what happened?

[Jeepdad]

Just took the truck out to test it out on the highway. Got it up to 90 mph no problems and got back down to highway speed.

turned around and did the same thing.....punched it from rolling speed and had it floored til it only went up to around 70 mph and wouldn't go higher. lots of smoke out the exhaust and no more power.

I had driven it maybe 3 miles down the highway first when I turned around and was flooring it coming home.

It started overheating and I was able to drive it home while it boiled over.

I got home and opened the hood and all the steam and fluid was coming from the air intake/ where the air hoses go in to the top of the engine. None was coming from any hoses , nor the radiator.

I touched the radiator cap and it was cool, I was able to take it off, the radiator itself was warm but not hot at all. The upper radiator hose was hot.

I'm guessing my thermostat stuck and no antifreeze could leave the engine, but how it was coming out of the engine ?

I intend to put a thermostat in and flush radiator with all new coolant (there's none in there now!) But does it sound like I blew my head gasket?

Any ideas on what happened? Jim

 

[flareside_thunder]

Coolant was coming out of your Throttle body? Huh.....never heard that one before. Now, Our throttlebodies do have coolant passages that sun through them to keep the butterflies from sticking/freezing in cold weather. If you can get pics of where exactly it was coming from that'd be great.....

 

[Jeepdad]

yes, it was the throttle body. I don't have a camera and also have no idea how to post pics.

While the steam was blowing out I looked all over at all the hoses and everywhere and the only place it was coming from was under the plastic cover on top of the throttle body.

BTW this is a 5.0 engine with a E4OD. After it all cooled down I squeezed the upper radiator hose and I can hear air coming out from the top of the engine.

I know this is crazy but that's where I am. That's why I'm asking what damage could be done. All I can assume right now is that my thermostat stuck and wouldn't let any hot coolant out of the engine and it somehow (I don't know how) came out the top of the engine somewhere.......and it sure looked like right out from under the plastic cover on the throttle body.

I hope I'm wrong. It's dark out now so I can't check anything else now, but I'll change out the thermostat tomorrow and hopefully I didn't ruin the motor. Jim

 

[flareside_thunder]

I really don't think it messed anything up...I'm still thinking it was the TB leaking. Here's a pic of under my hood. I'd pull the TB off and check everything. I might even take the chance to let the truck get up to operating temp and see EXACTLY where it's coming from.

[/IMG]

 

[Jeepdad]

Thanks for the pic, I have a plastic cover over my TB. I'm wondering if much coolant got into the intake. Also hoping the heat didn't do anything to the head gasket or whatnot. I'm a newbie on having engine problems like this. I just got the truck on weds. I thought it ran well but the tranny seemed to be slipping at speeds of 45-55, that's why I took it for the test drive.

It got up to 90mph and still had more to go but I let off(don't need a ticket), but when I made the return trip it was smoking noticeably out the back and wouldn't go past 70 mph with it floored, then I looked down and saw the temp gauge pegged, and then had smoke coming out from under the hood.

I nursed it home taking it easy 25 mph and shut it off and popped the hood and that's when I could only see smoke (vapors) coming out from under the plastic cover. And I was surprised that the radiator cap was actually cool.

 

[flareside_thunder]

If the smoke coming out of the tailpipe was white your engine was probably trying to burn the coolant. I removed my plastic cover because it was broken and shaking around anyways.

 

[5.0Flareside]

jesus christ JR..... did you just throw a roll of electrical wire in your engine bay and blow it with a fan? jeez...

 

[flareside_thunder]

WTH are you talkin about?

 

[5.0Flareside]

zip ties gallor, bolts sticking out your intake... 6 total clamps on your throttle body to intake, and dam wires just everywhere... lol...

 

[flareside_thunder]

My throttle cable plastic is broken so i gotta tie it just right to get smooth throttle operation. 6 clmaps because that's a 380 dollar BBK 56MM Throttlebody. The bolt because I eliminated the breather from that wye to the valve cover. Not too many wires...the inline fuse and the black one on top of the radiator are for the Mark8 Efan.