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So I bought a 1991 Dakota a few days ago for winter, it’s rusty, smokes, starts without the keys in it, has over 200k miles but overall the only decent 318 V8 4×4 I can find in over a month under $1,000.
The one concerning issue I have is it lets out a puff of white/blue smoke after a long-ish idle after you give it gas. As seen in the following short video…
http://youtu.be/U3kghwE8zO8Besides this, the truck runs good, it tends to flutter the rpm a bit during stops but so far doesn’t stall. It has a bad vacuum or air leak for sure, it sure is really loud. Coming from underneath.
http://youtu.be/8SCobzunaa4From what the previous owner told me, it does burn a bit of oil, he thought it was the valve seals but doesn’t know for sure. The valve covers, pcv, oil cap area and various vacuum lines have oil on them so it leads me to believe that the pcv is letting oil flow when it’s not supposed to. But I’ll degrease the engine tomorrow and hunt for the leak. What’s your opinion?
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PCV’s are normally pretty easy to get to and replace. Usually under $5. Replace it “just because.”
200,000 miles is just about the life of an American vehicle. At that mileage, it probably has all kinds of wear. $900 for a vehicle that runs on it’s own power – I say you did alright.
[quote=”99Nightmare” post=114237]PCV’s are normally pretty easy to get to and replace. Usually under $5. Replace it “just because.”
200,000 miles is just about the life of an American vehicle. At that mileage, it probably has all kinds of wear. $900 for a vehicle that runs on it’s own power – I say you did alright.[/quote]
Yeah pcv valves are cheap, I’m just hoping it’s that and isn’t something in the cylinder head that’s wearing out. I offered less for this truck but overall I think I made out good. Runs, drives, shifts good. Has some issues like the smoking but I’ll update this thread as I go.
Valve guides are not FUN to replace but not the worst job. It would give you a chance to replace things like injector o-rings, intake gaskets, valve cover gaskets, and of course new head gaskets (since heads will be off). Everything on top would be apart anyways.
Even if it smokes and is noisy right now, I doubt the truck will leave you stranded.If I am not mistaken, the engine is single cam chain driven yes? If so, at least you won’t have to mess with crap like timing the cams.
Is this truck your only transport? If not, maybe do those things listed above. Could take a couple days depending on how good you are with mechanical stuff. Not that all that is necessary for it to keep running but by the time all that was done, you wouldn’t ever have to worry about the engine again.
Dodge cars and trucks are bad-ass.
[quote=”99Nightmare” post=114240]Valve guides are not FUN to replace but not the worst job. It would give you a chance to replace things like injector o-rings, intake gaskets, valve cover gaskets, and of course new head gaskets (since heads will be off). Everything on top would be apart anyways.
Even if it smokes and is noisy right now, I doubt the truck will leave you stranded.If I am not mistaken, the engine is single cam chain driven yes? If so, at least you won’t have to mess with crap like timing the cams.
Is this truck your only transport? If not, maybe do those things listed above. Could take a couple days depending on how good you are with mechanical stuff. Not that all that is necessary for it to keep running but by the time all that was done, you wouldn’t ever have to worry about the engine again.
Dodge cars and trucks are bad-ass.[/quote]
This is my second vehicle. I have a 2000 Mustang V6 project car that runs and drives(it’s going to end up some kind of race car…eventually). I’m not too sure of myself on repairing the heads, haven’t done that since high school shop class. If that needs to be done i’d have a shop do that for me. I can take stuff apart but would be unsure of myself. The truck is single cam pushrod i’m sure, I wouldn’t be able to do any major repairs soon because…winter is coming. I’m just hoping it’ll run good all winter, good thing is the heat works beautifully.
So took apart the air cleaner to find a nice oily surprise. Here’s an updated video.
http://youtu.be/PtCTfSmm8kU?list=UUGrBj_yIprCB3HAdhH-Xs7QLoose valve seals usually give you a blue puff on engine startup, bad rings give you the puff on revving after idling.
So you may have more of a ring-based problem.
It may be time to start running this vehicle with heavier oil, like a 10W-40.
