The OP describes simple overheating.

Overheating could be a blown head gasket or cracked engine block, sure...

...but often, overheating is just a bad $30 fan clutch or a failed $70 water pump.



Block or headgasket failures might cause your coolant hoses to be tight when you squeeze them even hours after your motor has cooled.

They might cause you to smell exhaust in your coolant reservoir when you finally open the cap when cold.

They might make your oil "milky" depending on where they failed.

In contrast, a failed water pump or fan clutch will have none of the above symptoms. Just overheating.

 

Thanks everyone for the good info!




The reservoir was not fully empty but it was extremely low.

I am sure the reservoir cap is as old as the truck. I would guess. Im ordering one now but will see if I can find one at a local store.




I believe yes there was a missfire code that I saw when I had the check engine light on. However that Engine light was due to not having the gas cap on tight. So once it cleared on its own I figure the other ones might have been in the chain of events?. I will see if I can find that code.



Do you have a link to a combustion gas tester? I was looking it up and wondering is it a chemical test or a electronic sniffer? Can I rent one?

 

How did you find out your block was cracked? Can one perform a test at home to see this?

 

I had extreme pressure in the cooling system. I swapped in a new thermostat and reservoir cap and still had pressure. Hoses were rock hard within a minute. Driving one mile would cause the coolant to gush out and instantly overheat. The give away was a misfire on cylinder 6 after this occurred. Cylinder 6 doesn't have any coolant jackets near it, so the only way for coolant to enter the cylinder is by a cracked block. Check your misfire codes. Best of luck.

 

Just to add to what dtmbinb said, if you suspect a cracked block you can get a cheap boroscope off the internet and take a look into the cylinder and see if there is coolant seeping in.

Of course you do this after the engine has been up to operating temp and then shut down, remove the suspect spark plug and take a look inside.

 

You likely can get a loaner/refundable deposit tester from an auto parts store.

Like mentioned, look for rock hard hoses from the gases building pressure.

If no obvious signs of heads leaking coolant, check your oil for 'milkshake' appearance from internal leakage of coolant. If good, then may be lucky with a 'typical' overheating episode. Could be a bad thermostat and the bypass is staying in bypass and not receiving cooled coolant from the radiator. As already mentioned, check water pump leaking, etc.

 

I am still waiting on getting the pressure tester from my local auto store.

But I ended up replacing the Reservoir cap. After firing her up and letting her warm up slowly I started to notice a thick white smoke from the tail pipe.

I let her run for a few more min but that smoke was only getting thicker. It smells like coolant. I checked my dipstick area as well and when I pulled the dipstick out white smoke started coming out as well.

Makes me think that the coolant got in the cylinders. Will a pressure test reveal this or a cracked block? Or do I need to take it all apart to figure out of the block is okay?

 

Never mind on that. I see now how the tester works now. Will be picking one up tonight and will go from there.

 

You've got thick white smoke that smells like coolant coming out of your exhaust. There's no need to diagnose further. It won't pass a pressure test, and you won't be able to tell whether its a gasket or block/head issue until you have it torn apart.

 

Uh oh. That ain't good. Could be headgasket only or it could be worse.