What's Leaking in cylinder 6 ?

*Edit: this has more or less become a write up on Sodium Silicate in a particular "head gasket sealer" product.*
(mods, can we change the title of this thread?)




- Had code p306, engine ran rough for about one minute at startup, then ran normal.
- changed plugs, cyl 6 plug was black, wet, fouled. all others were ok even with 50k on them.
- put new ngk coil in cyl 6
- seemed to fix the problem.

- then realized it only misfires after the truck has been sitting for 6+ hours, it's doing it with a new coil and plug.

- is there an oil leak? Computer problem? 05 Truck has 125k.

Thanks.

 

Head gasket most likely

 

Head gasket. Known issue for 05&06. Check coolant level. You'll probably see it's dropping. I also had a bubbling noise in the dash. My truck also started rough then anothers out after a few seconds.

 

Crap, i just noticed there's a little bit of brown froth in the top of the oil fill cap...

Could be from all the rain and off roading??

 

Thanks, do you recall how much a stealership would charge?

I might not have the time to do it myself.

 

that very well could be oil in the coolant from the Gasket leak, One thing a lot of guy don't do is to find a good dependable repair shop with actual knowledge of how to do things right even if you plan to do most or all your own work there are things that do happen and then off the scramble at the worst possible time to find a place to do the work or to a dealership for it and loose more $$.

I do 95% of my own work have all the required tools along with whatever else one needs to get it done however there are certain jobs that having a full lift is better for like when I had the clutch done on a Land Rover Disco I had and that is where it helped a lot to know the local shops.

 

Wsteven, i do most of my own work, but I'm halfway across the states for the next year or so. All ivI' got is my truck tool box and a parking lot... Looks like I'll be calling ships for quotes.

Any nonsense to look out for with shops? They gonna change my blinker fluid. LoL

 

I had a mechanic put a used motor in it with under a hundred thousand miles. all told with a new radiator alternator and transmission drain and flush was just over five g's

 

Damn, is a head gasket change that bad, to justify a whole motor swap?

 

It's a very big job. If you have 180K+ miles on it, the logic is drop in a low mileage used engine and prolong the life of your truck by a bunch. At 125K, you could go either way. The big issue is do you trust the person cracking open your engine to get everything back together correctly?

 

Pressure test the cooling system, have the oil analyzed. White milky stuff under the oil cap doesn’t indicate head gasket. Just moisture that doesn’t get burned off from short trips.

 

Yes. It’s over 20 hours shop time.

 

It may well be a HG, but there is no reason to guess.

Compression test, leakdown test, cooling system pressure test, etc. and make sure that's what it is before diving in.

 

Easier to do the head gasket with the motor out of the truck... if you're pulling it why not just put a used one in. That's what happened with my 06 4runner. Came up on it because of a blown head gasket so I just swapped it for a 08 4.0 with 62k on it.

 

No doubt, that would make overall access easier. If I were to go this route, I'd strongly consider a cylinder hone( bore if needed), rings, oil pump; new bearings, but maybe a rebuilt Jasper or equivalent would in the end be the cheaper than an owner rebuild.
I know a lot of people say drop in a used engine, but do you know with absolute certainty the condition it's in?

 

Not worth the machining... the motor got so hot they melted the knock sensors in the valley between the heads. Traded a 95 explorer for it and put in a $2000 motor from a year I knew didnt have head gasket issues. Done and done

 

It's a minor leak... I don't have time or $ right now to fix it right, I'm gonna go out on a limb and try the chemical fix. Just got a bottle of blue devil head gasket permanent sealer.

The product has hundreds of write ups on Amazon even a few 05 taco owners reported that thousands of miles later, no more leak.

Wish me luck.

 

Good luck. Keep us updated.

 

Question, i followed the directions on the product, im idling the truck with the heater on high and the truck is up to normal temp.

The vents are blowing cold air. Normally it blows hot even before to temp temp gage is in the middle.

Strange, what could be causing this? Radiator is full (including the blue devil). Engine seems to be running just fine at idle.

 

Something's plugged up from the stop leak. That's the danger.