a friend offered to sell me his 95 3/4 ton. it had a leakdown done and #4 cyl has problems. this truck has a blowby issue. blows alot of oil out the dipstick tube. so... the truck still runs very well, just blows oil. 175,000 on the truck. told me he would sell it for $4000. will it be worth it to buy and fix? what is worst case senario? what do ya think hole in piston? are the cyl walls repaiable if it was hurt( what are the chances of that)? any advice is thankfull.

 

could be a number of things with #4 or something else, chances are it's a cracked ring.

you could do an in chassis repair. I would only get involved in that if you get it for a steal and really have the time, money and knowledge.

 

I'd say go for it; if you are mechanically inclined and feel comfortable with rebuilding the engine then buy it. Stick a little money in it and you'll have a fresh engine. As far as repairing the cyl walls I believe you can get .125" overbore pistons and rings (I would do this anyways just to have a 100% fresh engine). While you're at it send the head off to be checked and ,if you wanted, o-ringed for reliability's sake should you build some serious power.

By the way it sounds there is more than likely a hole in a piston or broken rings; hopefully it is simply a hole in the piston. Worst case scenario, the block would be beyond repair, or have to have the block taken .250 over and sleeves pressed in. Personally I would take sleeving the engine if at all possible (only should it need such measures).

Should you not want to invest the time and a little money into it you could sell the block to someone (possible interest here) and get a used engine to put back in the hole and still be ahead of the game. There is an advertiser here on the site that sells used engines starting around $2300. That invested, plus $4000 and you have roughly $6300 to $7500 in a truck that blue books for over $9K.

 

i have wrenched for many years. i have the ability, and time(have winters off), its the $$ part that hurts. the truch has been run hard for years, but like i said it just blows oil still runs real strong. can i just fix the 1 hole and go on my way? and can a new piston be installed in frame?

 

Easy, drop the pan, remove the head, take the #4 rod cap off and with a hammer handle, or good 3/4" or better wooden dowel push out the piston. The hardest part will be takin the pan off as that is a 10 hour (jobber rated) job. Timmy could have been right with the cracked ring, that would be the best case scenario. That and a hole in the piston would be the two scenarios that would permit the in frame. If it's a cracked ring then you only need a new set of rings; if it's a hole in the piston you need a piston and rings. If you do end up getting a new piston I would suggest checking the skirt clearance (even though the engine does have some wear it's better safe than sorry) Also, since either way it will need rings, I would take a dingle-berry hone to the cylinder walls to rough 'em up a little to ensure that the rings seat right.

Good luck and I hope that, should you decide to purchase said truck, the engine troubles are solved easily.

 

piston is removed through the top right?

 

yes, pushing it out from the bottom.

 

have you talked with the shop that did the leakdown?

 

no i did not. just the owner, but i have driven it while this is going on.

 

this truck has been turned up, and runs real well. has an exhaust brake, heavy valve springs, also has airbags in the rear. trans within 10,000 miles.

 

Well I'd say take the offer and see what you find. Worse-come-to-worst you can drop your 1st gen block in and bolt on the 2nd gen pump & lines (possibly head) and have a good newer truck than what you have now... Yes I realize that I forgot to mention the piston is pushed out the top of the engine (hence the head removal).