Head gasket? Or in my head?

[Monk]

I have the n/a, and for the last year I tend to bleed air in engine antifreeze ,bleed valve, I used to bleed say every week,

(When truck hot) after all air is out she's cool running rig, but I can tell when temp start to warm a little to bleed house and bam cool again,.

Oil has nothing in it,(as far as I can tell) but due to always bleeding antifreeze (in summer every few days) I lose a bit form me bleeding,,,

I added antifreeze (over filled a bit) then after a while of driving, It was spitting a little from surge tank drain... So I go home and bleed the air, lots of air comes out and cool again.

My motor I'm sure is mega high mileage , they changed speedo long time ago, to km's from mph speedo.

I've easy put 40k on it,

Now I was reading up and flash off-road ,said with truck cold in the am, to open surge tank lid and make sure no pressure,

I took off lid and then put back on, then started truck for a min ,minute and a half, then. Reopened my surge lid and was a LITTLE air pressure (very little) barely heard it, but still heard something,

Is this a bad sign?

Or am I just paranoid , I think I had my motor is due to blow in my head for a while and now lol think everything's a bad sign,.

Also was aroun 11 degrees here this am when I started the truck and from cold start ,smoke was very little white (didn't smell antifreeze) for about 15- 20seconds and then no smoke at all at idle.

Also I just seem drivers side above near oil filter I see a few drops of green antifreeze, not sure where from yet,. I noticed when I was changing oil.

[Monk]

Also when truck was cold I put a tube in surge tank over flow outlet to a bottled water, ran truck for about 5 mins and no bubbles

[Roy]

Does not seem to be a head gasket leaking into the piston. May be leaking from gasket out the side. Check all frost plug in case one is rusting thru.
Intake corners --all 4-- have coolant jackets or stops, unless you have the rear bypass.
This will be a good place to start to look.
 
Under dog house, top of intake near heads, there are 2 plates with 2 bolts... May be a worn out gasket here.
Once all leaks have been looked at, try evans waterless coolant. Pricey but they say it works wonders.

[GreenMeanie]

If you have pressure in the surge tank after one minute of run time you have a leak all be it a small one.
What i would do is run these right away. GM part number 12378254. Crush them up and drop them into the rad, not the surge tank.
I find a spoon helps to get past the angle of the rad orifice. Drive 20 miles and park it overnight and then repeat the test for air in the surge tank. This should be done every coolant change as a preventative. GM adds these to brand new engines to prevent leaks.
Let us know if it fixes the issue.

[Monk]

Well bought it today, just to cover all bases, .....

it's super cheap, gm dealer was 6 bucks for 6 tab pack, I crushed them with pliers.

Then lol , spoon feed my sick baby, hehehe (well, it felt that way ) as the neck is almost at a 90degree angle .

Even had a rag to wipe (his chin) I mean the rad neck as some times little would (spit up) haha

Gonna go for a ride soon to another city and really work it in, and park and tuck it in for a sleep,

Uggggg maybe I do have issues, lol

[Monk]

Well, just an update!!

I 100% believe in this stuff, I spooned it in and went for long ass ride, next day I tried to purge (normally air in bleed valve)

Only very little air, soooo, figured a fluk, so lol drove till warmed up and tried to purge again, and almost ZERO air came from

Valve, just coolant,

It's day 2 and honestly it starts to normally be at 210 degrees, in couple day,(once normal air gets in system)

Now...... It always at 190 (execpt up a steeper hill) but yes truck is super cool ,suppppppper!!

I even mean at hwy speeds,

I'm so happy and wish I added this gem sealer tabs years ago as this small issue was around then, just (like was said),

Was so minor was hard to tell ,until I knew my motor.

Sad part is I know my motors getting tired, so have to look I bet in year or two for an engine.

But for now, that stuff is an awesome fix!! (Well patch)

[Monk]

Maybe if I build up courage in the future I might attempt a very good head gasket set change,with new or good used heads,and arp studs

Ps this is a pic of my units

I got the wheel protector plates off Roy , I like them over the rim look.

[GreenMeanie]

Tabs should be added every coolant change especially on our engines. Our crappy head gasket design along with porous castings add up to inevitable failure. The tabs will prevent the erosion of the gasket margins and will even close pinholes in the water jacket caused by cavitation.
Its worth pointing out that the tabs are ginger root, whey powder and oatmeal along with a few other secret additives. I have been using them since i got my 1997 truck in 2000 on every coolant change. I have an at risk engine and sometimes i think the only reason it has not failed yet is because i use the tabs. Im over 130k miles, most at 80mph and the truck runs amazing and cool.
Originally these were designed for GMs smaller budget engines that were always having head gasket issues. At some point GM was putting them in brand new engines prior to break in and it helped solve the problem. It's one of those wonderous little known secrets that GM came up with. Most think its voodoo and would never put the stuff in their engines but complain when they have to dish out 15k plus for a new engine.

[Monk]

Honestly this product really works!!

My temps at 190, unless I go up a steeper hill , a little , and then drops fast, like I said before

But really always ran hotter,..

I really wish I did this years ago, this is truly a god send, even today, drove 100km, and cooler then ever,

Absolutely no air getting in the cooling system anymore!!!

My nice green antifreeze looks different though, hehehe, but I'm sooooo impressed with these tabs,

That's correct , in it is ginger root and walnut shells, hehe who knew.... I always had minor pressure and bleed weekly, I always bleed off excess air , and now know that it was not normal .

[Monk]

Ok, 4 days now..( almost 350 kms)..zero pressure build up, truck is soooo cool at any speed, I'm very disappointed in me that I never used this stuff before,.

I used to purge so much air weekly to keep running cool,

Now , lol I'm stressed, as it's all working so perfect, something bad NOW has to happen, lol.

I think I got used to purging all that air and didn't revise wasn't to abnormal,