Has anyone used a head tester kit?

Sirriggs · May 12, 2022

As in a past few threads I have spoken about truck smoking off and on. Ruled out intake since it has been replaced and oil is clean. Now this is where it gets tricky. Motor hasn't been or currently running hot. Little miss here and there but other wise been running real good. Some water comes out tail pipe but has been minimal lately. I have let it idle for close to 45 minutes and temps have not raised about normal. I replaced the head gaskets about a couple of years before it sat and had the heads cleaned and checked. They were fine. When I start it during the day, I don't see a lot of smoke or barely enough. Start it at night with running lights only on and it looks like its smoking pretty good. From my researching, the only thing that would give any idea of this white smoke speaks of head gasket leaking. I found some information on this kit to check for in emission getting into the radiator. If the blue liquid turns yellow then either a head gasket or a crack block may be the reason for this mystery smoke issue. I just don't understand how either could happen since the truck has sat so long and I have only done small trips to test the transmission issues. Oil pressure is normal and and temp has not gone above normal range.

My plans are this weekend is changing a kit I bought for the transmission. I have a compression tester and I was thinking about going to Harbor Freight and buying this kit so I can check both compression and if maybe for some unknown reason if maybe the head gasket is leaking. My question is anyone ever used this kit? Thanks

GTyankee · May 12, 2022

You should know that some water will always come out of the tailpipe, until the vehicle gets up to operating temperature.
The catalytic converter cleans dirty exhaust & clear non drinkable water exits the exhaust

Mister Luck · May 12, 2022

With a cooling system pressure tester you can form a gauged vacuum on the radiator and the rest of the cooling system and watch for a drop in pressure.

If you are still not certain but suspect the cylinder heads are damaged.
Some engine machine shops use a plate and sandwich the head between two plates and draw vacuum.

Of course it could be cheaper to buy refinish heads and use your old hardware

Sirriggs · May 12, 2022

GTyankee said:
You should know that some water will always come out of the tailpipe, until the vehicle gets up to operating temperature.
The catalytic converter cleans dirty exhaust & clear non drinkable water exits the exhaust

I do expect some but to be honest, it has dropped way down from the past when it would drip steady. I feel like I'm chasing Casper the white or may be a light gray smoke issue I have. It's been a come and go issue. I am trying different steps to maybe find the source so I can hopefully fix it. Water loss in radiator has been very little if any. I just know a few days ago while doing a short run after some adjustments on transmission. I backed it into the drive way and it was smoking pretty good but went out maybe about ten minutes later to do a video on it and it wasn't smoking at all. This has been a head scratching ordeal.

Sirriggs · May 12, 2022

Mister Luck said:
With a cooling system pressure tester you can form a gauged vacuum on the radiator and the rest of the cooling system and watch for a drop in pressure.

If you are still not certain but suspect the cylinder heads are damaged.
Some engine machine shops use a plate and sandwich the head between two plates and draw vacuum.

Of course it could be cheaper to buy refinish heads and use your old hardware

I thought about the vacuum myself. I know the head gaskets were replace years ago and heads were fine but I'm curious if sitting for around 5 years may have made them brittle enough to leak? Hopefully not since that would mean tearing the motor back down again after all the work I did with the intake and plate upgrade I just did a few months ago. Its a lot of work on my own but will save me a lot of money as well. If this has to be done, the transmission rebuild will come first.

Sirriggs · May 14, 2022

Some update info. I did the radiator test twice. First time seemed a tad green so as instruction said , did a second and it didn't change to green or yellow but remained blue so I am thinking the head gaskets are good. I also didn't see any bubble action either. I let the truck fully warm up to do the test. Couldn't find compression tools so will try and find it tomorrow.

On another note. I dropped the transmission pan and the fluid was clean good color. No broken parts and magnet was lightly covered but no metal particles at all. Replacing electric harness, both solenoids , spring and speed sensor with new filter and gasket. It's crazy how its acting with as good as it looks and I haven't a code or engine light. Hopefully changing all this maybe something will work. Crossing fingers.

Sirriggs · May 16, 2022

I replaced the parts today from the kit into the transmission. Seems sluggish when taking off but seems to be shifting with no slipping. It was a short test run since it was about to rain. I may have to adjust the front bands again since I replaced both sensors, spring, overdrive electrical part( Can't remember the correct name), speed sensor, filter and pan gasket. Not sure why it's seems sluggish on take off? Shift was pretty smooth.

Like I said in previous post. Fluid was clean and clear. Magnet was lightly covered but no metal feeling when rubbed finger from the content. Even when slipping was the issue. I haven't had any codes to go by. No engine light either. I'm going to try and do a small distance run this week and see how it act's. Hopefully maybe it may just need to be taken in and have someone adjust the bands who has more experience than I do.

Update: Just started motor tonight and check engine light came on. Maybe this will tell me something?

Wulf · May 16, 2022

Another thing to consider too when seeing water apparently dripping from the exhaust pipe. Unfortunately, there can be a small amount of water that gets into most vehicle fuels, and it doesn't burn, as you would expect it not to. However, it still needs to go somewhere, and since it gets heated up and expelled from the engine, it exits through the exhaust where it cools off and gets enough to drip out the pipe.

