Newb 99 Jimmy intake head gasket and 4wd ?????s
 

Going to be a long read
Looking for a 4wd cheap DD
Found a 1999 Jimmy that needed a head gasket or so they say
130k Miles
Its clean a little rust on the bottom rocker. I only paid $600 for it assuming i could get that back out of it even if it has real issues.


Im going to add as much information as possible
Go to look at it.
Jimmy starts up (need to give it gas) but has no coolant in it (guy took the bottom hose off because he was thinking of changing the gaskets him self)
Runs rough, smokes alot smells like a blown head gasket.
very nasty oil. Looks like coffee with creamer in it
Trans oil looks like it has never been changed. Dark red
I buy it and bring it home

I change the oil (not filter) and add some cheap oil
I fix the hose and put in a gallon of 50/50 green anti freeze
Starts up only with giving it a small amount of gas.
Runs a little rough and smokes a lot.
Drive it for 5 mins and the temps stay around 200.
I beat the crap out of it making sure the transmission shifts well and it does
I play with the 4wd.

So I click it into 4wd high and nothing happens. Almost feels like its not engaging even though I can here it. I drive around and eventually it goes in ( i think) It was really hard to tell.
I try to get it into 4 low. It takes forever but eventually goes in.
Great now I cant get it into 2wd anymore,. After playing around and watching the buttons flash I see im up to 215 degrees and I can see it slowly climbing.
This is also when I notice it stoped smoking!
I race it back to my shop when the lower hose blows off (stupid me didn't clamp it) and I back it back into the barn.

BTW its still running somewhat rough. Rough idle and rough when I drive it.

about 3 hours goes by and did some research.

I check the oil and it still looks nice and clean.

upon my research its probably the intake and not the head gasket. Am I right for assuming?

As I start to tear into it (after watching some youtube videos) I start to notice things
Grey RTV on the front of the intake. Im assuming this is factory
New looking spark plug wires
New looking cap
new looking rotor

And thats where I stopped because I dont have a distributor wrench or 10mm crows foot.

So any advice. Everyone thing im on the right path?

There is still coolant in the radiator after this. The hose was only partial off
After sitting for 2-3 hrs I started it up to move it. It did not smoke and oil still looks clean.

Head gasket problems on this engine are unheard of unless it is seriously overheated. Sounds like lower intake gaskets are leaking internally causing the milkshake oil. Felpro MS98002T gaskets will not leak if clean up, assembly, torque sequence, and torque values are done properly. Then change the oil & filter, again.

Completely flush the cooling system, (radiator, heater core, and block) and refill with Dexcool coolant, not green!

The only thing that worries me is how it smoked and how it runs.

It smoked alot when I first got it. BIg cloud of smoke on start up and then it would jus puff it out.
It also ran really bad but drivable.

However the oil/coolant mix was about 1-2 inchs above the full line.
Once I change it and drove it the smoked stopped.
Maybe it was too full?

I only used green coolant because it was cheap and I was able to make sure the Jimmy worked good.

Lower intake gaskets can leak internally and externally. If they leak internally, coolant will mix with the oil causing the oil level to rise. If it gets too high, it can cause smoke/steam from the tailpipe, and cause the engine to run poorly. Partly from the lifters bleeding down too rapidly, or not able to open a valve far enough. When the oil becomes contaminated with coolant, it causes engine bearings to wear rapidly. If the problem is not corrected in a timely fashion, it will destroy the engine. There may be other issues with the engine too, and short of removing it and checking everything, removing the intake manifold for inspection makes sense.

Im getting ready to go finish pulling it soon.

Makes since as ai have ran into that before with smaller engines.

THe smoke has stopped it just smoked a little black but I think that is because I had the intake part way off and it was screwing with the MAF.

From the story of the owner
Lady drove it to work and it overheated. I believe she over heated it until it started to run bad. Which I know is bad!

The guy i bought it from put coolant in it and drove it 10 miles home. He said it didn't over heat.

It was about 2 inches above the full mark. Which I would guess is 3 quarts over full.

I only drove it maybe 50 feet like this.
After changing the oil It did start to run better
I hear no internal engine noises other then it running bad. Maybe a slight tick but hard to tell.

Oh ya it has a full tank of over a year old gas as well.

Guess well see.

THe intake is off now.

Looking at the gaskets they dont appear to be horrible like other pics i have seen. They where not nearly as bad as my crown vic i changed the intake last year.

The intake ports where all great looking.

THe coolant sides where sort of nasty looking but not broke. One of them was a little flat.

There was a spot that was pretty dirty. When I pulled it off it left a rust/dirty spot that was the outline of the gaskets rubber ring. Could it be leaking from there?

The coolant ports and around them was defiantly dirty/corrosion looking.

Im pretty sure it was leaking but how bad?

Is it possible I got lucky (or un lucky) and the person who had it never checked anything?

Only thing I could think of is it leaked slowly and eventually enough leaked out to cause the car to overheat and mix with the oil.

I would think a bad head gasket would smoke all the time.

Guess ill just change it and hope for the best.

The coolant ports in the cylinder heads are at the front and rear. The rear ports are blocked by the intake manifold so coolant can not flow. The coolant tends to get stagnant and deteriorate the gasket, and leak. They can leak at the front ports too though. The OEM style intake gaskets with the plastic frame and silicone seals are JUNK!

The ticking might be due to coolant thinning the oil out.

Bad head gasket: depending on where it leaks, it could/would smoke all the time, along with a misfire.


Pictures are always welcome, and can be helpful ;)

I just realized my gaskets are blue!! Not tan/yellow like the stockers. Appear to have been changed already? I can tell they have been on for a while though

Which style gaskets were used?

Old style: http://bpi.ebasicpower.com/c/GASK-IN...VICMS16168.jpg

Or new style: http://troubleshootmyvehicle.com/ima...66/image_3.jpg

There the old style for sure. Just plastic with blue rubber rings on them. I tried to get pictures but barn lighting sucks at night.

I just got the new style felpro today. Going to be 50 this weekend so im installing them then.

This is what was on it. Only the grey part was blue.

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...Dhnwq4I5oM2uZQ

The more I look at the block it dosen't look like it was leaking. However it dosen't take much of a hole