Burning coolant problem

[jwestra]

Hello,

Alright so i took a trip to a friends house a while ago my truck always gets really good gas mileage (20mpg) and on the way there and back it took more than a tank and it usually takes about a half tank.

Then my truck sat for a while and i was going to drive it to town and right after i left it started to overheat reall bad and was burning coolant so i went home and pulled the plugs and just one on the drivers side back was wet with coolant.

So far i have taken the intake off and and the back two ports of the back of the lower intake look like they have coolant in them. Now im just wondering if that could be the lower intake gasket or a headgasket? it really burned ALOT of coolant when it really overheated, i mean i had a big white cloud following me.

Thanks,
Jacob

 

[BRUTUS_T_HOG]

sounds like the intake started leaking. you're already far enough to just remove the cylinder heads and replace the head gaskets while you're there.

 

[monsterchuck]

I agree, you've done half the work already to get to the headgaskets, and you overheated it pretty badly, so even if it was just a lower intake leak, you may have blown a headgasket right there. Besides, do you want to have to take it apart twice?

 

[kwikerness]

How many miles do you have on your engine?? it's a good idea to have the head checked too. Chances are good your head gasket blew. I'm sure there's a good machine shop with a great rep somewhere nearby. Have them pressure test and resurface the head. Should run anywhere from $90 - $125.00 per head. You'll be glad you did!

If you reassemble yourself
http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/4_0_Page.html

 

[jwestra]

Its just that i replaced the heads and headgaskets and everything a year ago. The head were fluxed, everything redone and good. Thats why i dont know if i should pull the heads or not because it doesnt make sence for it to have a blown headgasket already. Its just the drivers side back port that seemed to have coolant in it.

Also the lower intake bolts seemed to be a little loose

Thanks,
Jacob

 

[kwikerness]

YIKES!!That's not what I want to hear because it's the exact same issue I had in the exact same place that caused me to tear down and rebuild.
Hope nothing else happens from here. 145,000 miles and counting.