I bought the truck not knowing it was losing about 12 oz of coolant every 7-800 miles. It took pressure check to find out it blew out white smoke at start up. It had a cracked head.
ouch! twice. yeah I hope this is it for me. I went with the shops recommendation rebuilding the top end with brand new heads. trying to get it right the first time.
The 97 limited Puppy Hauler started the ruff cold start with white vapor and coolant loss. My combustion gas tester went green and the valley between the heads was full of antifreeze. Then while she was driving mine, while I was doing her heads, mine started doing the same dam thing.
Mine was a corroded cylinder liner that eroded through and would flood the cylinder. I posted a thread on figuring out what caused it.
Clean the reservoir and the lid located on it (not the radiator cap). Probably the lid is clogged preventing the expanded coolant to enter the reservoir. When cold, radiator should pull coolant from the reservoir into the radiator.