Here is my problem and symptoms;

I was driving with a cracked exhaust manifold for over a year and finally decided to replace a couple of months ago....mainly because the engine started to act up and seemed to not start very well for the last few months. It was kind of missing or chugging....just at startup. So I assumed it was due to back pressure or something like that..... Then a few weeks before I was getting ready to do the job. I was going into a carwash and my temp gauge started going up like a rocket.....I revved the engine and the gauge dropped fast, back to normal. Then after a min started going back-up again. I live right around the corner so I drove home watching the gauge....no problems. When I checked the rad and bottle....it was empty or close to it for the rad. Obviously I was worried it was the head so I filled the rad started the engine with the cap off and no bubbles.... so maybe its not the head. Finally changed the exhaust manifold and also did the head gasket and fuel filter at the same time. However, my fluid still seems to be very slowly disappearing, I still have a miss-fire on ONLY warm days at start-up(so it seems) and can't find no leaks under the hood.

I unfortunately did not get the head checked for cracks and now wish I had.....but I am not convinced it is the head.

Should I take it apart again?? Could the miss be an injector?? How else can I determine if the rad fluid is being burned off or leaking??

I have just under 400kms on the engine ( all highway) and it still runs strong.

PS. The pistons and walls looked perfect when we took the head off.

I am a bit baffled by what is happening all of a sudden.... If its cold out the truck starts and runs perfect. If it is blazing hot out, the truck has not even started twice after a long drive. I had to let it sit for a few mins...

 

wrong forum. this is 86-95's

 

I drove with a cracked manifold on my 2.7L for too long and I cracked the head and burned up two valves, which caused me to lose compression in cyl 1 and have a pretty bad miss. I wasn't loosing any coolant though. Any white smoke in the exhaust?

 

You read my mind...

 

Forgot to add that in..... weird because before I replaced the gasket there was white smoke but not allot. Now there is not on a daily basis but the 2 times it did not start right away, there was quite a bit when it finally started. The weird thing is that I drive it everyday 150+ kms and no smoke.

 

I dunno...it might be just enough of a crack to be letting water by, but still burning off for the most part. Heath will probably check back in on this and he might have a more direct idea of what's up with it.

 

oops... how do I get it moved?

 

How does the cracked manifold affect the head?