Would you ditch this truck, do engine swap, or swap the head gasket?

[ccreddell]

I think you all are getting ahead of yourselves. First thing I would do is drain the oil and see if there is any water in the sump. If not, go ahead with Skylarks recs.

 

[1BigCarrot]

Here's a link...

Thanks mate. Just ordered the part from Amazon. It should arrive in 10days or so, hopefully I'll be close to firing it up then

 

[likestrucks]

A brand new GM crate Vortec is only $2k if you end up wanting to give it a completely new heart. I love that our engines costs half as much as only just doing injectors on a DMax.

 

[streetperf]

I use the same app to read cmp retard.
Good advice. Problem is that there are two cmp retard PIDs on it and they are about 8 to 10 degrees different.

I had to check it when I did the intake on my other Sub, and it turned out to run just fine. Either mine is 4 degrees or 12 degrees. Either way, it's run just fine the past year so I'm not messing with it.





I would not have known you could swap the heads but that makes perfect sense lol.

Did you check to see if the intake gaskets are leaking. They are very well known to do that. If that isn't the case, remove the heads, have a competent machine shop mag the heads, and surface the heads. Yes surface the heads if they are not cracked. Ask if the machine shop uses a CBN cutter on their surfacer. It will be a newer style machine. Surface finish is very important for head gasket longevity. While you are at it, install new valve seals(they come in the head set) and clean the deck surface of the block. The reason I suggest surfacing the heads is, a straight edge will not tell you if the head is twisted, a surface clean will. Also with that many miles, the areas around the bolt holes will protrude to the deck, surfacing removes that.
Also if you have leaking head gaskets, a cylinder leakage test should show you that. Don't have a Clt tester? just put a 100PSI of air in the cyl with a spark plug adapter and look for bubbles in the radiator, or air coming out the exhaust. If it comes out the exhaust look for a cracked exhaust seat.
Just trying to help.

 

[redfishsc]

Streetperf that is a lot of helpful advice, thanks! I have a shop I will be calling that has been recommended to me. $55 per head although I don't know what type of machine they use.

I have not yet pulled the intake but I do expect to see a leaky non-Felpro on there along with enormous amounts of deathcool sludge.

 

[Tomcat58]

Yeah I haven't looked for the price on a salvage 5.7, there aren't many of them around seemingly with decent mileage anymore. Since I've never pulled an engine, I'm a wee bit cautious of going that route since I'd have to mostly 1-man it. I have a few friends that can help but I'd have to be the one in the drivers seat. But, you guys here have helped me with a lot so I got that going for me.

I'm definitely not taking a loan out on something. I'm too Dave Ramsey for that lol, we don't drive far and I like having things that I can fix myself (sorta).




I'm thinking this is what I'm going to do. I don't drive far to work. At the very least I think I should pull the intake and swap the gasket, I still think this is where most of the fluid in the exhaust and oil is coming from. I picked up a Felpro intake gasket and a cheap alternator this evening.

I'll start pulling the intake tomorrow when I get off work.

 

[JCribb]

One piece of advice when you remove the distributor:

using a paint marker or something the won't come off, with the distributor cap off make a mark where the rotor is sitting when fully seated on the rotor AND on the base of the distributor assembly.

upon removing the distributor, make a mark where the rotor stops moving (and on the base again) <--- use this reference point when reinstalling the distributor and it should stop at your first mark you made initially. This is kinda the redneck way of timing your engine.

 

[redfishsc]

Well guys this is what was under the intake and under the valve covers. Dexkill sludge.

Failed exactly where I guessed it was, behind #8 piston.

I dunno guys. That's a lot of sludge. There's going to be a lot of oil changes in the next couple months.

How hard is it to swap the cam bearings and bearings in the crank? I fear that they are silent but damaged.

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[Keepinitoldskool]

Thats pretty nasty but i would just run some engine flush through it and change the oil a couple of times and call it good for now

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[redfishsc]

What would be the safest way to flush the crap (no oil) out of the coolant system without dooming the heater cores? Simple Green?

Ive read reports of the Prestone stuff killing heater cores.