[quote=”grg8888″ post=114346]Loose valve seals usually give you a blue puff on engine startup, bad rings give you the puff on revving after idling.
So you may have more of a ring-based problem.
It may be time to start running this vehicle with heavier oil, like a 10W-40.[/quote]
So you think it’s bad rings regardless? I was planning on using heavy oil either way but you don’t think the oil being sucked in from the valve covers has anything to do with it?Everyone hopes it’s just valve seals, and in your case, that’s likely part of the problem based on your description. But lets be realistic here, it’s a truck with 200K for a $1000. Perhaps set your expectations a bit lower. If I were to guess, you probably will end up needing an engine. Sure you’ll be able to put band aids on it for a while to keep it going, hopefully through the winter, but in the end it will probably prove to be worth what you paid for it. Think about it, why would you give up a good working 4×4 if not because it needed repairs that exceeded it’s value? If I were you, I’d also check the rest of the truck over to make sure there aren’t any other issues that might be equally expensive.
All that said, it’s a $1000 truck. Your best option may be to simply live with this issue. Buy a case of cheap oil and top it off as needed.
More info on these issues here.
http://www.ericthecarguy.com/faq/finding-and-fixing-leaks
Keep us posted.
Or, you can try to find out what it is. Compression test my friend.. is your best friend aside from a leakdown test. It sounds like rings to me however do a compression test to be sure. As Eric said, it may be a compund problem of valve stem seals and rings.
[quote=”EricTheCarGuy” post=114526]Everyone hopes it’s just valve seals, and in your case, that’s likely part of the problem based on your description. But lets be realistic here, it’s a truck with 200K for a $1000. Perhaps set your expectations a bit lower. If I were to guess, you probably will end up needing an engine. Sure you’ll be able to put band aids on it for a while to keep it going, hopefully through the winter, but in the end it will probably prove to be worth what you paid for it. Think about it, why would you give up a good working 4×4 if not because it needed repairs that exceeded it’s value? If I were you, I’d also check the rest of the truck over to make sure there aren’t any other issues that might be equally expensive.
All that said, it’s a $1000 truck. Your best option may be to simply live with this issue. Buy a case of cheap oil and top it off as needed.
More info on these issues here.
http://www.ericthecarguy.com/faq/finding-and-fixing-leaks
Keep us posted.[/quote]
Well I got it mainly for winter. I just installed new valve cover gaskets, breather, pcv, air filter, oil change with 10w30 high mileage and thank god I don’t have to do emissions until next year. I seafoamed the engine took it to the air check here in Indiana just to see what it’s throwing out it’s tailpipe and has high hc&NOx. Overall I’m really looking this truck, runs great. I’m calling it ol smokey lol. But if it needs a rebuild, which I’m thinking it probably will, I may end up doing it.The 318 engine is about as bullet proof as it gets. I’d put it against the Ford 300L6 (another bullet proof engine) any day of the week.
Clean up all the mess and start getting things setup correctly. FWIW? I had a 78′ Sport Fury with a 318 (lean burn computer). It had NO oil pressure while sitting at idle. (manual gauge) And only 20 lbs of oil pressure when doing 65 down the highway. That engine was as quiet as a church mouse and had some crazy power. Even with the flack driven Lean Burn computer hanging off the air cleaner. I drove that car 60 miles daily for college. (it died due to a drunk driver nailing it. Crushed the car from the rear bumper to the front bumper with a huge chevy P/U.)
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I would say the valve seals/guides are worn. If the smoke clears up while driving and it’s not fouling plugs I would drive it for a while before you dive into spending a lot of money on it.
[quote=”wysetech” post=114553]I would say the valve seals/guides are worn. If the smoke clears up while driving and it’s not fouling plugs I would drive it for a while before you dive into spending a lot of money on it.[/quote]
Yeah it only smokes after an idle, after taking off from a stoplight, or sometimes on start up.
Speaking of spark plugs they don’t look fouled. This weekend i’ll perform a compression test to see how healthy the engine is.Here’s all 8 plugs: http://imgur.com/RDuPDYJ (imgur image link)
Yeah…there is a little build up on them but not enough to cause a misfire. They appear to be worn out however.
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