Hey, guys.

So my truck is finally getting to the point where it's going to need a new motor. I started having trouble with it a few weeks ago, I was heading to work when my oil light lit up, so I pulled over and went to check it and it was almost bone dry. Since then I've been going through about 4-5 quarts of oil every few weeks!

I've checked all my plugs, nothing leaks, no oil in the coolant or coming out the exhaust, and I've done the Hughes plenum fix so it's not that. The best I've been able to come up with is maybe a broken ring, and it's just burning the oil?
Combined with the fact that it won't idle on it's own on cold days till the motor has completely warmed up, ticks, and has little power: For example I occasionally haul a meat cooker
( looks something like this, but a little smaller http://tinyurl.com/2g2towp), and going up hills I can't even hold 50mph in third gear.
So I'm just going to rebuild a motor I bought off Criagslist for it.

I tore apart the motor I got and it looks like it's rebuildable, machine shop will tell for sure. My plan is to bore it .030 over and get a little hotter cam...any suggestions for that? I want it to still be very streetable, but a little more power.

It's going into a 1996 1500, Reg Cab, 4x4, 318, with a NV3500. It's already got a CAI, and a Gibson single side exhaust, plenum fix, as said earlier. So i figure I'm pretty well set up to just drop in the new one when it's done.

Any, advice or things to look out for from people who have rebuilt there motors? Anything to watch out for, or other things i should get for it while it's down? Any information is appreciated, and thanks for reading the long *** post

 

Plugged cat? I would check the plenum again, just to be sure...... That kind of oil consumption HAS to be going somewhere.

Do a compression test. That will tell a story too.....

 

Not sure about plugged cat, but i doubt it...also have not done a compression test as i don't have one to do it with. But it's definitely not the plenum, used a flashlight and mirror to look around and it's clean, looks like new actually.

 

Is your coolant oil fouled by any chance?

 

Nope, clean.

 

Run the compression test then. You should be able to borrow/rent a gauge from one of the chain auto parts stores in the area. Be sure to run the test dry first, then put a couple teaspoons of oil in the cylinders, and run the test again. Post both sets of numbers. (stick the oil in the cylinder right before you are ready to run the 'wet' test. more accurate that way.)

 

4-5 quarts of oil every few weeks has to be going somewhere and it should be fairly visible. either lots of blue smoke from burning, a puddle on the ground from leaking, or a lot of residue from wherever its spraying out the motor.

i had an old chevy that burned up a lot of oil one time. i found a broken/stopped up exhaust manifold valve thingy that was was creating a lot of backpressure on the engine. it was drinking oil with little evidence of where it was going. i had an old minivan one time that had bad valve seals. it smoked like a mother.

anyway, double check your intake compatibility between your 96 truck and your craigslist motor. if they're not the same year you may have EGR or Temp sensor difference and will have to deal with it.

be sure and fix the plenum in the rebuild.

replace all freeze plugs in block and heads. consider replacing heads. magnaflux them for cracks if you can't replace them.

and its your motor and if you want a cam then have at it. but - i wouldn't do it, or else you have to get into tuning issues and PCM, and other potentially difficult problems.

 

I'll try and get the compression test done this weekend.

I didn't think about the pcm/tuning...but that's why you let people who know better know what your doing, lol. So i'll probably just stick with the stock camshaft then...I'm looking for a daily driver with a little more power, not a race truck. I may get a tuner from hemifever at some point...but that would probably be late in the year/next year.

As far as the oil, i don't know. There are mornings where it would occasionally have some white smoke coming out the exhaust for about 10 or so minutes, then it would stop. It's not every day either...haven't noticed it doing that lately
And it used to leak from the oil pan, but that was from a stripped oil plug, i have since fixed that and haven't seen it leaking from there.

The craigslist motor came from a running(so they said) 1998, half ton. Mine is a 1996 half ton.