The engine did seem to spin a little more before actually firing up though.

 

Well that's kinda hard to explain huh. If your coolant isn't low you weren't hydrolocked. If you were hydrolocked and aren't now whatever the fluid was should be in your oil. Change your oil and check it for coolant or anything else that shouldn't be there. It's not unheard of to have a stuck injector cause a hydrolock, but it's not very common. It sort of sounds like a starter issue though. a long crank and puff of smoke isn't that bad unless it's extreme, like a 10 second crank or enough smoke so you can't see behind the truck.

 

I did get my oil and fuel filter changed this past weekend. It was probably the first time the filter was changed - ever. I am going to keep an eye on it for sure.

 

You had it changed since this whole issue? If not it is most likely contaminated. You need to drain the first quart of oil into a glass jar or small bucket so you can tell if there's coolant in it. Coolant is heavier than oil so it will drain first. Another thing you should do like right now is start the truck and warm it up then turn it off and look at the dipstick. If the oil is milky and kinda gray or white there's coolant in it. If it's black or oil colored smell it to see if you can smell any fuel.

 

Ok. Just took my truck on a little 3-4 mile drive. Before I started, the coolant overflow tank was empty. I have been having to put coolant or water in it for a few months now.

Truck drove about as usual. About 3 miles in, the temp gauge shot up to hot (along with a whistling/whining noise), then just as quickly back down to normal. It has actually done this once a day for the past two weeks or so. Only after sitting cold overnight. Doesn't do it on drive home from work.

Got back to the house and pulled the dip stick. It looked normal. Took the oil cap off and it was milky white on the bottom.

 

The cap being milky white underneath is almost always from condensation from the crankcase rising up and collecting on the bottom of the cap. What we need to know is what is in the oil pan, so pull out the dipstick and look at it. Considering your coolant bottle is empty i'll give you one guess where it is... I would say you have a blown head gasket or cracked head. hopefully not the latter.

 

Dipstick looked clear, but know that you mention it, it seemed a little too clear. I will drain some off the pan this weekend. I was told about 3 years ago that I had a blown gasket. Guess it is starting to catch up with me

 

Yeah, like i said the coolant will come out first so catch it in something you'll be able to look at it in. I dunno how much engine work you've done but head gaskets are a pretty involved job. The fact that you've been overheating and cooling back down can cause warpage and cracked heads, you should take them to get pressure tested and checked for warpage by a machine shop.

 

sounds like you should pressure test the cooling system, have had some leak near the rear and possible get into comb. chamber, near the rear of the intake that is

 

Yeah I mentioned that in an earlier post. He said he was told his head gaskets were blown a while back so that's probably what it is. I did recently learn that you can borrow tools like a pressure tester from Advance Auto and Autozone. Probably old news but I dont spend much time in those stores.