It was a cold day around here close to 0, I warmed my 1986 c-10 with a 4.3l and 4bbl for fifteen minutes like normal....my drive to work is about 4 miles and no heat was coming out of the vents it was as cold as the outside air. About 1/4 mile from work the temp gague went crazy and I heard a loud pop and left a huge cloud of white vapor in my wake. The truck made it to work ok there was still good oil pressure...and under the hood there was antifreeze everywhere. When i came out of work about 2 hours later I tried to drive the truck home...but after a 1/2 mile it started to ping pretty loud but the oil pressure was still good. So I parked it and had it towed to my local mechanic. Did i blow the motor??? Possible problems and more importantly possibly fixes...if blown do I need a new engine??? any help would be appreciated. Thanks all
Sounds like the motor went! Sorry. Dont worry though because many of the parts hopefully can still be reused. It all depends what let loose!
Sounds like a head gasket to me. When cold pull a head and you'l probally find water where it shouldn't be... Bob
It could be something as simple as a head gasket or maybe worse but keep a close eye on the engine oil because the 4.3's are known for haveing a thin area in the casting in the lifter galleys and water jacket and sometimes when them get real hot they will crack.
It might be that your thermostat locked closed, it happened to my vehile last week. It sounds exactly like what happened to me. check the thermstate.
Ok thanks for all the great info...I just bought the truck about 1 month ago and it seems that there wasen't enuogh antifreeze mix in the coolant so the lower hose froze overnight and burst wide onpen on my way to work. I got luck this time it only cost me a lower radiator hose and some coolant.
