I have a 2000 chevy S10 with the V6 Vortex motor!
I started losing water and couldnt figure out where
it was going. I drive about approx 90 miles a day and
it has been extreemly cold till this week and i have had
to add approx a gallon of antifreeze and water a day!
i notice thursday last week that i had lifter noise but it stopped as truck warmed up and no noise on my way home. anyway truck sat all weekend
except a short two mile drive till saturday and my wife drove it about 60
miles. problem is she took off before i could check the water and add any.
when she got back i had to add two gallons of water i started it and it ran fine. monday i drove to work i noticed i was a little sluggish and fine on the way home truck never got hot but seemed sluggish. Tuesday i drove to work
as usual, still a little sluggish i thought ok it need to do a tune up cause im over due. anyway at lunch i drove about a mile and it started cutting out and
i noticed my oil pressure was high it stalled out on me and just wouldnt run
right i made it back to work and parked it! i checked the oil and it was tan and runny. i added water and told my boss i need to get my truck home
cause i cant afford a tow. i added a quart of oil also. i drove home taking back roads it kept trying to stall out on me and had NO power i watched the temp and made sure it never got hot i made it home with no major
problems the next day i tore it down to removing valve covers and all external components. there was water in both heads and valve covers were
caked in goo. i pulled one head bolt and water gushed out so i stopped pulling bolts i have now taken the fuel intake and upper and lower intake.

the lower intake gasket fell apart on me around the water ports
and definite signs of water leaking!

questions:
1; i cracked three bolts loose on one head and pulled one do i have to pull the head to replace the gasket? or can i use silicone on the bolts and torque them down?

2: is it safe to assume with all the info provided that i can replace all the seals and gaskets on my intake without worrying about pulling the heads
and reassemble the motor?

3: once i get it back together what kind of oil should i use? the truck has over 200,00 miles and runs like it bought it yesterday. I normally use mobile one.

4: i took the truck to walmart the last time the oil was changed and they stripped out the head of the bolts and i have tried vise grips but it is torgued dawn really tight. how can i get this thing off?

Please help!!!

Thank you for your time
David Brown

 

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but, your gonna need to at least pull the head you removed the bolt from, Infact I would be worried about that head also now.

Just like you are supposed to torque the head bolts down in sequence to keep from warping the head/ pinching the head gasket, the same applies to removing the head also.

Head gaskets aren't that expensive anyway, and it's cheap insurance also. I mean hell, you've gone this far, why not?

Now, those rod bearings don't like water on them and since you said that you have been adding water for a while, I would check those also.
I know my luck and after I took the time to tear the motor down replacing head gaskets and didn't touch the bottom end, sure enough a rod would let go the same day.

If it was me, I would tear the motor down and have the crank, block, and heads checked, then decide what to do from there. I mean who knows, you could have a cracked block and not even know it.

Maybe a remanufactured motor / or other replacement would be an idea also, Just food for thought my friend.

 

I would replace the head gaskets. once you have the engine tore down that far you might as well do head gaskets. also while your heads are off have them sent in to a machine shop and get them planed this gets a little more compression and ensures an even seal surface. shouldn't cost too much to do this.

one of the terrible properties of coolant is that it removes all lubricating quality from the oil so i also would check main bearings and journal bearings. however to pull the oil pan it takes 6.9 hours if its a 4x4 because of the front drive axle.

todays engine oil is higher quality than you might think i run mobile 5w30. some people swear by synthetic but in reality with blow by from the pistons it still gets dirty so it should be changed at 3000 miles anyway.

To get those bolts off heat usually does the charm small propane torch works ok it takes a while tho. if u have an oxy acetylene torch they heat up quick then try your vice grip. im not sure which bolts your referring to tho...