so many problems can anyone help

[harder316]

1995 Chevy K2500 6.5 Turbo Diesel 274000 Kms
It started on a Tuesday, noticed truck was blowing more smoke than usual
from the tailpipe.
Next day, when starting truck, starter would engage turn engine a bit stall
a bit then crank over and start truck, or would just stall once it engaged
and started to turn the engine. Had batteries tested one was bad so
replaced that, took alternator out to have tested just in case and it was
fine.
Next day, Started good all day still smoking more than usual but not
excessive, notice a couple of tablespoons worth of green liquid on passenger
side floor mat, tasted it, it was antifreeze. No other antifreeze noticed
there again.
Next day, everything fine except smoking but not getting worse near end of
day starter does same thing again.
Final Day, truck now blowing smoke like it is a forest fire but most of it
being from where the exhaust manifold meets the pipes on left side of engine
and oil was kind of spraying/misting out and oil on exterior of pipe at
manifold as well.

Took truck to get looked at and told the starter was probably shot, the
turbo was shot and my head gaskets needed doing. Didn't tell me how he
determined the head gasket but I know he didn't do a compression test.

Brought truck home. Took starter out and the metal housing around the
spring gear(or whatever its called) that engages the ring gear is broken in
half. Took Turbocharger off turbine spins freely but is some play in it,
quite a bit of oil in my upper intake where turbo connects. I drained the oil, There didn't seem to be coolent in the oil, but it was up a bit when it should be down considering it was spiting oil. Also my coolent is way down if not close to empty.

I am going to get a new starter and turbo. I want to do a compression test
if there is a problem with the compression that is where I get stuck. I
probably could manage doing the head gaskets if I have to but Don't know
what to look for if other problems once the heads are off. Or what other
tests can be done before the heads are off. With the starter problem could engine be partially seized or was it turning over like that because the oil was tainted. I could really use some help as this is my first time working on a diesel and there are lots of problems.

[redbird2]

First lets take the problems one at a time lets see if I get these correct.

1) blowing smoke what color is the smoke? does it smoke all the time? or does it only smoke on start up? did you chance smell the exhaust when your burning antifrezze it smells like anti- freeze

2) anitfreeze under floor mat when you took off starter did you notice antifreeze drip under the truck? normally leaves a residue after it dries up. could you heater core be leaking in the cab?

3)you wote:
Final Day, truck now blowing smoke like it is a forest fire but most of it
being from where the exhaust manifold meets the pipes on left side of engine
and oil was kind of spraying/misting out and oil on exterior of pipe at
manifold as well.
Can you expalin this a little more?

4) bad starter broken nose cone simple replace.
5) did they tell you why the turbo was bad how much oil in the intake a small amount is normal


Here would be my suggestion on how to apoarch it
1) refill coolant level to the top.
2) put coolant pressure tester on system, pump up to 15lbs watch the gauge how much drop do you have after 2 mins be looking for external leaks if none are found and no pressure drop head gaskets are good at cold still can be bad with engine running we will get to that.

however if you don't find any external leaks and you can not keep pressure in the system the problem is internal if you still have the oil out of the engine remove the drain plug and see if water or coolant is coming out the drain hole while you are putting pressure on the system if that happens bad news

If you are looseing pressure no coolant coming out the drain plug trun engine over NOT WITH STARTER use a socket and bar on front of engine to see if you have whats called hydro lock DID I MENTION DO NOT USE STARTER FOR THIS TEST!!! the reason you dont use starter is that you can break your new starter if it hits hard enough coould bend connection rod. if it hydor locked you will not be able to completed rotate the engine 360 degs it will be like the engine is locked up ie: hydo lock is caused by coolant filling the area above the piston to the bottom of the head and you can not compress water simple way to fine the cylinder with coolant in it pull the glow plugs you'll find that cylinder not problem as cool will be coming out the hole when you trun engine over with bar and socket

ok now the truck has pressure drop you can still turn engine over with bar. now put starter back on you had off with pressure tester still on coolant system start the truck obseve the gauge on pressure tester if it starts to rise as in a short time I have seen them with blowin head gasket go from no pressure to over 30 psi in coolant system in under a 1 min if that happens shut the truck off before a hose blows apart

If this is what happens you have bad headgasket no reason to do compression test other that you find which side is leaking this can be preformed by simple pulling the water cross over leaving water in the block to the bootom of the cross over holes pull the belt off start the engine you will know very quickly which side when the coolant starts blowing out of the hole.

i hope this helps also if you understood some of this and I over explained sorry

[harder316]

1. when first started smoking out of tailpipe it looked white, stuck my head in it smelled more like oil. but under hood could smell antifreeze burning.

2.no antifreeze under truck, heater core is my guess only happened the one time mabey somehow tied to other problems and leaked in through firewall or something at hose connections. Heater core no problem I can whip that out quickly and get it tested.

3.There was so much smoke coming from under the truck, driver side where exhaust hooks up, that it was like pea soup fog. when looked under truck when running oil was dripping from where exhaust bolts up there was oil also spitting out could not see from where but was kind of misting on the ground on the inside of wheel(snow on ground so saw this good)

4. Starter no problem

5. did not say why turbo was shot(should have asked but just didn't totally trust this guy, looked like he had dollar signs in his eyes). the rubber hose between turbo and upper exhaust had the equivalent to 3 to 4 tablespoons of oil in it, air filter had traces of oil spray on it it looked like and oil the air hoses around turbo and air filter

Never though of doing a pressure test on cooling system first great idea will definatly start with that this weekend never done one of those before either. If i top up coolent i can not start truck to let warm up for thermo. to open and fill upper part yes\no what difference would that make if any

[harder316]

nevre done pressure test before either. if i top up coolent does it matter that i cant start truck and let warm up for thermo. to open and fill upper part should i take thermo out

[redbird2]

wont make a differance if you are won't you can take the uper hose loose to get the air out of it first if you wish. if there is air in there it will just require more pumping of the pressure tester to compress the air is all.

let us know what you find and feel free to ask any question will be glad to help more if I can

[rameye]

get an eyeball on your oil cooler lines for that pea soup fog coming from drivers side engine.

Might be spraying onto manifold

good luck