91 D Ram50 motor blew... I think. Help!

[CamRam50]

i got a 91 D Ram50 with 240k miles, I was driving threw Sacramento Ca a couple weeks ago and i noticed my truck was running a little hot so I pulled off and let it cool down. about 20-30 mintes later i hopped back on the freeway and got about 10 miles father down the freeway right into the middle of downtown sacramento and my truck started being kinda goofy feeling. it was about 100 degrees out that day so i thought it was running hot again the temp gauge was just about half way. W was driving with the windows down and while passing a semi truck i heard a lud flapping noise kind of like a piece of paper in a fan. i thought it was the semi. so i kept going just to get passed him and realized the noise didnt go away then my truck started to lose all power so i downshifted to 4th gear and still no power. then to 3rd still no power but the truck was still revving at high rpms so the motor was still kinda alive. When i looked in my passenger mirror to get over to stop all i could see behind me was a WHITE SMOKED OUT freeway!! all that white smoke came from my poor little truck. when i came to a stop the truck was dead. i tried to turn it over and all it did was like free spin. almost like there is no compression but im not sure. just brought the truck to my high school auto class and looking to tear it down tomorrow. Any advice on where to even start looking for problems would be a big help. Please help my little Ram50 get back on the road ASAP!

[DroppedMitsu]

Im guessing you blew a head gasket or cracked/warped the head. White smoke equals coolant so its something to do with coolant getting into your combustion chamber/exhaust.

[CamRam50]

Thanks for the help. Also what do you think that flapping/ticking noise could've been because another guy on here said he had the sane noise and it was his timing belt?

[camoit]

The head gasket.
You will know more when you tear into the thing. It was probably the noise of combustion gases bypassing into the cooling system and then blowing out the over flow tank.

[CamRam50]

Thanks a lot for your help. I'll do a compression test then start tearing it down tomorrow.

[CamRam50]

i did a compression test on the truck. Cylinder #1 was at 30psi. Cylinder #2 was at 0psi. so i didnt even bother doing the other ones because the motor needs to be completely torn down anyway.

[CamRam50]

Got the whole top of the motor torn apart today. Got the intake and exhaust manifold off today. Looked into it more and it looks like I melted #3 piston and there are chunks missing out of the head in the bottom when the head bolts go through. Does anyone know where any good places to get motor parts for the famous 2.4l.

[camoit]

ooooohhhh you did a number on that one it sounds like. Get us some pictures of the destruction. We haven't had one this bad yet. But as far as parts http://www.rockauto.com has a good line on parts depending on what you are looking for. Also a local machine shop would be able to find some things.

[LSR Mike]

I got mine from a Junkyard, I needed a Block and crank when i fried "Old Blue" Eagle H-beam rods came from Summit and Custom Pistons came from Atomic Speedware
Nick Arias III of the famous Arias family runs the shop. http://www.atomicspeedware.com/ the rest of the bits and pieces came from the mitsu dealer get the overhail gasket set MD 997168, has everything Oh yeah, these are 6 bolt P/Ns see my site for pix of the various stages of rebuilding. mmeierle.com

[CamRam50]

It looks like my exaust valve was beating on top of #3 piston. Thanks for all the help guys. I'll post pics as soon as I figure out how to do it. Hahaha. I'm new to the site

[camoit]

It looks like my exaust valve was beating on top of #3 piston. Thanks for all the help guys. I'll post pics as soon as I figure out how to do it. Hahaha. I'm new to the site

There are step by step instructions in the site news and support area. It's easy after the first one.

[CamRam50]

So I feel kinda stupid what I said happened to the head. I was looking at it again and the chunks that were missing out of the head. It was the spark plug threads. I talked to a local machine shop and they told me the head might be salvageable. He says its in a good spot to where he can put an insert in it I guess. Does anyone have any experience in putting some kind of insert in?

[4doorciv]

The dohc head on my truck got inserts on cylinders 1 and 3 from my last catastrophic engine failure. Hold up fine since they were threaded in and then welded and ground down. Double check for edges where some machine shops can overlook some edges that can turn into a potential hotspot for preignition.

[CamRam50]

Alright cool. I just wanted someone else's opinion before I went threw with it because I didnt want to put all this time and money in it just to have something go wrong again then have to do all this Work again.

[4doorciv]

The inserts kinda of stick out. Not as in of the head, but they look good or copper. When I got mine done they didn't grind it enough leaving edges around the insert. Point out any stripped bolt holes around the intake or exhaust manifolds as well so they can put inserts there as well. And they should resurface the head because of the welding.

[CamRam50]

Do you have any pictures of your with the inserts done?