hello. i'm wondering if i can get any advice on what to do with a truck i bought with a bad motor. it has excessive blowby when running and white smoke when first started. the guy before had it to chrysler and they said it had bad rings. a mechanic i talked to said rubbish, it was probably a melted piston caused by a bad injector, which sounds more believable. assuming that is the case, would it be a mistake to just rebuild the one hole and get one injector, or would it be advisable to find a master rebuilt kit and 6 injectors (which i can't afford)? an injector specialist said it was likely caused by condensation in the fuel, and that it would have hit all the injectors. if i can get away with $1000 repair as apposed to a $5000 repair, it'd sure be nice! i'd even get a master kit if i didn't have to worry about 6 injectors. i have a line on one for $1800 CAD, so i could manage that if there wasn't too much of a worry that another injector was ready to go. any suggestions or advice is welcome, thanks!!

[edit]

btw, the truck is an '03

 

I'd get it looked at by a better shop. It all could be simpler things. I would think you would know if a piston was melted or not. White smoke could be from a bad cp3 pump. Also check the lift pump.

Have you checked it for any codes? Turn the key on and off 3 times, and on the last time leave it on. Don't start it, just the on position. The third time will show codes in the odometer.

Does it run? What does it sound like while running? How many miles? Replying back with as much info as possible will help.

 

thanks a bunch, 123. well, it does run and when i first start it the thing runs pretty rough, it sure seems like it's missing. after 5 minutes or so though it runs alot smoother, and can't really tell if it's missing. also after i first start it up it the things smokes white pretty bad out the exhaust. after that 5 minutes though the smoke out the exhaust clears up but still smokes really excessively out the blow-by. aslo, it seems to have full power, but i don't really have anything to compare it to, i've never driven an '03 before. seems to have a pile more than my '99 did. it has 250,000 km or 156,000 miles.
aslo, i'm not so sure i would know if it has a hole in the piston or not. it's not really my field of expertise so it's sort of a crap shoot at this point. just trying to make it as cheap as possible.

here are the engine codes. there were some lights on the dash, so some of these are probably for those lights. emergency brake, etc. anywyay:

p0633, p0480, p0341, p2146

thanks again for your help

 

That sounds like an injector went. Does the oil have fuel in it? If it has lots of blow-by it sounds like the piston probably got damaged, it is unlikely that it would need rings already. You could get a coupression test done.

 

One way to tell if a piston was melted is to check out the injector tip under a magnifying glass. If it has foreign metal there chances are good there is a melted piston. If you do not see any foreign metal though, that does not mean it is necessarily good. It is just a way to check for evidence before removing the head. It is possible to "repair" the one cylinder... others have done it even if not the most advisable. If it has to be bored due to the piston being bad though... well, I'd do the whole thing. You may not have to buy any injectors. It is possible to send them to a repair shop to be rebuilt. Chances are you will only have to maybe repair one injector and be ok.

Being an 03, there is a chance that your problem is a dropped valve seat. See if you can identify which cylinder is giving you the trouble, then check each of the 4 valves when they should be fully closed. If you see one that is not coming all the way up, or in other words has excessive clearance under the bridge or lash, then there is your culprit.

If it is a dropped valve seat, then chances are you kissed the piston with the valve. That would lead to a bent valve stem which could be the source of your "blow-by". The valve not closing all the way is the source of your white smoke.

So, just another thing to look for as a possibility.

 

How much oil is it burning through, if its abunch thats a good sign its a burnt, cracked ring or scorched wall.