What could the problem be?

5.2L engine

 

bump to this question.

 

There's only a few possibilities.
1. Head gasket(s)
2. Cracked head(s)
3. Cracked block

There's not a lot of ways for these two fluids to mix.

 

must be a crack block then, as I said in the title the heads and gaskets are fine, new actually.

 

I will move this to the 2nd Generation Dakota Sub-Forum.

 

Just saying the heads are new does not mean they are good. I recently rebuilt a C15 cat engine and they head that was delivered from cat was cracked. Also, this could be caused by head gaskets installed upside down. Or cross threaded head bolts or the heads could have been torqued incorrectly and that could have cracked them. Never overlook the little things while diagnosing, it'll come back to bite you.

 

IMHO, I would start with the assumption that it is the head gaskets. You have a pretty serious problem and I would start with the cheapest potential issue. Whats the worst that happens if you pull of the heads and the gasket isn't wet? Your out a set of bolts and your time. But, you were going to take the new heads off if the block was cracked anyhow, so you really haven't lost anything...

Be optimistic.

 

Pull the heads, have them magna-fluxed. This will tell you if the heads are indeed good.

If they checlk out good, then you have
1-bad head gaskets
2- cracked block (kinda unusual)
3- didn't have heads torqued properly, thus causing a leakage.

I'm betting the gaskets or heads.