BUCKEYE4X4

....you get what you pay for....

I have always wanted to build a 12V, so I made the mistake of purchasing beater on ebay.

so....

97 SLT, extended cab, 4WD, automatic, 140k, long bed, delivered in the dark tonight.

The good...it started after numerous cranks, ran rough and then evened out.

The bad...

-water gushing noise from dash when reving (?heater core leak)
-not sure first gear is working in auto
-gas tank strap loose leaving tank hanging low
-car batteries
-no tailgait
-no rear bumper
-heavy load appeared to have slip forward denting front of bed and rear of cab
-heavy oil on bottom pan, exhaust side of engine, some on front of engine. Appears to be valve cover gasket?
-some rust around wheel wells and bottom of doors
-front seat torn
-smokers truck

I am going to see if I get this thing driveable as is to see what its really like.

I am scared to ask, based on my description, what is this truck worth. It will really help me decide if I am going to fix it up.


Thanks

Karl

fbx22

ouch, what did you pay for that. If you were looking for a beater it sounds like what you got. Id give about $4k to 5k for it. Sounds like it has about 3k worth of repair and body work, unless the tranny is shot too!

schoust

Ahh I did the same thing picked it up on E-edit and just kept working on it until I had some what of a decent ride,if you are a capable mechanic you can make a nice truck out of it if not then...........

ratsun

Welcome to the DTR
Maybe I can help with a few of the points?
-water gushing noise from dash when reving
usually is just the level in the rad being low?

-Chances are the hard starting is the fuel lines need to be replaced to and from the fuel pump as they get cracked with age and allow air to get in.

-not sure first gear is working in auto
Governor pressure solenoid? Try manually shifting into low to see if it goes if so than the solenoid is shot

-gas tank strap loose leaving tank hanging low
The fuel gauges commonly go out on these trucks so likely it was fixed and not reinstalled correctly(does the fuel gauge work)?

-heavy oil on bottom pan, exhaust side of engine, some on front of engine. Appears to be valve cover gasket?
You need to clean the entire front of the engine off and look closely at the front case. It may be a front seal or valve cover or the KDP( do a search) may have bit?
As for the rest they are pretty simple self explanatory fixes. IMO any vehicle that old will have its share of problems and if it doesn't than chances are it wont be for sale.

BUCKEYE4X4

update..

strapped the gas tank, filled the tires, and headed out.

The trans shifts pretty early from 1st to 2nd but overall seems good. I downshifted and turned overdrive on and off, no shudder or banging. I think the trans is good for now.

The engine is hard to start on cold start and fights to get going. The car batteries probably do not help. Once the engine is warm it will start on about the fourth cranck and idle smooth.

The engine had great power driving, took off and went up to 60 mph in no time. No black smoke when I hit the peddle.

It appears that the tank fuel pump was replaced and then some rubber lines installed to the rigid. Looks shady...might be sourse of some air.

It left a quarter size drop of oil after idling for 20 minutes.

KDP failure?...wont that spill major oil?? It seems the oil is on the exaust side of engine mainly.

Oh year, it is about 75 here and water temps never got above mid point.

thanks for any input, I am trying to figure if I want to keep this or not, I have $6000.00 into it...but luckily, even beat 12V get some money.

Sidewinder

Mine was hard to start with weak batteries. I think the faster they crank the better they start. I replaced my batteries and it starts up MUCH quicker.

The oil might be coming from the blowby tube (kind of like an engine "vent"). It's a rubber tube hanging down near the starter. If so I wouldn't worry about it too much - it's normal (sort of)!

Baja

.....a good 'ol E-Bay special? Brings back memories, (or nightmeres) for me. I did the same mistake, oops, I mean thing. Welcome to DTR, you will need it and you will learn more than you will ever want to know. Nice thing about these trucks is that they are pretty easy to work on, but you will still skin your knuckles. From the sounds of it, your troubles are not that severe, and once you get things under control, from my experience, you will really like it and not regret your decision.

Fueling around

The throttle vavle may need adjustment, bit overall the tranny does shift pretty quick from 1st to 2nd.
Make sure to drive with O/D locked off when around town and until you are up to highway speed
Trying giving a little fuel when cranking. The car batteries (if good) will be fine in warmer weather.
No fuel pump in the tank on these trucks. A lift pump on the engine feeds the injection pump. Many people replace the lines from the tank module to hard lines with rubber. The cheesy clips on the vinyl lines break very easy.
After you completely clean the engine as ratsun mentioned then start looking.
You know about the KDP and will check that? Passenger side drips may be the turbo return line leaking.
Is it oil or antifreeze leaking? That rushing sound in your cab is either low coolant levels or a leak letting air in the system.

