so, i made a thread about my radiator. however, i started it up this morning after filling it up with coolant last night and the truck was missing. i noticed under the hood that there was a gathering of coolant on the merge from the exhaust manifold pieces, down toward the downpipe (like where the reed valve pipe is but in front). i also noticed some wetness on the exhaust heat shield edge, near that area. could be coolant coming in from the head or HG, going into the exhaust manifold and collecting there, bubbling out and spattering as a result. as the truck was warming up the wetness started to steam and it smelled like coolant to me. it is wasn't coming from INSIDE everything, MAYBE it was a split in that coolant pipe that runs in that direction, under the exhaust manifold. but that wouldn't explain the miss. i pulled number 2 plug wire and no change. so i pulled number two plug and steam was coming out of the hole <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/barf.gif" alt="" />

the plug was also wet...not with fuel (no smell) so i'm thinking it was water.

Sooo...this head is an OE head with the jet valve eliminated. what are the chances that it is more than a head gasket? is a HG hard on this thing?

again, i find myself in a weird position since it was such a cheap truck. i got 20k and over 2 years out of it. other than this issue, it has served us well. do i give up now? that is the question i always ask with this thing.

i'm thinking i should pull the head and see what's doin'. i'm worried it is the head too, but i guess clearwater can rescue me there ; )