Im in cold weather. Alaska. Its about 10 degs over the time this started.

Problems started: I was doing some maintenance yesterday and notice the coolant was low so I filled it up. It wasn't bone dry but low. Filled it and didn't think much of it. Later that night.. I discovered the problem. I started the truck and let it warm up while I was inside and not paying attention to it. roughly 30 mins. Came out to a puddle of coolant and a real hot engine with a bit of smoke coming off of it, not full on, but a bit.

This problem also recently started after I had the truck in for some new tires and an oil change (normally do it myself but it was friggin cold and I don't have a garage).

High initial idle. This morning (cold so normalish)

Over heats quickly: Started it this morning to get it to a friends house to work on it but after a less than 5min idle started driving around the block and by the time I got back it overheated.. less than 10 min over all. Stopped and turned engine off. After cooling a bit I restarted and watched the thermostat. It started and sounded fine at about a normal operating temp and within an minute or two the temp spiked rapidly.

No oil in coolant.

Some more truck history: 215K miles. Bought in fall near Seattle drove from there to san deigo. Then in November drove back up to anchorage without a hitch through som negative 50 degree weather.

I was talking with my friend trying to troubleshoot. We think its not any or the real easy fixes like the thermostat or radiator cap and could most likely be a leak in the head gasket (exhaust into coolant?) or possibly the water pump?.

Not too sure and would like to get the best diagnosis before deciding what to do. Your feedback is appreciated.
-Nick

 

Is the anti-freeze circulating ?

 

Do an exhaust gas test first, napa sells them, autozone IIRC rents them.

 

bigbear - The coolant is circulating or at least under pressure.

ksti - I did that test. It failed.

So it looks like the head gasket will be replaced. Is there any other gaskets/seals/parts I should be looking to replace as well? The engine has a small oil leak too. I'm not sure exactly where yet but Ill check it out and see if its worth my trouble to fix. This will be my first head gasket replacement/ engine tear down and I figure I should replace anything the is worth replacing. Any tips would be much appreciated.

I stopped by Napa and am going to price out Oriley too for head gasket kit. The full engine gasket kit from napa is 270$. Is this a good product to go with or should I look for something else?

Thanks everyone for your advice.