The only problem with Mister Luck's idea is the heads need to be removed for that particular process to be done. A compression tester for the cylinders can be used with the engine still relatively complete. The only part you need to remove is the spark plugs. You make it so that the vehicle will not start when you turn the key over. On older vehicles, this was accomplished by disconnecting the main feed to the distributor so no spark is sent. Then, remove the spark plugs and in one cylinder at a time, put the tester in place and crank the engine over a few times, and record the number on the gauge, along with whatever cylinder it is. Do that for all of the cylinders, and compare them. If all of the cylinders on one side of the engine are not doing good, then it is possible it is the head or head gasket. If it is only cylinders here and there, then it is possibly the piston rings for those cylinders. If the rings are going or gone, they can let oil past and it would get into the exhaust as sometimes blue smoke, that might go away once the engine warms up. If you have one of the newer Hemis that have 2 spark plugs per cylinder, only remove one. Everything else is the same, I just don't know how to make it so that the engine will not try to start during this test with the coil packs.

Sirriggs · May 16, 2022

Wulf said:
Another thing to consider too when seeing water apparently dripping from the exhaust pipe. Unfortunately, there can be a small amount of water that gets into most vehicle fuels, and it doesn't burn, as you would expect it not to. However, it still needs to go somewhere, and since it gets heated up and expelled from the engine, it exits through the exhaust where it cools off and gets enough to drip out the pipe.

The only problem with Mister Luck's idea is the heads need to be removed for that particular process to be done. A compression tester for the cylinders can be used with the engine still relatively complete. The only part you need to remove is the spark plugs. You make it so that the vehicle will not start when you turn the key over. On older vehicles, this was accomplished by disconnecting the main feed to the distributor so no spark is sent. Then, remove the spark plugs and in one cylinder at a time, put the tester in place and crank the engine over a few times, and record the number on the gauge, along with whatever cylinder it is. Do that for all of the cylinders, and compare them. If all of the cylinders on one side of the engine are not doing good, then it is possible it is the head or head gasket. If it is only cylinders here and there, then it is possibly the piston rings for those cylinders. If the rings are going or gone, they can let oil past and it would get into the exhaust as sometimes blue smoke, that might go away once the engine warms up. If you have one of the newer Hemis that have 2 spark plugs per cylinder, only remove one. Everything else is the same, I just don't know how to make it so that the engine will not try to start during this test with the coil packs.

I spent most of the day changing out the components in the transmission with the kit I bought. I didn't see any smoking either when I drove it or when it was idling today but when its dark out , you can see a light smoke in the tag lights. Weird to me. I'm going to drain the radiator down and add some 50/50 to it. At this point I don't see any reason it would hurt. Trying to solve this transmission issue as well. Was slipping bad before I replaced the parts in the valve body. Now it's being a little sluggish on take off but slipping seems to have gone away. Don't remember having a engine light after test run but when back out tonight to let it run to see if its still smoking and now the engine light has came on. I'm not sure if the auto parts store code checker will check the transmission as well or if it will clear them if I have to get a replacement part that may have been bad in that kit?

Sirriggs · May 16, 2022

Wulf said:
Another thing to consider too when seeing water apparently dripping from the exhaust pipe. Unfortunately, there can be a small amount of water that gets into most vehicle fuels, and it doesn't burn, as you would expect it not to. However, it still needs to go somewhere, and since it gets heated up and expelled from the engine, it exits through the exhaust where it cools off and gets enough to drip out the pipe.

The only problem with Mister Luck's idea is the heads need to be removed for that particular process to be done. A compression tester for the cylinders can be used with the engine still relatively complete. The only part you need to remove is the spark plugs. You make it so that the vehicle will not start when you turn the key over. On older vehicles, this was accomplished by disconnecting the main feed to the distributor so no spark is sent. Then, remove the spark plugs and in one cylinder at a time, put the tester in place and crank the engine over a few times, and record the number on the gauge, along with whatever cylinder it is. Do that for all of the cylinders, and compare them. If all of the cylinders on one side of the engine are not doing good, then it is possible it is the head or head gasket. If it is only cylinders here and there, then it is possibly the piston rings for those cylinders. If the rings are going or gone, they can let oil past and it would get into the exhaust as sometimes blue smoke, that might go away once the engine warms up. If you have one of the newer Hemis that have 2 spark plugs per cylinder, only remove one. Everything else is the same, I just don't know how to make it so that the engine will not try to start during this test with the coil packs.

I have a compression check tool so all I should have to do is disconnect the coil and do one spark plug removal at a time and connect the tool. Motor runs great and oil pressure hits 60 when started and drops after its warmed up to around 40 and stay there till you accelerate that the pressure increases as normal.

Wulf · May 16, 2022

Sirriggs said:
I have a compression check tool so all I should have to do is disconnect the coil and do one spark plug removal at a time and connect the tool. Motor runs great and oil pressure hits 60 when started and drops after its warmed up to around 40 and stay there till you accelerate that the pressure increases as normal.

That sounds about right on the oil pressure. I just recently did my second oil change on my Warlock, and this time, instead of a regular synthetic oil, I ended up using Amsoil for it. Before this last oil change, according to the digital gauge on the dash/info section, the normal operating pressure had been high 50s-low 60s, with, like yours, the pressure ramping up if I accelerated. Since the oil change, the new "normal" level is about 53-54, with the expected increase in pressure during throttle increase.

Sirriggs · May 17, 2022

Hopefully get back on the truck this weekend at the latest. What smoke I do see is very light at this point. I mean you can barely see it during the day. My guess from what test I have done. Everything looking good. Doing the compression test will help out a lot as well.

Has anyone used a head tester kit?

Sirriggs

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