I'm looking at a 2003 Dakota with a blown head gasket. 205K on the clock. I've not done a head gasket repair on a Magnum engine. Just about everything else, but not a head gasket. Is there much difference between that and a '85 version? Yes, I know it's fuel injected. If I get the truck, I'm torn between repairing the heads or swapping another engine in.

 

Look at the oil..... if it is contaminated with coolant, it's possible it wiped out some bearings as well... swapping in a known good engine may end up being cheaper. But, that's not something you know until you actually try it. It's a crap shoot. But, doing heads on the magnum isn't much different from doing heads on the LA motor. Few more valve cover bolts, and more wiring to deal with, but, that's about it.

 

What engine? I've got the 4.7L. Back when I had a leaky HG, i used this and drove with it for 500 miles before draining. That was 40-50K ago and no leak ever since. Look up my thread on how to make it save u a bunch of $$$. People will say it's not permanent cause it's a cheap fix, but it works.

https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/...RoCDcIQAvD_BwE

 

I talked to the owner and when I asked how he knew the head gasket was blown, coolant n the oil. I know of several first generation engines and many of them are 3.9 so if I get the truck (someone was coming to look at it) I'll just freshen another engine up and drop it in.

Before the trolls start about first and second generation Magnums, consider this. First generation Magnums are EVOLUTIONS of earlier engines. They are directly descended as far as design is concerned from the LA engines which were a heavy redesign of the polyhead A engines which were based on the even earlier 24 Dodge Hemi Red Ram engine. The second generation Magnum is a REVOLUTIONARY design which shares nothing with the earlier Magnums. They may fit in the place of, but share no parts with other engines.