230,000 miles on the truck. There is no smoke at all usually, but like I said I think I saw some the other day. We think we can replace the seals in the truck no problem, other than it just being a general PITA. However, I'm thinking about just spending $650 on a junkyard motor with around 100k on it and being done with this for a while.

I bought this truck primarily for winter use. The last thing I want to happen is to get into January where I've got holiday bills and a bout three feet of snow and have the mains drop into the pan. However, it's deer season and getting my buddy out of the woods for anything short of his wife's funeral will be a chore.

*ETA*
Looks like using thicker oil didn't help oil pressure any. I figured it would stay a bit higher (it's not dangerously low or anything). I'm still hoping it will burn slower or not at all.

 

Well I tried some Lucas. I don't know how I feel about it. It's hell on start-up. You can hear it rattling pretty bad initially. I've got way better oil pressure now at temp, but that start up concerns me.

Let's have a count-down till I detonate this thing. Maybe post a poll or something...this might be fun.

 

Do as the other suggest. Get a dry and then a wet compression test done. If the numbers significantly improve with the wet test, then start thinking about that junk yard engine.

The longer you wait to fix it, or replace the engine, the more it will cost you. Oil isn't cheap at least at the big chain parts stores. Even the cheap stuff is like $4 a quart separately. It's not worth using the engine until it blows, just to see how long it lasts.


Think about it...

If you're correct with the usage and lets say you get quarts of oil for $3.00 each (+/-). Let's also assume the engine is in bad shape and will only last another 5,000 miles (+/-).


So,
(1 quart/50 miles) * 5000 miles = 100 quarts burned/leaked.

100 quarts * $3.00 = $300 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't know about you, but $300 should cover a big chunk of the cost of that junk yard engine.

-JT

 

This is bad timing. Like I said, I can't get my buddy out of the tree long enough to do an engine swap. He said come find him after Christmas. I've got to get thru to the first of the year with it. The Lucas will hopefully slow down consumption....I hope.

He's got the tools, the know-how, and more importantly, the cherry-picker.

 

I had a junkyard quote me at 750 for an engine swap. If that is within your budget, then I would try asking around.

 

Why not try replacing the valve seals before buying a used motor? The seals are cheap and easy to replace

 

I don't think valve seals could account for the consumption he is seeing..... not without having some valve train noise at the very least.

 

That's just it, there is quite a lot of noise.

I just can't tell if it's internal or exhaust. Half the time it sounds like lifter/valve noise, then it sounds like rattling catalytic converter or broken manifold bolts.

My buddy, the previous owner and about as expert a mechanic as they get, says "Oh, it's fine, quit worrying about it. If it goes it goes, we'll put a different motor in it"

I've noticed the consumption has gone down quite a bit since I switched to Rotella/Lucas. Gee duh. But I'm still losing some...out the tailpipe I think. Today he had me rev it up so he could listen to the cat and I got a big plume of black smoke out the pipe. Looked like a diesel fueling up and blowing it out the stack!