I went to do some repairs on my '88 4x2 today I noticed a small stream of coolant running down the exhaust side of the engine. It appears to be coming from the head gasket. I remember seeing the fluid about 1000 miles ago and I thought it was oil from the valve cover, but the sun was hitting it at just the right angle today and I noticed it was accumulating into a small green puddle near the base of the dipstick .

The truck seems to run fine and has no other symptoms of a blown head gasket. Does this mean the gasket is going to blow soon? Is there a chance I could just tighten the head bolts and keep it from blowing completely? Why would it blow on just the outside and not the inside?

 

Hmmm sounds a lot like mine...which does have HG issues. I also have the pool by the dip stick. I notice white steam on cold winter mornings coming out the the exaust which you probably never get in CA. But I also have to keep topping up my coolant. And my oil seems runny to me, but still clear.

I also bought it like that without knowing what I was doing at the time, so it has been really reliable for the past year...but I feel it's time is coming sooner then later.

Can anyone also answer me this, I changed my plugs recently which were about 3 maybe 4 months old and all cept one were covered in an orange residue. Any idea what that means?
The #4 has it threads repaired and still had some silver looking grease in and around the plug hole, it came out really oily but seems like it was from the repair.

 

i had a coolent stream at the back of my motor in my old truck. just around the #4 cylinder was always wet on the drivers side. it stayed that way for about 2 months, the the rest of the gasket blew, i started noticing puffs of steam every time i shifted. and it only got worse from there. when i took it apart i found the #4 piston and chamber had been steam cleaned.

 

Yes, it sounds like you have an externally leaking headgasket. It may or may not start leaking internally, but if you let it go, you can count on it. Tightening the head bolts may cause more problems than it cures, so I wouldn't do that.

Replace the headgasket.

 

Thanks for the replies. It sounds like there is no way around having to do the head gasket.

It gets cold enough here for steam to come out of the exhaust, and I did notice that there seemed to be a lot more steam coming out of this truck than other vehicles I have owned. That orange residue on your plugs is probably just anti-sieze. Is it on the threads or the electrode?

 

Check this out.

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...e-pics-116036/

I had a similar problem. I drained my coolant and used a Copper Block Weld -type product before refilling with new coolant. It went a few thousand miles without a drop, then after the winter, it began to seep out just a bit again, but MUCH less than before.

 

also check to see if the coolant pipe that attaches to the timing cover is leaking.

 

It was on the electrode. Pretty sure it wasent anti seize, it was more like rust / ash powder heavily coated. It was on pretty thick.

 

That sounds like a hot burning cylinder.... burning some water/coolant.