Ever since I got the Dodge I have been plagued with electrical problems.. and front end problems. After doing some phone calls and digging around it seems the poor truck has been in one reported accident and one accident that wasnt. The first accident was repaired by a reputable shop from what it seems.. the second one was done by the PO and he replaced all of the front end parts except the torque bar.

When getting the truck I did the normal look around.. drive around.. fluid check and ect.. and it all seemed to check out. I guess its pretty easy to make the used vehicle look just fine when you dont use it as a DD. After having it for two months and finding all its little problems I have tryed to fix it little by little. Now..

Heading to work yesterday I was driving around 55 mph on a hilly road with OD off and I came to the last downward slope hill and just so happend to look out my passenger side mirror to see oil smoke POURING out the exhaust.. enough to make the driver behind me back off. I give it some gas and it would go away.. until I let off the pedal agian.

Cracked heads?.. Plenum gasket again?(replaced with new gasket ~2k miles ago, haven't gotten Hughes kit yet).. Rings?.. I would mention valve seals but it smokes all the time on decell.. (will do a cylinder leak down test this weekend) From what I can tell the truck has an unknown mileage.. from what I can find the dash says 110,000 but a receipt I found in the truck said jan-15-2009 @ 167,000 miles.. so who knows..

After x-mas time the free time cash starts comming in agian and I would not be apposed to doing a motor build.. but I dont wanna put all the money in it and have the transmission drop (transmission looks good btw but..) or the truck just fall apart.. the PO was not very nice to this truck.. Am I in to deep? Ditch the truck for somthin diffrent? Rebuild the motor?? Im at a loss and dont know what to do!... what would you do?? Sorry for the ramble but I'm just lost..

 

Find out where the oil is coming from first. Take it from there. Given the volume of smoke you are putting out though, I would address that one right quick. If you dropped a couple bolts out of the intake belly pan, that could get real expensive, REAL quick.

 

Man, you gotta think if its been wrecked a couple of times you don't want to put a lot of money in it....since it won't be worth much when fixed anyway, being a not so new dodge. Kinda depends on how much you have in it already and what the oil issue is being caused by. If the motor is shot, I think I'd lean towards putting a hopefully cheap used motor in it and selling. If it smokes that bad, would be next to impossible to sell as is. Of course, if you don't have much in it and the motor's shot, you could probably get 4-500 dollars for it as scrap... Not saying you should scrap it, just saying if you only had 1500 dollars or so in it and the engine died, might be an option.

 

Let us know what the leakdown shows. Ought to be able to find a JY motor, but prices seem to vary greatly depending on where you are.

Also, go to UserCP at the top of page, click on Edit Signature, and put truck info there so we know what you are dealing with. makes it easier.....

 

400-500 maybe 400 tops if its a 4x4

maybe 3 months ago scrap price is droping in august i was getting 265 a ton for car bodies i took a 1992 dodge ext cab long bed 2wd in to thee scrap yard today and it weighed 4700 and i only got 423 for it

 

It ought to be worth more in parts.

 

what his truck or the one i junked?

well yes they both were/are.... i'd never scrap a 2nd dodge unless it has no usable parts on it what so ever

 

You defenetly want to get it checked out with a leak down test, or at least a compression check. If your exhaust is true dual & not blended from 1 pipe & the smoke was only out of 1 side, I would investigate that bank of cylinders first. There is a chance it could be a head gasket or a cracked head. Gasket is more likely. Here is my take on your situation - If the engine is caput, and the body is not totally rusted out or banged up, it is worth getting the engine rebuilt. Why? Keep in mind that all automotive manufactures do not make all their own parts. Things like wiring harnesses, sensors, shocks, brake pads even engine rings and bearings are all outsourced to a strong degree. The manufactures will often use the lowest bidder on those parts & when you get an engine rebuilt, it is almost always going to be done with a higher quality of parts. The most extreme case of this is mitsubishi - their engines are crap from the factory until they get rebuilt then they are worthy for more than 5 years. They are the worst jap brand out there btw. Don't hate me because I am honest! Okay, with motor rebuilders, it is best to use one that has their own in house machine shop so nothing gets farmed out to other area machine shops for the sake of misplaced parts & overall quality control. Again, in my opinion, this is some of the best & worst case scenarios you are looking at. Sorry for ranting. Good luck & let us know what you find!

 

A 4 X 4 will weigh more. Since you get paid by the weight, it would bring more money. You got $180/Net Ton. We are buying them for $220/Net Ton if they are missing ANY engine parts. $240/Net Ton if they have everything on them (battery, catalytic converter, everything). I work at a scrap yard. If it has no motor or transmission, we would buy it at $9.50 per hundred pounds, or $190/Net Ton.

Not saying he should scrap it, but I have bought a lot of them complete as scrap. If he parted it out, yes, he could probably get more...but not a whole lot more. How much would you give for a used alternator, starter, etc. that you have no guarantee that it will work?

All depends on the condition of the truck. If the motors bad and it's been wrecked twice, I'd hate to put a lot of money into it, myself.