Desert Bronco
New member
Here is the story in entirety for anyone that has 5 mins to read and reply. Thanks in advance for anyone that even reads.
I bought a 92 ford bronco XLT a couple months ago from someone here in SOCAL that has a new 5.8 litre 351 engine and tranny about 25k old. Immediately after, I took it to my mechanic, had about $1500 of additional work done to it (new shocks, brakes, fluid flushes, filters, etc) to get it in top condition.
Taken it out the mountains in the snow (big bear) and it performed clean and strong. I also took it on a few desert runs and it performed perfectly. The gauges on the Dash consistently showed it was at the lower end of "normal" range of all diagnostics which made me happy!
I took the truck out to the Desert this weekend (no offroading) just for a one nighter camping trip with my GF. I would imagine the whole drive was about 300 miles or so round trip, in 90 degree weather going about 65mph mostly highway.
I got back yesterday, unpacked the truck, took a shower, nap, and everything was fine. Later in the evening I went out to drop it off at my friends house, since i live in the city and cant keep it outside. On the way to his house (short 30 mph 10 min ride) I Saw that the temp gauge was slowing rising. I thought this was weird as I live in San Diego, at Sea Level, and it was in the 50's. Especially after running at 3,000-4,000 feet elevation in 90 degree weather all day without a hitch.
I noticed the truck idling a tiny bit choppy at stop lights, so when i stopped to park it, I popped the hood to see if anything was wrong. It appeared the coolant resoivor off to the side had overflowed as coolant was all over the right side under the hood. I couldnt see any leaks or broken hoses, and could hear coolant moving thru the engine sizzling. (This struck me as odd as it was such a very short ride)
I figured I would let the engine settle overnight, and then go back to check it out when the sun was out the next day. I started the engine to pull it into a parking space and had a ton of white smoke start coming out the tailpipe. A small amount came under the hood as well, so i parked the truck and turned everything off immediately.
My fear is that I blew a head gasket, but dont know what causes it exactly. I am concerned about that since the engine is still pretty young and should be able to weather a few road trips. But thats my own problem I guess.
Does anyone have any advice on where to look before starting it up again? IF there is coolant/water/ mixed in the engine block, i dont want to run it and ruin the valves and cause an even bigger problem.
My goal is two fold:
A. Find out whats wrong before taking it to a garage , getting to learn my Bronco hands on. Maybe its not a Gasket? How do I find out?
B. Ensure that my truck has the best coolant system possible to avoid future problems ( Cold air Intake? Bigger radiation? Different hoses?) Just looking for some advice from guys that know what they are talking about, since I am new to this. I plan on keeping this thing around for as long as possible for many camping trips to come! I want to go off roading in the Desert here and cant afford to have that thing die on me out there, any advice is greatly greatly greatly appreciated guys.
T
I bought a 92 ford bronco XLT a couple months ago from someone here in SOCAL that has a new 5.8 litre 351 engine and tranny about 25k old. Immediately after, I took it to my mechanic, had about $1500 of additional work done to it (new shocks, brakes, fluid flushes, filters, etc) to get it in top condition.
Taken it out the mountains in the snow (big bear) and it performed clean and strong. I also took it on a few desert runs and it performed perfectly. The gauges on the Dash consistently showed it was at the lower end of "normal" range of all diagnostics which made me happy!
I took the truck out to the Desert this weekend (no offroading) just for a one nighter camping trip with my GF. I would imagine the whole drive was about 300 miles or so round trip, in 90 degree weather going about 65mph mostly highway.
I got back yesterday, unpacked the truck, took a shower, nap, and everything was fine. Later in the evening I went out to drop it off at my friends house, since i live in the city and cant keep it outside. On the way to his house (short 30 mph 10 min ride) I Saw that the temp gauge was slowing rising. I thought this was weird as I live in San Diego, at Sea Level, and it was in the 50's. Especially after running at 3,000-4,000 feet elevation in 90 degree weather all day without a hitch.
I noticed the truck idling a tiny bit choppy at stop lights, so when i stopped to park it, I popped the hood to see if anything was wrong. It appeared the coolant resoivor off to the side had overflowed as coolant was all over the right side under the hood. I couldnt see any leaks or broken hoses, and could hear coolant moving thru the engine sizzling. (This struck me as odd as it was such a very short ride)
I figured I would let the engine settle overnight, and then go back to check it out when the sun was out the next day. I started the engine to pull it into a parking space and had a ton of white smoke start coming out the tailpipe. A small amount came under the hood as well, so i parked the truck and turned everything off immediately.
My fear is that I blew a head gasket, but dont know what causes it exactly. I am concerned about that since the engine is still pretty young and should be able to weather a few road trips. But thats my own problem I guess.
Does anyone have any advice on where to look before starting it up again? IF there is coolant/water/ mixed in the engine block, i dont want to run it and ruin the valves and cause an even bigger problem.
My goal is two fold:
A. Find out whats wrong before taking it to a garage , getting to learn my Bronco hands on. Maybe its not a Gasket? How do I find out?
B. Ensure that my truck has the best coolant system possible to avoid future problems ( Cold air Intake? Bigger radiation? Different hoses?) Just looking for some advice from guys that know what they are talking about, since I am new to this. I plan on keeping this thing around for as long as possible for many camping trips to come! I want to go off roading in the Desert here and cant afford to have that thing die on me out there, any advice is greatly greatly greatly appreciated guys.
T