The beast lives! It turns out blow by is a b@#$c! Sometimes oil changes work miracles! The oil was a bit too thin causing blow by. So I changed it...now it's working o.k. I cleaned up the plugs added some fuel injector cleaner to the fuel. I'm running it without the muffler, temporarily...the old one was shot! I'm hoping the new muffler will keep it from stalling. The truck does not want to idle whether it's cold or warmed up. It's been backfiring a little bit. Hopefully I'm on the right track. I'm proud to say I've driven it a couple hundred miles now. So far, no leakage and it shifts good. Any opinions? You've been quite helpful.

 

Actually, the idle issue is likely the IAC (idle air controller). This is located at the back of the throttle body and they are notorious for freezing up!

 

I'll check it out.
Thanks