That sucks !

 

Thats gutsy ramrod. Ive been tempted to do the same myself. My motor also blew up this last week at 120 miles. But I had a rod bearing fail and four pistons with broken rings (1256). Just bought it 4 months ago from a dealer without warranty. Dont know what caused the one rod bearing to go tho. (#5)

 

I have an 03 1ton. Saturday the 24 I went to start it, it started up hard and was blowing lots of white smoke, running very rough. thought it had been tampered with...maybe it would "run through" as it got warm it seemed to get better. It stared to run good again, put fuel treatment in it and drove it. No problems at all all day except hard starts and abit more noise at low end. The next day I started it, same smoke and rough idle. Had a friend who is a mechanic and a Dodge fanatic tell me to look up by the freeze plugs for a water stain. It was there somewhere close to #3-4 pistons. Told me it is common for the early 24v to crack there. I have checked the oil for "milk" it looks good I hoped the head gasket would be the problem...seems to be the block cracked...as it heats and seems to seal up. the truck has 173,450 miles. I wondered if anyone on here has had this problem or heard of it. This is supposed to be a long lasting engine which is why I bought dodge in the first place. I am not happy...

 

how the previous owner treted the truck?

 

They told me it was an older guy that used it for nothing but pulling his camper. Im thinking ether and lots of throttle while cold. Also some gouging on rocker shafts make me thinking it had oil pressure issues once.

 

Rocker shafts usually look like that - the single lubrication channel doesn't allow oil to migrate far enough to the ends of the shaft.

Also, it's common for a freeze plug to leak or eject, but not for the casting to crack.