Engine go BOOM (1 Viewer)

[tsototh]

Well, I was driving home tonight from work, it is a bit cold (25 degrees or so). Anyway, headed out from work, got going for a bit and I heard a loud BOOM from my engine. It kept driving fine, so I figured I ran something large over and it hit the undercarriage (with some doubt). Anyway, after a couple of minutes, the motor started rattling, got a bit worse. I check the gauges, and the temp is just below "H". Then I start losing power and pull off shortly thereafter as power is really going down. I shut if off and park it with smoke pouring out from under the hood. Take a look, and it seems to me that the HG is blown? Definitely coolant all around, both sides of motor, looks like it is leaking from under the head.

So, any ideas what happened in there?

Luckily my neighbor was headed home shortly after me and towed me home with the help of my towstrap. The truck is parked out in the driveway now!

 

[kmf88]

same thing happend to me and i got a new engine. my water pump and radiator were bad and it blew HG and i warped my heads and some other things bad happend too but yours may not be that bad. im sure some other guys will know more details about whats wrong.

 

[acer]

Sorry to hear that, thats a big one. Is there coolant in the oil, or vice versa?
J

 

[tsototh]

Haven't had a chance to check coolant or the oil... Will do though, just got home and I posted up. I replaced all the cooling system components a while ago (the PO did the water pump), but it hasn't been having any cooling problems.

What kind of cost would I be looking at for having a HG done vs me doing it myself?

 

[Spike Strip]

Pix ?

I like a horror show

 

[3pits]

had you ever replaced the factory pressed in plug in the head over cylinder 5?

sorry to hear about that.

 

[tsototh]

I personally haven't replaced the plug, but there wasn't oil that I could see, just coolant...

 

[tsototh]

Do you think these would fix it?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1999-Chevrolet-
Silverado-1500-5-3-AT-Engine-Motor_W0QQitemZ180446640399QQcmdZViewItemQQptZMotors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories?hash=item2a0375390f

V6 AUTO TRANSMISSION CHEVY S-10 BLAZER TRUCK S10 ASTRO:eBay Motors (item 220525228545 end time Jan-09-10 18:50:32 PST)

Late Model 4L60E to Land Cruiser 19 Spline Split Transfer Case Adapter | Engine & Transmission Conversion Adapters - Advance Adapters

Mmmmm.... Wonder how much coin it would end up costing on top of those?

 

[RockDoc]

My $0.02

Have a good look to see what happened before you go spending your money. So far we have boom plus coolant leak. Is everything intact and still connected? (rad, cap, fan, hoses?) Have you identified where the coolant has escaped from? Maybe boom was from something other than head/gasket giving out. Although if it ran hot and lost power, sounds like serious damage has been done... any new bulges or holes in the engine's bottom end?

 

[Pin_Head]

Head gaskets don't go "boom" when they blow.

 

[Mark W]

Radiator hoses, radiator, and heater hoses go boom and dump coolant. I would look at that possibility first.


Mark...

 

[Brock]

not enough pressure in engine to go boom for head gasket...

i think you either ran over something and it put a hole in your radiator.....or a belt came apart and cut into one of your hoses.

 

[tsototh]

Let's hope so... It was only a couple of miles from the initial boom to overheating and loss of power. The main concern was the rattling from the motor. I'll dig around under the hood tonight and get some feedback.

 

[Mark W]

Overheating causes preigniton and detonation. Overheating motors "ratttle" severely.


Mark...

 

[IH8Wood]

Are you sure your water pump is still in one piece?

 

[norsk]

I had an old upper rad hose go really really BIG BOOM on the freeway once in my Son's 1987 Toy 4cyl truck. But there was a big steam cloud and a mess on the windshield.

To me ANY boom should be followed by a pull over NOW

doug t

 

[acer]

any fan, belt, fluid coupling, water pump area damage?
Any noise described as a boom should leave some evidence..
will this be affecting sale status?
I hope all works out on both fronts
Cheers,
J

 

[1tontoy]

x2 on the radiator/coolant hoses going boom. check there first. they go boom because they are under pressure. In my experience, its pretty hard to blow a HG on a stock 2/3F....you gotta run it hot for a while or frequently.

 

[tsototh]

Alright, so I finally got a chance to nose around under the hood for a few minutes... I looked and couldn't find anything of concern to me. So, I started it up and it seemed to run ok. No more coolant drips or anything crazy... I checked the dipstick, and there was no coolant on there (that I could tell). I couldn't see any oil in the coolant either (from the little bit in the top of the radiator). This has got me stumped...

Obviously, I still need to nose around a bit more under the hood and maybe go for a test drive?

Any more thoughts on this?

 

[Brock]

Make sure radiator is topped off and let it run until it gets hot to build pressure and watch for leaks...might not be evident if motor and coolant is cold or just warm.