Over heating/smoking problem

[Bama Zuk]

I have a 93 i think, but it might be a 95(heck I cant remember) 4 door 16v 5 speed 4door sidekick.
Ever since I got it from Biggerhammer it has had a cooling prob.
What it does=
It will idle all day fine with no probs what so ever, but if you try and take it down the road (even just a 5min ride)it will start to over heat and boil out the overflow.
The temp gauge never goes above normal, but like i said it will boil over.
And at that point it starts to smoke like a tar kettel.(always runs fine though)
If you turn it off and let it cool  you can add about 40 oz of watter back to the radiator and start her back up, idle fine all day again and never smoke till you try and get on it.
Oh and their seems to be a small amount of water getting into the oil.
Things that have been done=
Kirk put a new head gasket on it befor i got it from him.
and unhooked the heater core(it was busted.
He also installed a new radiator.
I have replaced the t-stat

[Bama Zuk]

Oh and im thinking that at some point it had stop leak ran threw it( residue of it in the radiator)

Im thinking it is either a bad water pump, head, or head gasket.
Or a combo of any of the above.
Whats yall thoughts and what should I do first?
I need to get this thing on the trails so the wife and youngans will have something to wheel.

[argogirb67]

Boils over temp reads normal .I think out of curiosity i would swap the temp sensor.I have seen a water pump on an Explorer have most of the vanes rusted away(just  small bumps left).I had a 77 f250 4x4 that had rust built up in water jackets,but aluminum block,i dont think that would be the case.Maybe try flushing block,could have some crud somewhere.HTH    

[Biggerhammer]

Like Bama said...


This rig was mine and I replaced the head gasket, radiator, heater core and the T-stat... I was to the point of just finding another 16v to toss in it and be done with it... I want to fix it though or, figure out what it's problem was... It still bothers me that I didn't figure it out?

The engine had the stop leak in it when I got it. The old radiator must have weighed 30 lbs when I pulled it out, I held up the new replacement ($180) and coulndt believe the difference. The new radiator only weighed about 3 lbs! Then I disconnected and bypassed the heater core since it was leaking into the cab... I figured that was the problem and had it under control!

It ran well and didn't overheat any more but, I had a new job and didn't have to drive it but 1 mile to work instead of the 5/6 miles I was driving so I didn't get to properly check it out. Again, I thought I got it. I started the removale of the dash to replace the heater core (my goodness I think the entire interior was built around it!) and notice a post that Bama put up about wanting to trade off the TT... And a deal was struck.

Long story short If I had gotten the 16v I was trying to get from up north... I would have delivered it to Bama just to make me feel better. I'm really hatin' on myself for it not working right for you Bama. I almost wish I could buy it back from you just so I could set it aside and toss another few days into it and try to figure it out. Plus the darn thing just looks COOL now!

Richard if you want to get together on it to brainstorm or just chew my ear off... You have my number.

[ecoast]

Have you pulled plugs, see if steamed clean? Might as well do a comp test while they're out.
Is the thermostat installed w/the tit in the right direction?
throw it in a pot of boiling water?
Is the cap holding pressure?
Do you have a known good sammi radiator you can test with?
Is 'tar kettle' smoke white?
It's hard to see much flow w/cap off on these, so that won't tell you much.
..pm'd you another linky

[Bama Zuk]

Not sure what the prob is.
Chris and I will get into it more in the next few weeks.

[ajbiglin]

Sounds like a cracked cyl. wall to me.  As long as it doesn't heat up to much the crack will stay fairly sealed.  The more friction you put on it(running at higher rpms) the more the crack opens.  as it cools the crack closes up again. I had that with an Isuzu. I just kept going with it until it blew so bad it wouldn't run.

[cliffhanger]

Can you get the cooling system pressure tested. Making up a adapter for the rad cap is a pain so maybe you could get a radiator repair shop to check it..

[Ratman]

  Toss a mill in it. I've had cracked heads do stuff like that.

[skyhiranger]

Did the cap ever get replaced?

http://bbs.zuwharrie.com/content/topic,101057.0.html

If you are getting any water at all in the oil, then that is not good.  Checking to see if the tops of the pistons have been "steam cleaned" is a good way to see if you have a head gasket leaking.
Cracked cylinder might be a little harder to diagnose.  I wonder if the compression will be down in that cylinder?
If the engine/radiator has had stop leak ran through it, then that could be causing some restrictions and be causing the problem.  The only way to fix it may be to tear down the engine.  Then I am not sure if it can even be cleaned out then....not really familar with the stop leak stuff.

[Bama Zuk]

Yes cap was replaced with a new one.

[skyhiranger]

When it starts smoking, I am guessing it is smoking out of the tailpipe, not just the engine burning off, right?  If so, does the smoke smell like coolant?  If so, then you have coolant getting into the exhaust (probably either headgasket or cracked head).
If the radiator is down on coolant after it does this smoking thing (and assuming it is full before it starts smoking), then you know you are losing coolant somewhere.....if it is not visibly leaking it, then it is a safe bet you are burning it (passing it out of the exhaust).
Was the head checked for flatness before the new headgasket was put in (biggerhammer)?
When you say the temp gauge runs "normal" what does that mean?  Does it run above straight up?  If so, then it is running higher than any other 16V I have ever seen.  Although technically "normal" is anything other than "in the red", anything above straight up is higher than normal, IMO.

[Whitfield]

If it came in the shop...

I would aim for the water pump.  Pull / inspect / replace.

While their I would back flush the block and flush the NEW radiator.

Also replace / correct the temp sensor and check boil verify the T-stat.   


For a flow test you can run the truck short term with the upper hose removed and T-stat out.  No flow / low flow = circulation / pump issue.

 

I think a healthy system should pump a good straight stream 8-12'  out of the top hose with no t-stat 



I've got a radiator funnel for bleeding import cooling systems.  This funnel will attach to the fill neck and increase my fluid capacity.  Any way to increase liquid capacity will give you a little more run time while working on the live flow test.  You might could rig a similar set up from an upside down 2-liter bottle.


****   It is possiabe someone used saw dust or some other trick instead of Stop leak.  They could have just kept adding saw dust until the leak quit, but since the head gasket leak did not quit ~~ ~ ~ ~   Thus adding way too much and caking the block cooling passages with what ever they were using. 

[bills]

White smoke water,blue tinted smoke oil,black smoke gas running way to rich. If the smoke is white something is cracked and the boiling of the radiator and squirting of coolant seems to imply that. If your really lucky it's only a cracked head.   

[Bama Zuk]

Thanks guys.
Gonna try and get into her here soon.
Ill let ya know what I find.