Good advice. I'll do some reading. I know that the mechanic I bought it from handed me a bottle of Napa Coolant Additive stuff (purply in color, I believe) and said to always add it to the coolant at every oil change. I didn't add it this last gallon and a half of coolant, but did the previous two times. Is that what SCA's are? (nevermind, I'll do some reading, then ask again if I still have questions). I do know that for the previous 5 years the guy I'm sure used the additive. No telling prior to that, but 5 years of good coolant.
Read this:
http://www.oilburners.net/forums/sh...on-Block-Worm-The-Expensive-Death-A-MUST-READ!
If it wasn't diesel rated coolant, with distilled water, with one of the proper SCA types added. You may have cavitated your engine.
Cool. I'll look into that. Are those expensive or hard to replace?
Pricy to replace, however parts to rebuild them are pretty reasonable... however it can be a bear.
gdhillon went through that not too long ago:
http://www.oilburners.net/forums/showthread.php?58900-Oil-cooler-help-please-need-truck-running-asap
This is harder for me, as this is my first diesel truck. Yeah, I think it smells a bit sweet and coolant like (definitely know the smell from hard-worked dirt bikes). But it does have a VERY definite following-an-old-school-bus smell to it too. Sorry I can't be more help here. :-/
Well you pretty much answered the question, especially since you know exactly what burnt coolant smells like. Headgasket, cracked head/block or cavitation is what you're looking at there. Those are the only ways I know of for coolant to get into the cylinder.
The old schoolbus smell is likely your tired fuel system. Altho, if I'm honest, an IDI always smells a little like that. =P
Yeah, this much I pretty well figured out. In fact, I took it to a mechanic here in town to get them replaced, in hopes that was my smoking problem. He was originally VERY impressed with the cleanliness and orderliness of the truck and engine bay. Then after a day, he called back and said "not good". He thought either cracked block or warped heads, and that I should be looking for minimally a new engine, or better yet a new truck; and that a new fuel system was a waste of $1500. I guess I didn't like that answer, so I came on here looking for a better one.
Well, you've got to solve the coolant situation. Like Hydro-idi mentioned, you can very easily hydro lock your engine with coolant getting into the cylinder. That's about the fastest way to install windows into your block that I know of.
However, you could simply be looking at a HG replacement, or some machine work on the heads. Don't condemn the block yet. Having someone do the HG for you won't be cheap, but for $4800 I would fly out there, with the parts, install them, wash your truck then cook you dinner... sheeesh.
