I have an 05 Dodge Ram 1500 5.7 Hemi
Symptoms:
1. Overheated about a month ago. Scale of 1 to 10 maybe a 3. Pulled over right away, didn't drive it at all while overheating.
2. Noticed some white smoke/steam, not a lot, but enough to know somethings wrong, coming from exhaust at start up and a little while driving. Smells like antifreeze.
3. Check engine light- misfire in cylinder 4
4. Losing coolant on a regular basis which leads to running slightly hot. I add roughly a gallon every 4 days or so.
5. When I turn on my heater to help keep the engine cooler, I don't feel heat for up to 10 minutes. (thermostat?)
6. Checking for any leaks I also found a small leak in my radiator.

Testing/ troubleshooting done so far.
1. Changed oil- no obvious coolant present, oil still looks new after 3 weeks.
2. Did a leak down test on all 8 cylinders and all held with no leaks.
3. During leak down test I found moisture on the plugs in cylinder 4 indicating that's where the coolant is.

If all 8 cylinders hold pressure with no leak down at all, how in the world is the coolant getting in the #4 cylinder?
I thought it was head gaskets for sure until the leak down test. Can it be head gaskets if all cylinders hold?
What else could it be? Intake manifold gasket?
Hellllllllllp!!!!!
Thanks in advance for any help solving this one.

 

White smoke and antifreeze in the exhaust is usually a blown head gasket. You are a burning coolant with gasoline and that's why it smells that way. This is also why you're losing coolant and have to replace a gallon every four days. Of course, the radiator leak does not help.

 

Although a leak down test is usually the first step in determining coolant leaking into the oil, it's not a 100% sure fire test. Pulling compression would be a better test.

My guess is head gasket or even a slightly warped head...

 

Going through the same thing get a compression/leak down test like they have said it took me months to finally decide that i had a blown head gasket, i had white smoke sometimes and never any oil in water, or water in oil.