Hello again. I love my 93 s-10 blazer 4x4 4.3l v6 vortec but its killing me.

 

White smoke is indicative of coolant in the engine turning to steam. Oil is typically a blue smoke. From the sounds of it, you may have a head gasket leak or, more likely, a blown lower intake manifold gasket that is allowing the engine to ingest coolant.

 

So I think Ive had the upper part of the manifold off before (I replaced the Spider) so do I have to remove all of that to get to the lower? then do i have to remove the valve covers? and replace the seals, and something with springs?

 

You have to remove the upper plenum to get to the bolts that hold the lower intake manifold to the heads. To check the cooling system integrity, you can do a pressure test where you pump up the pressure in the system and monitor it over time. 16psi is the pressure that the radiator cap should maintain the system at and I wouldn't recommend going over that.

You can run a compression test to see if there is a potential head gasket problem. Looking at the plugs will also tell you if you have a coolant leak or compression problem on a particular cylinder. Water/coolant in a cylinder usually results in the spark plug looking steam cleaned, nice & white.

As I said, burning oil in the combustion chamber will typically result in a blue smoke. If the smoke is more blue, it could be due to valve seals.

 

Yes, the spider mounts into the lower intake, so you have to take all that apart, and then remove the lower intake. you can leave the spider on the intake to remove it, but I would take the spider off so you can clean the intake surfaces really well without damaging the spider. No, you dont have to remove the valve covers to do the job.

 

Thanks guys... sounds simple enough... By chance do you know how many bolts I should be looking for to get the lower intake off?

 

I'm not sure I would recommend the removal of the spider. Any movement in the 'nut kit' or internal fuel lines that run from the back of the lower intake to the spider and they tend to leak. Unless they are nearly new, I wouldn't mess with things in there. You can pull the poppet nozzles out of their respective bores in the lower intake manifold if you must so as not to damage them while cleaning up the gasket surfaces, but that is as far as I would go.

 

@ swartlkk

you said: " a blown lower intake manifold that is allowing the engine to ingest coolant. " did you mean its cracked? or a bad seal? also as of today she REAKS of exhaust fumes... also do you think my starting issues could be due to this as well as the extreme engine temp? anain my dash doesnt ever go over half way(200f) Thanks again.

oh and where the heck can I get a lower intake manifold? Im looking Everywhere with no luck...

 

If coolant is leaking into the pistons that will cause a starting issue, vapor lock like you said. You can also see if coolant is leaking somewhere by checking the coolant level, if it's low then u probably have a leak. And the over heating part, i would think if the coolant is leaking through the head gasket not as much coolant would get back to the radiator to cool the engine. Atleast all that is what I have read on other posts. If I am wrong someone please correct me.

 

Should say gasket in there; as in lower intake manifold gasket. I have corrected my post. I posted that from my phone and it has been having trouble correcting text in that it sometimes over deletes and I must not have noticed it this time.