i either blew my engine or head gasket

[gettocruiser]

so my new pig had a coronary...
it crapped out on me with dirty jets in the carb. so i took the carb off and cleaned out the jets. they where so plugged i realized that it wasn't getting proper fuel delivery.
after reinstalling the carb it started right up.run great and smooth.
so on the test drive around the block it ran fine. at this time i realized that i hadn't been getting good fuel delivery and wondered if the truck might have more power...

this the point where the part of my brain that still thinks it's 16 years old thought it would be a good idea to hold the throttle wide open(in the name of science) to see if there was a power gain.
it spun up nicely but then there was an immediate power loss and miss fire.
i did not hear any catastrophic sounds. and it idles fine but lacks power when i try to drive.
as well i believed the head gasket to be possibly failing to begin with, as the engine had really low compression #s. also moisture would form in the inside of the oil cap.
i know i have to remove the head to determine what is at fault. also another compression test would tell me what cylinder is blown.
i guess my question is would a blown ring make an identifiable sound? has anyone had this happen to them?
i'm just hoping it is as easy as a head gasket and not worse.
thanks,
eric

 

[Southeast Overland]

Not sure on the blown ring sound...but here is what I would do...

Run a dry compression test
Run a wet compression test
Post up results

From there I might pull the head and check the head gasket depending on your compression results. If you think the headgasket is already going it is a pretty easy replacement besides having to lift the head off the motor if it is still in your Pig.

 

[gettocruiser]

for the wet comp. test would i put some oil in the cylinder?

 

[SD_rdcruzer]

One way I used to test for a blown head gasket was to fire the engine without the radiator cap on. Rev the engine and check for bubbles in the radiator.
Then do your compression check if you want to know which cylinder is bad.

 

[Southeast Overland]

for the wet comp. test would i put some oil in the cylinder?

After the dry compression pull each plug separately, put a squirt of oil in, run compression again. If there is a large difference between dry and wet it could signal bad rings.

 

[pjohnson]

The way you describe how the problem happened and what you were doing doesn't sound like head gasket. If it did blow during high revs, it would have be more obvious, like water in the oil or vice-versa. Moisture under the oil cap can be caused by a plugged up pcv valve.
Make sure you didn't just get more crap in the carb or filter before you go pulling the head. Definitely run the compression tests before pulling it.

Phil

 

[Pin_Head]

More likely your carb is plugged again.

 

[gettocruiser]

before i started it i replaced the fuel lines and filter. but i will check the jets again.
thanks for the tip

 

[Southeast Overland]

before i started it i replaced the fuel lines and filter. but i will check the jets again.
thanks for the tip

What kind of shape is your tank in? If your tank is full of crap your filter and carb will continue to clog. If you tank is full of crap I would pull it, clean and line it.

 

[bkfj40]

that's what I had to do on my 55....I was changing filters every 25 miles

after pulling the tank, you'll wonder just how small of hands those japanese engineers must have.


bk

 

[gettocruiser]

ya i'm gonna pull the jets out again and check them.
weather channel said it was -33 c. yesterday, today is a balmy -24. at least the jets are easy to get at,shouldn't take that long.
tried to do compression test yesterday, no dice in the cold.
i guess if there is dirt in the jets i should blow the fuel lines out. the new filter is clear and i can see no dirt.
thanks,
eric

 

[gettocruiser]

good news, looks like it was plugged jets.
went across town to where it broke down, thought i would try to start it. truck started right up.
warmed it up and drove around the block a few times. no miss fire or hesitation.
thought i would get lucky and headed for home. died 10 blocks away.
at least i know where to start. would have ripped the carb off if i wasn't busy.
thanks for all the advice,
eric