I will assume you crawled under the truck and did not see any external leaks. I’ll also assume you somehow made sure your heater core is not leaking.
How’s the engine oil level?
Way too high?
These engines are quite well known for having the lower intake gaskets deteriorate . . . to the point that you lose coolant either into the crankcase, externally . . . or both
Here’s my recommendation . . . and you’ll make a mess
Drive the truck for several miles to get the fluids nice and hot
Place a deep pan under the engine oil pan
Drain the oil into that pan
Is it all one color?
Or does it look like starbucks moccha frappucino?
If it’s the latter, it’s almost guaranteed your lower intake gaskets have crumbled into dust. Stop leak, blue devil, bar’s, etc. won’t fix that, by the way.
Could be a head gasket - especially with the gurgle of air in the heater. Compression gasses passing into the coolant and coolant being sucked out the exhaust rather than ending up in the oil. Put a white paper towel over the exhaust when the truck is heated up. Does it smell sweet? That would be coolant and likely mean a head gasket (or 2) is in order
The manifold’s gotta come off either way. Hopefully the OP will find it’s the manifold gasket.
Pulling heads on a truck usually causes me to break out the milk crates and boards to stand on as I’m not quite tall enough (or arms long enough!) to reach all the fasteners.
I’ve known a few guys that seriously messed up their lower back when pulling heads
Lifting was okay, but when they turned
One guy tore his lower back muscles clean off . . . he was never the same again, even after he was declared “recovered”
I’m not very tall, either. And I regularly use a small step at work, when doing some engine work. I also use hearing protection, unlike some of the “manly” guys . . . I’d rather keep what I’ve got, so to speak. I’ve already got tinnitus, but my hearing itself still seems to be okay. I’d like to keep it that way.
That simple move brought me to my knees in pain - and I was only moving a coffee maker!
Your comment about torn back muscles brought tears to my eyes just reading it! Wow!
He could only get up, if he pulled himself up with assistance.
Then again, he was one of those guys that was too fast for his own good. He always did everything really fast, and wasn’t being careful. That story with his back, was only one of the the times he hurt himself due to carelessness.
Years ago, I worked for UPS . . . only for a few months. But the one thing I took away from that job was proper lifting techniques.
Plenty of times on this forum, I’ve said my back was messed up, deformed, actually. But not because of work.
Born that way. And I HAVE hurt my back at work, but it’s never been due to improper lifting techniques.
If you are absolutely certain it’s not dripping externally or being burnt. . . water pump, heater core, huge plumes of blue smoke, for example . . . then I’d say the coolant is definitely going into the crankcase
Think I found it it was hidden behind the AC bracket. Rather a leaking freeze plug or the left side of the water pump is leaking into the plug making the plug look like its leaking.
I have an issue with my 4.3 as well, 178k miles, oil looks good. engine is not using coolant or overheating. Although in the past 2 weeks ive had lots of white smoke come out the exhaust. once while driving for about 5 minutes, Then once when i shut the vehicle off, that time was very bad. The only code it is reading is PO174(fuel trim system lean bank 2)
and look behind the water pump pulley from the under side. A slow seep will leave a yellowish scale at the weep hole where the coolant escapes when the pump seal is beginning to fail.