I want to re ring my Durango, but wondering if it is necessary to pull the motor to remove the pan, or is it possible to pull it with that axle and diff. in the way? Recomendations? Thanks in advance for any advice!

Rob

 

Why? Is compression that lost or oil burning that bad? If so, rings are only one small part of the answer.

IndyD

 

I just purchased the truck for $800. It has a blown head gasket (milky oil). It is currently running rough and has no power. I guess it has alot of water pumping into the cylinders. It has 180k on it. I figured if I pull the heads, I might as well go ahead and refresh the whole motor, if its not that much to pull the pan. I just hope the block and heads are ok. Its not knocking or anything, but when the engine runs for a couple minutes, it starts to get a little oil smoke from the exhaust. I would hate it if I just replaced the head gaskets and valve seals, and the engine still smoked. Besides, I plan on using this truck for a long time, and it would be nice to know the engine will be no concern.

 

It would be in your best interest to pull the heads first. Then pull the short block and put it on a stand and hone the cylinders and re-ring. That way you don't have to pull the front end and it really isn't that hard anyway. Besides, you have to pull the heads anyway you can look in the cylinder walls at that point and see if you need to do a bore job anyway.

Also, you are probably gong to need main and rod bearings with 180k on it anyway. So personally, I would pull the heads, pull the short block and take it to a machine shop for a full rebuild. Get the short block back and install, follow with the heads and then you know what you got.

I know I looked into this way back about 5 years ago and if everything was good NAPA would have done the block and cam/crank for a few hundred bucks.