Coolant draining into exhaust? Help?

[PaFarmer]

I got an 818 with heater. When I picked it up it the top, mirrors and exhaust stack had been removed. When I got it running it blew a lot of water out the exhaust, I thought it was all rain water. The coolant tank was low, it took more than a gallon after I shut the truck down, while it was still warm. When I checked the coolant level the following morning, I removed the cap and could hear water draining into the exhaust, but the level in the tank did not drop at all. When I started the motor, it blew out coolant as a mist for minute. The temp came up fine but did not overheat.

Hearing the coolant drain when I removed the cap on the coolant tank leads me to believe it is not a head gasket issue, maybe wishfull thinking. Tell me I have a simple issue to fix.

 

[Westech]

What do you think? What else would cause the coolant to drain in to the exhaust..... not like there is a heater hose in there. You might want to brush up on your headgasket swap.

 

[WillWagner]

If it has coolant out the exhaust, only 2 ways to get there, from in the cylinder and the piston pushes it out, but the engine would hydraulic, or a cracked head casting in the exhaust port. there were 4 types of head gaskets used in the time that engine was made, laminated w/o water gromets...kinda like old style multi fuel gaskets, metal with loose water gromets...you had to put them in when the gaskets were laid down, metal with the water gromets made into the gasket and in the early 90's, cealstic, single piece, edge molded rubber with molded in gromets. None of the gaskets will allow coolant past the fire ring on the liner if the head is properly torqued. If they weren't torqued correctly, you'd more thaan likely have an outward compression leak. If it does this issue every time you remove the cap, pull the exhaust back and see where it's coming from.

 

[powerhouseduece]

Well... you completed step one, you got it running!

 

[PaFarmer]

Yeah, thanks Matt. It is running good. You were correct on the fuel shut off lever needing to be reset.

I ran it again today. Started it and let it warm up 20 minutes. Checked the coolant level in the tank, it was down a little.

No moisture in the exhaust gas, no steam, just a bit of smoke that went away when I gave it some throttle.

With the exhaust stack removed, I do not know how far back the exhaust system rain water may have gotten. There was a lot of rust in the water that was blown out.

Seems to be running fine. No overheating. No oil in the coolant or water in the oil.

Typical surplus truck. It has an air leak, will not get over 30 psi. I'll track that down. Lots of work ahead, but hopefully this was just an issue with accumulated rain water.
I do not know what I heard the other day.

 

[PaFarmer]

The truck is running fine. I installed a new stack and exhaust flapper today.

The take home lesson is not to allow rainwater to accumulate in the exhaust.

I had a geiser of green water come out the exhaust the first time I ran the truck and a spray come out the second time. I have now purged all the water from the exhaust. It is clear now that the green water that came out of the exhaust was just nasty rainwater that accumulated in the exhaust and muffler from sitting with the original stack removed.

 

[jaymcb]

That's a much happier outcome than a head gasket!

 

[olewhiskey]

Great that it turned out this way instead of the other !