Hey everyone I just recently purchased a 92 Ford Ranger. It needs some help. After the trans blew out I decided to put a trans in it. I left the mid-pipe/y pipe in the bed of the truck someone stole it for the catalytic converter (I guess). so after I put a trans in it I decided to get all new exhaust put on at a local muffler shop. been driving the truck around with open headers on back roads. Anyway the truck started overheating because a freeze plug came out of the engine below the exhaust manifold and lost all coolant. So I put a new freeze plug in it and the thing is blowing water out the exhaust and smoke is coming from the radiator. Do you think the head gasket is blown? Would a compression test confirm this? Also how hard is it to do headgaskets with the motor still in the truck? Thanks

 

Head gasket is probably gone. You can do a leak down test to check. You should be able to change them out in the truck.

 

Sounds to me like the coolant is gettin into the engine block. Check and see if there is oil in the coolant.