89 BroncoII overheats and smokes. please help!!

[PaBronc]

so i was wondering if anyone can help me out,

i have a 1989 broncoII 2.9L V6

so i was taking a 3 hours trip on the highway when i had to pull over to use the restroom and hour and a half in.... when i got off the interstate i noticed a ticking noise (kinda sounded like rice in tin can) when i would hit the gas, first time i've ever heard the noise but im not sure how long this was happening on this trip because i have subs goin all the time... well anyways as soon as i slowed down and went to pull in at this gas station the truck stalled i went to start it again and it was like dead and then a huge cloud of smoke came out from the car.. it wasnt black more like thick steam...i popped the hood and everything was wet, pretty sure i blew my radiator...so i sat there for bout 15 mins and then the truck finally started. i filled it up with water and like the dumba$$ i am i continued to the other 1.5h trip stoppin periodically to fill the resiviour with water...so i made it there... two days later i made the trip home... i made 99% of the way back and then it overheated again to the point where it stalled out again...so i pulled over and let it cool off. (10 mins) then it started right up...later that night i had to drive home which is a 2 hours trip. i made it about 30 mins and it overheated and stalled out...i waited quite a while before trying to drive again..starting goin and bout 2 miles later again it stalled out....(on this trip (2 hour one) the truck was full on water and the fan was working)... so i got picked up and had it towed in the morning....garage said my water pump was bad, i needed a new radiator and thermosate. i got all the work done...drove the truck home from the shop which was about 40 min highway and it worked fine... i used it for work for three days and then it overheated again...i popped the hood and noticed that all the coolant was gone already... i didnt see any visible leaks and it wasnt leaving puddles when it sat... so i filled it with water and let it sit for a couple hours...went to take it out and it ran fine...the next day while working it started to overheat again and when i pulled into driveway it smoked quite a bit but this time the smoke was a little darker like it was oil and i could smell the coolant burning as well....and my fluids were all good at this time... i took the truck to another shop and they couldnt figure anything out... they told me to take it back to the first garage but i know it wont make it there.... i drove it home from the second shop today which is only 10 mins from my house and it was starting to over heat and it was smoking again.....

sorry for the long story but i was trying to be as descriptive as possible....any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks!!!!

 

[bobstrat]

have you checked your oil? if you're losing the contents of your radiator and it's not on the ground, it has to be going somewhere. does your temperature gauge not work?

 

[Seabronc]

It could be that you have a blown head gasket between the water ports and the cylinder. With all that over heating you may have warped a head.

Good luck,

>-

 

[PaBronc]

the second shop changed the oil so thats new. i went out today and i looked in my coolant res tank and it was all muddy and i put my finger in it and it was all oily. so oils gettin in the collant. i checked the oil and that still seemed fine.. the fluid still in the radiator is still all good coolant, bright green. as to the temp gauge it works but not like it should i guess. when my cars at normal runnin temp the needles at the N or berfore on the word normal...i can tell when it overheats because the needle jumps up to the R-M of normal. i dont know if that helps..

but thanks for the help

 

[bobstrat]

how's your transmission fluid? it sounds to me like your radiator is shot. there is an internal transmission fluid cooler that may be leaking into your coolant. whatever you do, stop driving it until it stalls. if you've been fortunate enough to not seriously damage your engine yet, you will if you keep doing it. maybe remove your transmission lines from the transmission, drain the fluid from the cooler, plug one and pressurize the other one with air, this should show up as bubbles if you remove the radiator cap and take a peek. needless to say, do this with the engine off. where in pa are you?