I'm hoping some of you guys can give me some insight on this.
I know its not 3rd gen related, but any help would be great.

I dropped a remanufactured Recon engine (4.3 V6 TBI) into my 89 chevy 1500 2 years ago. Local GM shop did it for me, and I had some problems with oil leaking out around the water pump afterwards, but they fixed it after 2 tries. 1 1/2 years down the road (7,000 miles later), I've got coolant in my crankcase??? Seeing how it was just put together not too long ago, i don't see how it could be a head gasket unless the guys at the dealership weren't too smart...and I can't imagine it being a cracked block, I never let the engine get over 220*. Anyone got any ideas as to what it could be? Whatever it is, i'm going to just do the work myself, I'm just debating whether or not its worth keeping the truck or not. (perhaps sell it for what i can get and put the money into the bird?...but it is nice to have a truck also)
thanks everyone.

 

Hello, I would suspect the intake manifold gaskets are leaking on the underside letting coolant into the valley area, if it was a head gasket you will get bubbles in the coolant if you run it with the rad cap off you should be able to tell. Also I think the parts stores have a test kit that you check some of your coolant with to see if there is combustion byproducts in the coolant from a blown head gasket. Also check the exhaust for white smoke and odor of coolant. The water pump will only leak water on the ground , if oil was leaking in that area it was from the timing cover. Hopefully you can just change the intake gaskets and be good. Good Luck, Dave

 

My best guess would be head gasket. reccon doesent use quality parts for thier rebuilds. Ive persoanlly seen 8 reccon "rretard" engines with low mileage and head gasket failure. Pull the spark plugs and check for discoleration and increased water from the tailpipe/sweet smell.

 

Someone told me the other day that everything needs to be re-torqued on a new engine after a few thousand miles, and I know this was never done....anyone else ever heard of this?