nitroguy
Full Access Member
Guys, this sucks. I don't know if you've been following my attempted-diagnostic threads, but I think I'm in the deep end with no water wings. Would love your opinion before I call the junkyard dogs.
Took Hank (my '93 IDIT with 195k miles that I bought 2,000mi ago) to a mechanic. Diesel Mechanic A sold me the truck in Seattle, said he pulled the engine replaced head gaskets, and that I'm good to go.
Started smoking like a crazy son-of-a-gun, so took it to Mechanic B after my family move to Kalispell. B said probably cracked heads or bad headgasket. I've been losing coolant to the rate of 1.5 gallons every 200 miles with lots of oil in the coolant (but no coolant in the oil). He said drive it till it falls into oblivion, gave me 3 months for that to happen.
Didn't like that answer, so I took it to Mechanic C. Said my Oil Cooler is shot (by guessing). Pulled the "crossover tube" in the exhaust, saw that it was black and sooty so figured it could't be burning the coolant (but then where's it going?!). Showed him a pic of my truck smoking so bad, and he said "ooh yeah, cracked head". Quoted $7k for a rebuilt Jasper engine installed, and close to that to pull engine, diagnose, rebuilt heads, yada yada yada.
Look, I don't want to scrap this truck. I LOVE this truck. It smokes a lot, but other than that, I LOVE it. I want it to last. But I also don't have $7k to drop into a truck that's this old. I've got a baby, new job, and $7k on this truck 'aint happenin.
Any advice? What do I look for to confirm that it is indeed a cracked head that's making me sing the blues (that won't cost $5k just for diagnostics?)? Is there ANY chance AT ALL that it's NOT a cracked head?
Lastly, if all is lost, and I'm hosed, is there any bubble-gum-in-the-dam fix I can do to limp along for a year of commuting while I save my money?
Thanks guys!
And because all threads are useless without pictures, here is my beloved Hank:
Took Hank (my '93 IDIT with 195k miles that I bought 2,000mi ago) to a mechanic. Diesel Mechanic A sold me the truck in Seattle, said he pulled the engine replaced head gaskets, and that I'm good to go.
Started smoking like a crazy son-of-a-gun, so took it to Mechanic B after my family move to Kalispell. B said probably cracked heads or bad headgasket. I've been losing coolant to the rate of 1.5 gallons every 200 miles with lots of oil in the coolant (but no coolant in the oil). He said drive it till it falls into oblivion, gave me 3 months for that to happen.
Didn't like that answer, so I took it to Mechanic C. Said my Oil Cooler is shot (by guessing). Pulled the "crossover tube" in the exhaust, saw that it was black and sooty so figured it could't be burning the coolant (but then where's it going?!). Showed him a pic of my truck smoking so bad, and he said "ooh yeah, cracked head". Quoted $7k for a rebuilt Jasper engine installed, and close to that to pull engine, diagnose, rebuilt heads, yada yada yada.
Look, I don't want to scrap this truck. I LOVE this truck. It smokes a lot, but other than that, I LOVE it. I want it to last. But I also don't have $7k to drop into a truck that's this old. I've got a baby, new job, and $7k on this truck 'aint happenin.
Any advice? What do I look for to confirm that it is indeed a cracked head that's making me sing the blues (that won't cost $5k just for diagnostics?)? Is there ANY chance AT ALL that it's NOT a cracked head?
Lastly, if all is lost, and I'm hosed, is there any bubble-gum-in-the-dam fix I can do to limp along for a year of commuting while I save my money?
Thanks guys!
And because all threads are useless without pictures, here is my beloved Hank:
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