Searching for a leak when you know you already have one is going to solve what? You already know you are losing coolant and you know you have seen white smoke. Both indicative of bad heads or gaskets. You can't fix those on the block so at the end of the day, no matter what you do, those heads have to come off. Either replace them or take them to a machine shop and have them checked for warpage and cracks. Have a valve job done and replace the head gaskets and bolts.

 

what does a job like that cost?i was told 2 to 2,500 to fix does that sound about right?

 

No one here can accurately answer that as it is going to depend on what shop you talk to and prices in your local area. I had a guy come over Sat from a good distance away and I tore down his engine, redid the heads and swapped cams for $400. He rode home Sun at lunch. He would have rode home sat night but he was a bit late getting here so I could not start as early as I wanted.

 

Identifying where the leak is could save them thousands. It honestly could be a LIM gasket.. which would take all of an hour to change. It's also just good practice to properly diagnose an issue rather then resort to the shotgun approach of "change it all, **** it!"

 

LIM gasket?

He is loosing coolant. He is blowing white smoke out the tail. This means he is leaking coolant either from a cracked cylinder, cracked head or blown head gasket. Those are the only ways you can introduce coolant into the combustion chamber where it gets burned and blown out the tail as white smoke

I'm sorry. There are not any other mechanical failure ways

 

My apologies. On a 4.7 (and 5.7) it appears to not have any coolant passages. I'm a former ford guy. For example, the ford 3.0 Vulcan block has an upper and lower intake manifold. Chevy, too. Those lower intake manifolds sit between the heads and pass coolant from one head to another via coolant passages inside the LIM. A leak here can and will absolutely cause coolant to enter the cylinders.

It appears to be a non-issue with the dodges and for that I apologize, but it's sound advice for other brands that DO have a lower and upper intake assembly.

 

No worries. I wasn't following on the acronym so I wasn't sure

 

I am loosing a few gallons of coolant daily. oil is not milky and just replaced water pump because It was obviously the culprit or so I thought. no more leaking at all. a little white smoke when I crank it up in the morning but clears up. rad hose not holding pressure. burnt or dry coolant leak signs at egr manifold but not much. looked into delete kit and didn't know if I had to get a programmer or can I get away with just the delete cover and hose? overheating and a knocking noise when really hot at passenger side under glove box. any help would be appreciated

 

If you are loosing a few gallons daily, where do you think the white smoke is coming from?

If you are not leaking externally, then you are leaking internally

 

Shops absolutely do compression tests.... low compression in one cylinder would indicate a problem in and/or around that cylinder.

The next test it should be followed with is a "leak down" test, in which they put a compressed air fitting where a spark plug is and send (clean & dry) pressurized air through it (make sure they open the oil cap when they do this otherwise your dipstick might shoot out)

If you hear air coming from the oil cap then it's a bad piston ring, if you hear air from the exhaust then it's a bad exhaust valve/valve seat. (sound from intake would mean intake valve)

If you hear air, or see bubbling from the radiator then you know it's a bad headgasket and that is likely your issue.

Which cylinder did your "mechanic" not change? If it was the drivers side or passenger side rear most cylinders then I'm betting the ***** was just too lazy to actually get in there and change it.

It is time for you to find a more reputable shop that knows wtf they are doing and are willing to do it, your way.