Today as I was driving my engine began knocking and before too long the thing was knocking extremely loud and losing power. I pulled over and steam was billowing out from under the hood. As it started to dissipate I noticed the steam coming from the drivers side of the block from the second large plug from the front of the block. I've never blown an engine before or seen this happen so I would like to get some thoughts from yall who might have more experience with this. Is this an issue that might be fixable or am I looking at getting a rebuit engine to replace it. I am going to try to upload the video showing where the leak is from. Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

 

So you're saying it started knocking and you kept driving ?? Where was the temp when this all began ??

 

I didn't drive it very far. Just long enough to get it out of the way. The temp and oil preassure were both normal. I made a short video showing where the leak was coming from but it won't upload. It was comingvout of the second plug from the front on the drivers side on the block. It looked like it was coming from between the plug and block but I couldn't see any crack.

 

You might get lucky and not have roached the engine but just severely overheated it. I'd be prepared to replace the motor though.

 

I'm kind of thinking that at 200,000+ miles and 27 years on this engine it might be best to go ahead and replace it. Looking at a remanufactured 4.0 with a 100,000 mile warranty to replace it with. IMO it would be worth it knowing there would be several years of solid mikes out of it.

 

Freeze plug rusted out losing all your coolant? Doesn't really add up if thr running temp never spiked though 🤔

 

sometimes the gauge doesn't show, if the water has disappeared or turned to steam, sender doesnt work well with steam or air

a closeup inspection with light will resolve the cause