Sometimes the older engines

are just a pain in the a$$. Here I been babying the damn truck...got my electric fans installed is all I have done so far (need to rewire though...dont like it yet) and I was driving down the highway and the radiator blew. I limped it off the highway and made it to a small convenience strore but it was clacking away and it dies (ever notice you put the hazards on and every idiot gets in behind you then gets pissed???) so I might to the lil store and start calling Checkers for parts...$200 for a rad, but the guy was a jerk so I wound up going to AutoZone (I never go there but desperate moments call for desperate things), call my girl (big HUGE props to her for getting out of bed and coming and rescuing me so I can get my parts....such a awesome woman I have), get back and start the reinstall (tore it down before my girl got there....well of course...nothing FITS!!! And my bolts for the rad supports are stripped,,,well damn. It just kept going like that...but eventually I got it back together and limped home (running like crap last night.....found a plug wire that had also popped off) one fan has stopped working (dunno yet...will look into it tonight maybe)

So I got off work after 12 hours in the heat and then worked on that thing till almost 2 am and back up for work this morning...and I think the timing might be off now cuz its idling funny some and acting kinda gutless...any ideas?

Thanks in advance for any help

Jim

if the truck overheated, good chance u blew a head gasket.check for water in the oil,bubbles in the oil,etc.
good news is the head gasket is an easy fix and not too expensive.I have a fairly new set of Maz plug wires I just took off my truck ur welcome to for the postage.I think new Maz wires are about 100 bucks a set now from the dealer.bj

Thanks man....I checked both coolant and oil level this morning and didnt see anything...so I gots my hopes up there....just worried if I mighta warped it. I might change it just to be sure and have the head shaved a mill....might just find another and have that done and get that head built up some.....been looking into a 4.3 chev motor and a OD tranny although parts of me like the shifting at times.


I wanna flush the entire cooling system but afraid since that stuff is basically acid and I know the cooling system wasnt cared for properly or very well...its still kinda rusty in there. getting better lil by lil.

cool.might watch for a bit of white smoke on start-up that smells sweetish.sign ur burning coolant.gasket should blow before a head warps so I wouldnt be as worried about the head as I would the gasket.bj

bump.most commercial flush produts really dont work all that well.best thing is just pull the radiator,take it to ur local rad shop and let them clean it for u.

Its pretty rusty looking...been flushing it myself with distilled water...added some pressure on the old rad...it was running clean out and did the same for the engine....but...its still little nasty looking...MUCH MUCH better than it was when I first bought it...but all in all...I think I got lied to about the rebuild on the engine....sigh...oh well they are pretty cheap to rebuild I guess...and might as well do some work and get some ponies out of the ole girl in the process....next project...score a motor for rebuild, get my AC fixed, and then...on to the rest.

still gonna drop her though here soon...gonna go old skool for a bit with torsion crank and blocks....LOL!!


Oh and its got a brand new radiator in there along with thermostat and gaskets and hardware....Im a lil anal on that stuff