Where are you located? Maybe someone local can help you go through the engine.

Ironstone

I don't think you got hurt for $6000.00 unless the body is trashed. You got a low mileage truck. You might have a vacuum leak causing the crankcase to be pressurized. That will blow oil out the valve covers and maybe crankseals too.

Change the fuel filter, who knows how long its been on there. A guy I know was telling me his Powerstroke started running like crap and then wouldnt run at all. He had 140,000 on the clock and had never changed the fuel filter. He was real lucky he didn't seize his pump.

As far as the KDP causing the oil leak, it will vary depending on how bad the case is cracked.

It's pretty common for the front of the bed to get bowed. Grab it and pull it back. It will bend back pretty easy. The sheet metal on these trucks is really light. If you can't get it the way you want it stick it back on ebay you might even make a profit.

JKM

I think there is some good advice here , one thing i didn't see covered , was straightening out the cab/bed. Dad had a 1 ton pallet of fertilizer side ahead and push in the back of the cab and bed.

To straighten the bed , get up in the bed , grab the front rail with your hands , and give it a few good tugs , it will pull back to where it should be. If you want to , pull the bed off , and get a small piece of angle iron , and bolt or rivet it up into the channel across the front of the box.

To fix the cab , we removed the seats , bolted a chain down using a couple bolts from the seats , and used it as a sling for a bottle jack to push from , and made a large T out of 2x6 to use as a push frame , got it all set up in there using the ledge under the rear window to push against , and pushed the wall of the cab out with the jack. It worked so good that you can't tell it was ever dented in.

fbx22

I said 4k or 5k but 6,000 isnt bad at all either if the body is in fairly good shape and the tranny is good. The real decider whether to keep it is if you can do the reconditioning thats needed yourself or whether you'll have to pay somebody to do it. If you can do it then 2k and 3k at the most it'll be like new or as close as it can be. If somebody else has to do all that work then your looking at quite a bit of money. Sounds like the perfect plow truck for my side business

96_12V

As someone else mentioned, the hard starting may be temporarily assisted by giving about 1/2" of pedal travel while cranking the engine. It's one way or the other with these engines, either 1/2 second starts regardless or (like mine) 3 - 4 second cranks without pedal assist. Could be that your shut-off selonoid is beginning to fail as well.

Try a search for " elminating smoke smell" as someone asked this not too long ago. Ths thankfully wasn't the case with mine, but the first owner seemed to travel with a cat all the time - it's hair was everywhere! I still find it from time to time, 6 years later.

Also, you should be able to find a tailgate at any decent scrap yard, if you're really lucky, it'll be one that matches... hey it's a truck! Good luck and welcome to DTR!

BUCKEYE4X4

Thanks for all of the replies!!!

I noticed oil seeping from valve cover gasket while running so I will replace these and looking into the ventilation system routing.

I will start posting item specific threads to keep things organized and help the search library.

thanks again

Karl

74dart

The valve cover bolt is suposed to have an oring under it. If the oring is missing the shoulder bolt will run out of threads before the covergasket seals. I had to replace all 6 of mine. It was leaking 1 gallon of oil every 1000 miles.

BUCKEYE4X4

This is where I am at:

1. KDP killed, FYI pin had not moved
2. New radiator, $220 from radiator.com shipped to my door, nice aluminum unit.
3. Engine cleaned. PIA, did I say PIA
4. New exhaust manifold gaskets due to removal and replacement.
5. New valve cover gasket from Cummins.
6. New deep trans pan.
7. New guages, tranny, EGT, boost
8. New tranny fluid, previous fluid was burnt and smelled baaaaad. Tranny fluid was flushed by removal of front disconeect, add - dump, add-dump, etc.
9. New diff fluid, gaskets.
10. New 4" exhuast with open muffler. Cheap one from ebay, does not sound as good as I thought is would. 14 ga. alum material.
11. Silencer removed.
12. New rubber fuel lines full length. Solved hard start right now!
13. New fuel filter and prefilter.
14. Replace tcase fluid.
15. New tires. balance, alignment.

My partner in crime test drove it 20 miles, all guages read good.

First problem I need help with....

The valve covers are still leaking, 1st and 2nd. I am going to check the blowby tube and vacuum. Any suggestions or links to help me?

Second condition is the trans shifts ok but has super soft shifts and just seems to be a sluggish. From the underside there were visual indications that someone may have been into the tranny before. If there are some external things to check let me know.

Not looking to resolve it but I do not want to miss something easy.

Thanks boys, I need to stop working on this truck and have this truck start working for me $$$$.

Karl