Ok, so I have a 1997 dodge ram 1500 with a 5.2 liter and 180K or so miles. I have done the head gasket because I had a problem with the engine burning coolant and wanted to see if it would fix the problem. Here I am 250 miles later and there was no change in coolant consumption. The truck both before and after the head gasket was done smoked on startup for a good 15 min and would go away after a few miles. Nothing worse than usual condensation in the morning but it would happen at any temperature no matter if it was 32 degrees or 90. It also smells sweet of burning coolant and water is dripping out of the exhaust pipe. When I hit the gas a little after startup it throws a puddle out the exhaust. It doesn't seem to be contaminating the oil much if at all. I was going to do the plenum fix as I frankly enjoy doing those sorts of things especially since I am stuck at home recently. And I was wondering what sort of advice I could have for troubleshooting as I figured if I'm already getting the intake off I should at least bother to figure out the problem. I am not sure what I should do at this point. Do I just let it go as it is not throwing any check engine lights? At this point, I'm mostly guessing there's a crack in the heads being as though it seems it's not uncommon on these engines. But is there any chance the block is cracked? Any ideas?

 

Test the coolant for the presence of combustion products. Your local parts store should have the test kit on the shelf.

Did you inspect the heads when you had them off? I would think that cracks allowing coolant into the chambers would be pretty obvious..... (but, not a certainty....) Might be warped heads too for that matter. Did you have any machine work done on the heads while you had them off?