Depends where your at. Where I am in pa everything at the yard is pretty cheap. The price for a engine from the one yard near me is now at 200 without starter and alt.

 

I'm so jealous of where you live! lol

 

I am going to call some junkyards here in Florida near my house. I looked on craigslist also. Anywhere from $600 and up with transmissions.
If it is the head gasket, how hard is it to do that job? As I am an experienced mechanic somewhat. I have just changed the intake manifold gaskets and plennum gasket. I have changed out engines and trannys with my dad in the past. I have the Haynes manual. Or am I better off just looking for a new used engine? What is a good price quote for a mechanic to do an engine swap? If I decide not to do it myself.
If it is the head gasket, how long can I drive it around without doing any more damage? Or getting stranded with a dead engine? I have been driving it around like this for a while now. After I get it to start, it seems to run fine, except for the occasional overheating, which I carry extra water and antifreeze in the back of my truck.
Thanks for everyone's help and input, as it has been very valuable.

 

Ill buy you a engine and you can trade me for your front bumper lol

 

Sorry to hear about the head gasket.

I don't think you'll have much of a problem doing the head gaskets since you've familiar with the engine. I wouldn't change the engine unless you've got some bottom end issues.

As for the heads, don't just accept that they're bad. You may get lucky and be able to get them resurfaced. Or, pick up a pair of heads at a u-pull and rebuild them. It's much cheaper in the long run.

Keep us posted.

 

Haha well since mine is up and running again I'm going to have to pass on that offer. Good try though!

And yeah swapping out the head gasket shouldn't be to difficult for you since you already have some mechanical experience. I did mine for the first time a few months ago and it wasn't bad at all and I have about the same experience as you.

 

I'd figured I would just you a 5.2 or 5.9 lol

 

I don't know exactly where you are in Florida but if you are anywhere in the central part of the state maybe not too far away from the Tampa area, you could contact Central Fla Auto Salvage in Zephyrhills. I have bought parts there and they are cool, easy to do business with and their prices have always been very reasonable. You can give them a call at (813) 782-4805. Rigsby's in Zephyrhills is good too, I have bought a few parts there, their number is (813) 782-5541. Both of these yards have always had a good amount of Dakota's there and probably one of them will have your engine or a good set of heads if you decide to go that route with it. Budget Auto Parts in Winter Garden, phone # (407) 656-4707 is not too bad either, but they won't let customers out in the yard so I don't know how many Dakota's they have. The guys at Budget seem to be willing to haggle and bargain with you. I bought an evaporative emissions system leak detection pump there the other day, they wanted 40 bucks for it, I didn't like the condition it was in and said no thanks, they dropped the price to 20 bucks. I bought it, cleaned it up and it has been fine since then. I bet most good junk yards would also be able to ship a used engine or a set of used heads to you or your mechanic too, but they would charge extra for it.

I personally would not drive the truck much longer with a bad HG. You can crack the block that way and then you will be buying another engine. I don't know how much is a good price to R&R the engine in your truck. I would guess if you get a new engine at a yard, they should be able to do the job for you, probably in a day or two at most. They may also have some kind of parts and labor warranty if you have the yard do the work too, it's worth checking out anyway.

Jimmy

 

Yeah, I live in new port richey so they are close. I will give them a call. I found 3 at another junkyard, a 97, 98,2000. The 2000 is $650.00. Teddy Bears junkyard has a 96 with 120k for $500. Not sure if they will do the swap or not. Will find out on monday.
The mechanic that said the head was bad said he saw antifreeze in the cylinder. He said he never got it to start and offered me a towrope to get it home. I got in and it started right up first try. I drove it around for a while and it never overheated. I didn't even turn the heater on. I got home after about 10-15 miles of driving and popped the hood. The overflow was not bubbling, not overheating, but I did notice a slight hisssing noise coming from the top of injector 6. I used a hose to my ear to determine where the slightly noticeable hiss. Im assuming that it was pressure in cylinder 6 releasing from the injector. I put new o-rings on both ends of the injectors when I did the intake gasket job.
??????????

 

Did anyone think of checking for a leaking fuel injector?