Head gasket or more?


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Posted by Sterling from Texas [99.98.76.231] on Sunday, March 31, 2013 at 03:50:34 :

So as y'all know I just completed the rebuild of my WM300. Yesterday I started it and drove from the back of my house to the front when I got out an looked back at it I noticed a little bit of steamy smoke coming off it. I wrote it of as oil, and other fluids burning off the manifold from drips during my rebuild. Later that evening i drove it around to the garage with no issues. Today I checked all the lluids and my girlfriend and I decided to take it around the block. About 1 block away from my house the truck started spitting fluid out coolant out of he radiator cap driving down the road so I turned around and headed back. I watched the temperature gauge (which is nos new and new wiring and new block thermometer) it was at he halfway point between hot and cold. I'm assuming that is an exceptible range. As I turned into the alley the truck died. Steam came out of the radiator and tailpipe. I looked at the temp gauge and it was still at the half way point so I started it back up and proceeded a couple houses down to my garage. As I accelerated it blew out a big cloud of white smoke. I parked it and coolant continued to drip from the tailpipe for he next hour or so till I drained the radiator. My thoughts are that my new head gasket I bought didn't seat well...however since I bought this truck without seeing it run I'm curious if it had a cracked head when I bought it. The last few times I have cranked it it had no symptoms of any thing being wrong or dripping so I'm probably going to rule that out. I drained the radiator and the oil and pulled he head.

What should I be looking for to differentiate a head gasket and a cracked head? I've never delt with one but I would guess they give off similar symptoms since coolant seeps places it shouldn't.

Also should I even run a thermostat since I live in the desert of west Texas where some summer days hit 106?

Thanks in advance for your help!



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