85 L300 engine problem, major dramas

[holeyhardtop]

I have a 1985 L300 5spd 4x4 van, yeah i know it's a bit of a weapon but it gets me around, at least it did until driving along at 90kph yesterday when it suddenly got hot, blew a puff of white and stopped .

On checking everything it has blown the welsh plug out of the rear of the head and instantly dumped its entire volume of coolant out.

What to do now? The motor still cranks over fine, has spark and fuel but will not fire and run. What is the issue then? Has it completely worn out all compression from the rings as it died? I am stumped.

Thoughts:
Do i rebuild the motor? probably cost more than the van is worth.

Look for a good runner? if so what mitsubishi motors will be a direct bolt up?

Any ideas appreciated.

[-Scott-]

I associate white smoke with coolant in the combustion chamber.

Blowing a welsh plug suggests heaps of pressure in the cooling system - possibly combustion pressure.

Combined, I'd guess at least one, possibly more combustion chambers are open to the cooling system. A head gasket would be a possibility, but more likely something has cracked - probably the head. Have you pulled all the spark plugs and checked them?

You should be able to find a 2.6 to bolt up pretty easily - what engine is in there now?

[holeyhardtop]

Currently has the all conquering 2 litre which did a pretty good job, would sit on 100kph with ease.

I haven't touched the spark plugs yet but will pull them out, what exactly am i looking for to diagnose the fault? thanks.

[-Scott-]

Essentially, pull the plugs and look at them all - if there's a problem with one or two cylinders those plugs will appear different. If you have coolant in one or more cylinders those spark plugs will probably look "wet".

[holeyhardtop]

Thanks for that, i will pull the plugs on the w/end, but it looks like i might just try and sell it as is as i don't have the space to fix it.