vesparover
August 17th, 2004, 10:27 AM
hey everybody,
I'm in a perdicament. I was driving from cleveland to charleston, pulling a trailer when my truck began to run warm. When I check it out- I realize that I have no coolant left. I took out the thermostat and filled it back up with water. I limp to the next exit about twenty miles away, by that point my heater was blowing cold again and the coolant was gone. I checked my oil and have no noticable water mixed in. When I refilled it again I could see steam coming from my exhaust- it wasn't leaking to the ground from the engine, but there was some pooled up under the plenum. I didn't want to hole a piston or melt my heads so I left it and had the trailer picked up. I don't know what to do at this point- I'm debating renting a uhaul car trailer and picking it up. I'm sure this is gonna be expensive- and I have never taken this truck back to a mechanic after getting screwed once. I have about 170,000 miles on it as well. I'm pretty mechanicle so I think I can do this. Has anyone else here done the gasket themselves? I know I should have the heads milled- but is there anything else? Should I use a composite gasket? I need some advice! I would love to go ahead and swap in the 4.6- but my pockets are a little shallow right now.
I'm in a perdicament. I was driving from cleveland to charleston, pulling a trailer when my truck began to run warm. When I check it out- I realize that I have no coolant left. I took out the thermostat and filled it back up with water. I limp to the next exit about twenty miles away, by that point my heater was blowing cold again and the coolant was gone. I checked my oil and have no noticable water mixed in. When I refilled it again I could see steam coming from my exhaust- it wasn't leaking to the ground from the engine, but there was some pooled up under the plenum. I didn't want to hole a piston or melt my heads so I left it and had the trailer picked up. I don't know what to do at this point- I'm debating renting a uhaul car trailer and picking it up. I'm sure this is gonna be expensive- and I have never taken this truck back to a mechanic after getting screwed once. I have about 170,000 miles on it as well. I'm pretty mechanicle so I think I can do this. Has anyone else here done the gasket themselves? I know I should have the heads milled- but is there anything else? Should I use a composite gasket? I need some advice! I would love to go ahead and swap in the 4.6- but my pockets are a little shallow right now.