Okay so im new here. But figured this might be my best help. I have a 98 durango with a 318 i had a blown head gasket and had coolant all in my combustion chamber and oil. Now i did a complete head gasket set. And now ive got everything back together. Here my issue. Its for one still leaking water into my chamber and oil. Also my Entire combustion chamber(PISTON HEADS. ALL VALVES AND ALL MY PLUGS)( IN BOTH HEADS). are completely black. Now it wont start and is backfiring. What would cause is to be havibg a coolant leak still cracked head or block? And the valves and plugs are in bad shape? Can they be cleaned or should i replace? And whats causing it to burn? The water in tge chamber? Flooded chamber? To much air? Bad valves? Sticking valves? Valves not closing completely? Also smoke comes fron my engine(not really so much from tailpipe) Ive taken this damn thing apart 4 times and i cant figure out whats going wrong. Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

Water in the chamber should clean things up..... if you are still getting coolant into the chambers/oil, either the heads are warped, or something is broke. As for the plugs being black, is the two-wire coolant temp sensor hooked up?

 

My ect sensor is hooked up but its not 2 wire. Do you think head gasket stop leak woukd help keep tge water/coolant put or do you think i could have sine clogged cooling passages?

 

ECT *should* be two-wire sensor. Is there more than one? So far as I know, your 98 should only have one ECT sensor. (older trucks had two. One-wire sensor for gauge in the dash, two-wire sensor for PCM.)

 

Heads could be warped. Take them off and to a good machine shop to have them shaved and rebuilt. It will cost you some money but worth it in the long wrong. Use a good set of head gaskets. I'm not sure what your year calls for, but possibly a multi-layer metal gasket would also help if available.

 

I am REAL reluctant to spend money on the stock heads. They were poor castings to begin with, and resurfacing them only makes the problem worse. Getting them checked is a good idea, but, if they need a bunch of work, I would be more tempted to replace them with some better castings. (granted, more expensive, but, that would be the end of the problem.....)

 

Hi silly question but your not reusing the same head gasket ?was your surfaces clean and shiny or was a heavy grit sandpaper used ...did you check you combustion chambers for cracks between valves .mine were cracked 3 spots on both heads ..a thick piece of glass layed down on a good clean table put head on top nicely and use your feeler gauge/spark plug gapper to see if you can slide them underneath the head .. if u can then its warped .