I have a '90 Ram D150. What is a good price to pay a garage to replace my valve cover gaskets? I'm in Western Canada so remember to state if your opinion is in american or canadian currency. Thanks for any help!

 

if you buy the valve cover gaskets and install them yourself it would cost no more than $20 canadian. a garage might cost between $60-$80 canadian.

 

ok. If the valve covers had black goo caked on the top of them, I assume that is oil. Is that a sign the gaskets are bad? Also is this a possible reason my truck smokes out the exhaust? (and don't ask me if the smoke is white or blue cuz for the life of me I can't tell the difference).

 

if you think the gaskets are leaking you could try tightening the bolt on the valve covers. the smoke is most likely caused by water in your gas.

 

How long has it be'en smoking?
How much oil does it use?
It sounds like rings,cylinder walls,valve guides,internal parts.
Is it due for a tuneup,pcv working?

 

It's been smoking since I got it in December.
Mainly from the passenger side exhaust, the drivers side not really at all.
I don't think it uses much oil at all. Could be wrong tho cuz I had put a bottle of stop leak in it which maybe throws off the dipstick reading. I know stop leak isn't great but I was desperate.
I don't think it's had a motor tune up in years. But im hesitant to put any more money into it if the motor is just toast.
I dunno what the pcv even is lol, I dunno cars.
It smokes mostly when I accelerate, but it's there at idle too.
I dunno what to do with it.

 

on my truck i am leaking at that rubber plug on the drivers side.i thought it was the valve covers but its not

 

i forgot to say the rubber plug on the valve cover

 

Sounds like its time for a compression test or leakdown test,that will tell a little about the internals.

 

yea but that will cost me more money to have done.

Does anyone have an estimate as to how much it would cost to have the head gasket fixed on this kind of truck if that is the cause of the smoking?