Today I went to look at a 1999 4door 4x4. The body was in excellent condition as was the interior. I tried to start it and the starter engaged but the engine tried to turn over but it was more of a jerking than a starting. The oil on the dipstick had the brown milky look. The seller said she drove it about 2 miles once she noticed it was low on power. Do ya think it may just be a head gasket?

Now that I've thought about this a little more. I'm thinking the dipstick reading was way up there. Almost twice the level of full. I'm thinking the crankcase is full and the pistons are hitting the fluid in the crankcase. I think I could drain the oil, take out the plugs and blow out any water in the cylinders. I've had success with Blue Devil head gasket sealer. I just want to get the vehicle back to do the real repair. I've got a tow dolly. Do ya think my 2 dr Jimmy 4.3l can pull a 4 dr Blazer?

 

Check the back of the engine block up around where the intake manifold meets it. If its wet and has a lot of crap around there then you may have the old Blazer curse on it. My sons 96 blazer sucked all the water into the cylinders and I just replaced the engine with a rebuilt one. Problem is and 99s are probably no different, is the leaks at the back of the lower intake manifold where it meets the block. There are no factory made seals for the front and the back, just sealed with a strip of silicone sealant. If it gets bad enough, yeah, you can suck all the cooling fluid right in the engine.

My son had the same exact problem. Was going fine and all of a sudden he noticed the truck was just slowing down. Pulled over and had no power and was running bad, shut it off, it never started again.

When we pulled it apart, all the antifreeze was in the oil pan and thru out the engine block. Best of luck no matter what you decide

 

On my 99 the lower intake manifold gasket blew inside so that coolant was leaking directly into the lifter valley. I guess it was doing it for quite awhile as I was loosing coolant and couldn't find any leaks and it was burning off inside the block and not going into the pan....until the day it blew completely. It's an easier fix than head gaskets. I guess a compression test would determine whether it's the heads or the intake manifold.