I either have a hot rod or .... any input would be greatly appreciated.

139k miles

Fell asleep in a parking garage with the AC on full blast, woke up to an overheated engine, turned off immediately turned back on and this... enjoy.

 

Do you know approximately how long was the engine running at idle? Is the coolant overflow bottle full of coolant? Did you have any problems or dash lights on before the truck overheated? Did you check the oil to see if it is mixed with coolant?

 

I have had my 99 D2 idle in Death Valley for periods up to near 2 hour with the a/c running and never had an issue.
That being said tell us the entire cooling systems history, what is new, what is original.

 

Mike brings up a good point. I have also had my truck idling with the A/C on for long periods of time and have never had any issues with overheating.

 

Sorta sounds like a exhaust problem. Is the CEL on?

 

I thought I had an exhaust leak. Nope. My head gasket failed out the side of the block, exhaust leak, noisy, could see fire. You can take a length of rubber hose, hold to ear and move along gasket edge and you'll find it. Here's the problem if that is the type of failure - the path from cylinder across blasted out gasket is trying to melt a groove in the block to make the path bigger. Stop driving, or you could have to remove engine to get block decked. I was fortunate, just a little on the head and machine shop skimmed that off. I drove maybe 50 miles after noticing it. You can also do a SeaFoam induction treatment and the smoke generated will come out of all the exhaust leaks. The members with no problems at long idles had cooling systems in good shape, you could have a less than perfect radiator, etc., and had this problem.

Not to mention that we care glad the carbon monoxide didn't get you....

 

An exhaust leak from the manifold or manifold joint isn't going to make it run rough like it is.
The fire coming out looks like it's coming from the head to block joint, though it might be coming from the manifold to header pipe joint, hard to tell for sure.
The Seafoam test might work. The problem is that if you have any other leaks your engine bay will be so full of smoke you won't be able to tell. Worth a try though. Just use a small amount, not as much as if you were doing the cleaning routine.
Since you're getting fire outside the engine/exhaust, I'd look carefully where that's coming from as a first step.

 

My block was cleaner at the leak spot, as the heat had melted away the grime.

 

10-15 mins. needle was buried. the reservoir had nothing in it until I uncapped it then it all came rushing back.

no milky oil.

definitely seeing flame from side of block.

 

[QUOTE=Savannah Buzz;407990]I thought I had an exhaust leak. Nope. My head gasket failed out the side of the block, exhaust leak, noisy, could see fire. You can take a length of rubber hose, hold to ear and move along gasket edge and you'll find it. Here's the problem if that is the type of failure - the path from cylinder across blasted out gasket is trying to melt a groove in the block to make the path bigger. Stop driving, or you could have to remove engine to get block decked.[QUOTE]

thanks savannah always a help. sounds like my gasket went like yours did. time to buy a torque wrench and atlantic british gasket kit