Mysterious Fan Clutch

About a month ago when it was really hot one morning my truck started to cut out on my way to work- I made it to work but when I left truck died- my radiator blew out the seem on top lost some coolant - it took forever to get it started- check ignition coil pulled on condensor wire it broke - replaced condensor and regapped pickup coil- it finally started - it suddenly started to miss at idle - now I believe head gasket is blown with coolant leaking into cylinder causing misfire- Did I miss something? Knowing when to replace fan clutch is hit or miss- it had resistance and didn't freewheel when engine stopped- Now I have a bad head gasket- Temp Gauge NEVER climbed saying my engine was cooking - Why not?? Someone please explain!!

 

Sorry to hear about your troubles.

To touch on your temp gauge concern, your gauge doesn't monitor your actual coolant temps.

There is a 'sender' and a 'sensor', one of which actually monitors your coolant temps and that signal is sent to your computer. Only way to see these temps are via your OBD.

So it's entirely possible that the sender (more often the cable itself) can be bad, the gauge sticking, etc giving you a false reading.

 

Pull the spark plugs and look for coolant residue on the plugs. You will see if coolant is leaking into a cylinder