this can tell us how much life is left in the engine.
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Saturday, September 9th, 2017 AT 10:50 AM
Tiny
WILL REY
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhPRAh0zyp8 for some reason when i post the link it puts spaces in the link i think it has to be backspaced on those empty spaces to work, Im actually going to continue working on this tomorrow i will post more pictures soon
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Saturday, September 9th, 2017 AT 7:55 PM
Tiny
KEN L
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Okay the link works if you take the space out I will have my tech guy look at why it is doing that. You have no compression so something is going on, are you going to take the cylinder head off on that side?
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Monday, September 11th, 2017 AT 9:12 AM
Tiny
WILL REY
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Yeah it turns out the head is cracked right were the valve seats and the gasket its really burnt up bad.
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Thursday, September 14th, 2017 AT 5:45 PM
Tiny
KEN L
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Yep that's what I thought it could be. Can you shoot a quick video and upload it to the site we just added a new feature!

I would like to see it :)

Cheers, Ken
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Friday, September 15th, 2017 AT 2:16 PM

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