Yesterday my truck overheated after 5 minutes of driving. I immediately pulled over, stopped the truck and had it towed to my garage. No fluid located in reservoir, no obvious leaks or puddles on ground. Performed oil change 45 days ago with less than 250 miles driven since. Oil is is below normal fill limit and appears to have sludge. Drained oil and noticed "glitter" and strange smell. Vehicle starts and idles great but when accelerating the truck hesitates, loses horsepower and shakes the entire truck. No obvious engine noise, no leaks, no smoke, no smells. The exhaust pipe is clean. Where should I start my diagnostic? Compression test, vacuum test, overhaul??? Have a Hanes manual, tools, time, and an inpatient wife.

 

This can be a dog job, but it needs to be done.
I would suggest that you mark/ number the coil plugs ,unplug them, blow out the spark plug ports and remove the plugs keeping tract of where they came from (which cyl), then disable the fuel pump (remove fuse) and run a compression test. The plugs will tell you which cyl/cyls are getting coolant in them. They will/should have some deposits on them making them different from the others. Depending on what results you get will help determine next path to consider. It could be intake manifold or maybe head gaskets. Have never removed heads with cab on although it has been done. Let us know what you found.

 

Did the compression test. I am pretty sure I now need a new engine. Here is what I found: cylinder 1 150psi, cylinder 2 220psi (fast), cylinder 3 180, cylinder 4 200 (fast), cylinder 5 and 6 80, cylinder 7 150 (slow), cylinder 8 between 60-180 (sporadic).
Tops of pistons have carbon build up, a lot of it. All spark plugs were ashed white "too hot", and the big one....visible cracked head between cylinders 5 and 6. Visually looked through PCV hole and everything was stained antifreeze green. All coils OHM out equally at 0.7 on multimeter.
I still need to clean fuel injectors and check function.
This is not a happy day.

 

Sorry about the trouble, "glitter" in the oil probably would have been a deal breaker as well..