Pablo has a drinking problem. He's drinking a quart and a half of water every day.

The first thing I noticed was the heater not working. Then I had a day of several hours driving. I'd been on the road an hour and a half and he overheated, past the upper white line, almost to the red. The overflow tank was pissing on the MAF sensor. I let him cool, added water, and drove the rest of the trip with the heater on, and made it home.

Since then I've been avoiding dealing with the problem, but checking the radiator every day I drive him. It's always 1 1/2 quarts low.

Today was different though, because I ran an errand and filled up just before I went, and then an hour later I drove 25 miles. By the end of the 25 miles I was near the upper white line. I stopped, let it cool enough to open the cap, and added 2 1/2 quarts. Then I drove three miles in light city traffic, parked for a half hour, got in and drove a mile, parked for ten minutes, and came out to see that he'd pissed on the pavement from the overflow tank. I drove two miles without topping it up first and was getting hot. Then I parked for two hours, added another quart, and drove 25 miles home with the heater on without incident.

The other symptom is that my milage is better than it's ever been, starting with that first time it overheated. There's no oil in the radiator that I can tell, and no water in the oil, and usually there's been no water on the pavement after parking.

Where's that water going? Someone suggested a head gasket issue. I haven't checked the spark plug cleanliness to see if one piston has been steam cleaned.

Pablo is my daily. I have a spare 22R in the garage and could potentially swap blocks if I can clean a space, set up the chain fall on a rail overhead, and make the 22R block think it's a 22RE. It could be an interesting weekend.

 

Sounds like the headgasket. I had the same problem and that started about a month ago. Then about two day ago my headgasket blew and didn't notice until I got home. Better to fix it now, then to let water to get Into the engine.

 

Little update. Turns out I didn't blow a headgasket, it was just rotten spark plug wires and it was making contact with my valve cover. I'm still losing water but not sure where it's going. You might want to check heater core or maybe you have a loose or ripped hose. I recently replaced two because I was losing water from them.

 

Remove the plugs. Shine a bright light in the hole and compare the cylinders. If one is a lot cleaner than the others it means the head gasket is blown. The water sort of steam cleans it. It's the cheapest way to verify a blown head gasket.

 

Hydrocarbons in your coolant = bad head gasket!!
Most good shops can read for these!!

 

Left to right: 4,3,2,1. Four and three look like they have alarmingly clean ceramic. Also, four has threads that are toast, and would need chasing and a new plug at best. It might get that, just to move it around the yard. That isn't the only thing wrong with that head though. I know one of the exhaust manifold bolt holes is less than perfect too.

So now I'm thinking of my spare engine...

 

TIME TO PULL THE HEAD, DO THE REPAIRS & GET IT RESURFACED !

 

IMO, might need a new head, unless chasing and tapping (thread repair for spark plug and exhaust stud is possible). better to start "new" and fresh if can.
personally, if the spark plug threads are toast, then it might lead to other problems -cracking head -especially if it got really hot and overheated. not to mention the rapid heating and cooling of the metal -overheat and coolant leaking. hope that made sense lol

 

Short term, I'm looking at "throwing in" my spare engine. I'll pull the old one, set the two side by side, transfer everything over, install it back in the truck, and hope it works.

Longer term, I should take the block that's coming out and replace the head, plus whatever else, so that I can have it on hand if anything else goes wrong.

 

Its weird you would have this same weird issue. I have had the truck for about 6 months now and it got warm on me twice. The first time, I am convinced I left the cap loose or something stupid like that because I lost most of my coolant mysteriously and have no leaks. The second time, it rose to just below the top white line and didnt go above the same position, even without the heater on. After these times, it hasnt done it since, regardless of driving time or conditions. I also havent lost any more coolant. My truck is getting at least 27 mpg every day. Not sure whats going on but it cant be the head gasket as there is no water in the oil or vice versa.