After 17 years, somethings gotta give. Right?

On my way back to work from lunch today, my truck just started spewing white smoke. i mean just covering the people behind me.
I assumed the worst at first and thought i blew a headgasket, so i pulled into the parking lot at work, open the hood and saw that the smoke was actually coming from the back of the engine.
after some investigating, I see that the whole back of my firewall and backside of my engine is covered in Anti-freeze. So i'm assuming i blew a coolant line back there.

Has anyone seen this before or replaced one? I have a feeling i'm going to be pulling at least my intake and plenum off. Do you need to pull the engine to get at this line?

 

Is it the pcv lime that has coolant around it. Idk if the ohv has them. I'd check there. Hell get a mirror

 

Not the PCV.
I don't have a mirror like thingy in my toolbox at work. I had my old man bring the wrecker down and pick the truck up. I'll cal him and have him look at it.

 

getting to sound like me. I had to upgrade to Triple A Gold but now i have unlimited towing through work LOL. Diesel coming soon anyways

 

Lol. My father owns a wrecker and a Flat bed. He makes more money at his shop that way.
He said when he pressure tested it you could hear the hiss in the back of the engine.

 

getting a diesal now? lol

ya triple A is my best friend. 100 free miles.

 

I don't even have Triple A.
Hell, I only have PLPD on my truck.

 

i've never had aaa... just was careful not to break down and listen for noises and watch the gauges...

 

So, that was a long afternoon.
Turns out my Lower Intake gasket blew. right in the back corner. I took it apart and i've got the intake cleaned and back on, just letting it set over night cause i'm taking the Valve covers with me to work to clean tomorrow. the Passenger one was original, it still had the metal gasket on there. I did remember to take pictures.

The culprit: right by the water jacket.


Better picture


The block side.


Re-installed clean intake.

 

That was fast.

 

Yea, I only had to take a short break when i cracked the compressor lines. I got a little too much R-134 in the air.
Other than that, i started about 4pm and the intake was back on around 7:30.

Todays things to do:
Get a bunch of Vacuum line. I have some that are less than desirable. I'll go pick up 10-15ft and just re-do it all.
Split the upper intake from the throttle body and clean all that up real good.
check all electrical connections and grounds. I know for a fact i'm gonna re-do my Alternator wires, My old man was like "How does this even charge?" when he saw it. so maybe a Big 3 is in the works.

Too bad i can't find a Screamin' Demon coilpack local today. i already have mine off, i wouldn't mind putting something good back in.

 

LOL...not sure I would openly write about releasing refrigerant. The government probably thinks more of busting you for that then people who kill.

 

To be fair. It was sort of an accident.
I wasn't thinking about the R-134 aspect of it. i was like, all this crap up front has to go, so i just started un-bolting crap and throwing the bolts into a cup. and i got to the lines on the back of the compressor and I cracked the bolt loose and it just came flying out, so i dropped the ratchet and ducked out of the way.

 

So it's legitimate....I like it...Lol. Can you guys get refrigerant at parts stores in Mi? We have to go to Iowa

 

Yup. can walk in and buy in in 8oz or 16oz cans.

Its Alive.

Cleaned Valve covers. i can't believe how well the passenger side one turned out. it was all stock



Finished:

 

Do work!

 

a few good things:
Truck idles 100x better. Not that it idle'd bad before, but now it sounds completely different and it stays exactly at 900rpm in park, and drops lower in gear.
The engine even sounds different when you rev it up too. I was impressed. But thats what happens when you replace almost every vacuum line and seal the intake up real well.
The only issue i see is that i got new bolts for the valve covers and a few appear to be leaking a bit. Nothing some black RTV can't fix.

I also got an Antifreeze shower too. I was putting the hood back on while the truck was running. I was using one of these:

And a Giant air pocket came thru the system, causing a bunch of antifreeze to rush back into the jug and spill over on my running belt and fan.
All while my old man and I are holding the hood.
We both got drenched in it just trying to get 2 bolts in each side and getting the prop rod up to hold the hood.

 

So, All this fresh air running through the engine and my O2 sensor gives me the double middle finger.