Hey fellas needin a little help. I just got a 1990 D-250 over the weekend was one of those deals ya just cant pass up. Only paid 500 bucks for it. The only problem is that it was over heated from what I was told. It does start and run. But when you start it the engine shakes, and alot of white smoke blows. And also it will die if you dont keep your foot on the throttle. Any of you guys ever had any thing like this? Any and all help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Steve

 

does the cooling system pressurize when you run it?

 

Blown head gasket? fill the rad. and look for bubbles I lost 3 HGs on my 90, each time it had the symptoms .I have since turned the fuel down so I only make 32 psi instead of 50 the other thing it might be is a bad pump?

 

Ok ill check the gasket, but funny thing is there are no water streaks down the side of the block. But thanks for the help fellas.

 

Water in the oil. Oil in the water. Old fuel. Clogged filters. Bad thermostat.
Start with oil and filters, maintenance stuff and work up from there.

 

When I did my fordcummins conversion it did the same thing. It turned out to be bad fuel. The way that I found out was that I disconnected the fuel line to my tank and put a hose in a 1 1/2 gal can full of fresh diesel. She cleared up right away. When I put the tank line back on did the same thing again. If you are still thinking it's a head gasket, drain rad and start engine and see if you see smoke. If you do then you know it's not water cus there isn't any in the motor

 

I'd look for air getting into the fuel system unless the oil is milky and/or the coolant looks like a nasty milkshake.

 

Good thoughts fellas, i will check those out. so you all dont think i shoukld worry to mutch bout it being over heated? i was hot enough to take the paint off the head.