I am literally sitting on the side of the road waiting for a tow truck aka my dad and his flat bed trailer. Need some help figuring out what went wrong.
Driving on the highway for 2 hours no problem stop at a rest stop then leave as I leave I do a 3rd gear pull with trifecta tune off just gms1 active. I drove about 5 more min and all of a sudden steam or smoke out the back end like crazy. Drop it in neutral and coast to the side of the road. Look under car and there is antifreeze everywhere on the drivers side. As I coasted over to the side my oil light came on them my coolant light came on and the engine stalled.
Under the hood its wet under the fuse box where the coolant tank is and down from there everywhere.
Aeroforce says oil temp at 220 and coolant temp is 220. Dash LCD says low coolant. Aeroforce doesn't show any cels other than the 2 cels I previously had (p0100 and p0138)
Oil is up for a change so its dirty and smells a little funky but not like its being burnt. Cabin doesn't smell of antifreeze or oil. When I try to start the engine for a quick sec it sounds a little rough

Did I blow something up or does it just sound like a hose blew?
Help me out here guys I got 2-3 hours before the trailer gets here.

 

blown hose is my guess but im no expert. sucks man, hopefully there is a cafe near you can walk to and get food while you wait

 

I am in the middle of no where. I got field on one side and field on the other. I think its a blown hose too I just can't get the coolant over flow tank off without a screwdriver to check that hose under neath it where it looks like it came from. None on the engine block just down the inside of the wheel well, and all over my drive shaft/steering area and all over the ground.

 

ouch sucky. had something similar happen to a jcb at work, they had a winter thermistate installed and it was a warm day and it over heated and shot coolent out the overflow hose everywhere. it basically all boiled out that hose.

 

When I popped the hood the coolant resivour had bubbling/boiling looking coolant dumping into it from the block. Which would be obvious if I leaked coolant and what was left in the block was left to cool the engine.
I'm just worried cause my last car Camero z28 blew head gaskets and it would boil the coolant but it was eating the coolant not blowing it all over my car.
Man I seriously hope its just a hose break. Any dead signs that my engine is done for when I go to put it on the trailer? I mean besides a knock?

 

check to see if ur fans are working or if ur thermastate didn't take a crap on u. both could do it. as well as broken hose. but if it was a broke hose I don't know why it be boiling. ud think it would just all shoot out and steam. but not boil. boil would be the sign of it not getting cooled by the rad, no?

 

id think ud hear it if ur engine is done, im sure ur engine is fine, just got a little hot is all. u shut it down right away, so I think ur safe. check hoses thermistate and rad fans. iv seen a car overheat pretty bad from a rock jamming in the fan and blowing the fuse.

 

Speaking from experience...you'd definetely hear a big BOOM and then the car would shake and make crazy noises. After coasting to the side of the road, you look behind your car and you have a trail of oil leading up to your car. Especially in the middle on nowhere. Ask me how I know lol

 

I finally got it home at midnight last night, girlfriend was parked behind me when I drove it on the trailer she said white puffs were coming out the exhaust when I pulled on. The engine sounded rough when I pulled it on too.
Today I'm going to dig into her, find the cause of the coolant leak, maybe do a piston compression test and change the oil.
I will post back with my findings. Turns out I was 15-20 min past the rest stop. I thought I was just a mile down the road...

 

Also how do you know? Been in one of those scary movies with a cereal axe killer lately? Just kidding haha (trying to stay positive while my baby is on the trailer outside my bedroom window)

 

x2 Definitely a compression test, ect, ect

I'd pull your injectors too, any other diagnostic tests...

Read the first page on my build thread just saying lol

Should make you feel a lil better

 

I'm hoping fingers crossed that the boiling fluids were the last to leans the tank then since air was being pushed through the line nothing was cooling the block and as the fluid left the block it had heated and boiled since the block wasn't getting any new coolant to chill it.
Also the coolant that was on my car wasn't boiling/ hot at all when I touched it.

 

Alright so 99% sure its the head gasket. Oil is high on the dip stick and smells like coolant is mixing.
This would explain coolant boiling, and the rough idle.
So put it to me straight. I have only ever torn apart lawn mower engines never anything bigger than a single cylinder engine. How hard would it be to change it my self?
Should I go with a bigger/better head gasket that may lower compression so I can push more boost or what should I do to it while I have it torn apart?
I'm not mechanically declined. I am good with tools I just have never torn apart an engine of this capacity.

 

Stock head gasket is always recommended

 

Head gaskets blowing on ecotecs isn't a common thing. It's a nice thought I know, but unlikely. Start looking for holes

 

Yeah i just started doing the research and from what i have read these engines barely ever have head gasket problems and its most likely a sleeve?

what are we talking if its a sleeve? new block? tons of money in the shop?

 

It is going to cost you.

 

Alright since I will have it opened up would it be worth my time to build each of the parts, pistons/rods/cam stuff like that or should I just look into a Gen 3 lnf short block from zzp?

ZZPerformance - Gen 3 LNF/LDK Short Block #ZZ-LDKSB

 

The gen 3 ldk is good for 500hp. For $1500 and a weekend of ur time its definitely worth it!

 

Does everything match up? like are they just straight swap or do i have to get some custom tune, do i need to get upgraded heads or anything or is it basically a bulky lnf?

I am emailing zzp to get all the questions answered but that was what i was looking at was just swapping an ldk.

 

Ya it was a straight swap.

 

Do aftermarket tunes still work with it like my trifecta tune would be fine or would i have to get a new custom tune?

 

Contact mongo for a Gen 3

 

What or who is this mongo? I was looking at zzp because I am only a 3 hour drive from their grand rapids home base, so I can drive there with a pickup and pick anything up cheaper than I can get a block freighted to my house.

Is it suggested to run a stage 1 or 2 cam with a ported head and upgraded springs/valves on these gen 3 engines or what would be a solid power house/sleeper build suggestion? If i'm going to have it apart I want to make it sort of beastly while still saving some money.

 

Also everything I have read has said to make a hp goal and now since im getting into a build more than just a few bolt ons, the LDK engine supports over 500hp in stock form according to zzp's site. What would be needed to hit that 500hp mark if I set that as my goal? LDK block, ported heads, Stage (??) cams? What would all be suggested to hit close to 500hp if I went with the LDK?

Nothing more than 500 as it still needs to be a daily driver, while being a sleeperbeast under the hood?