Better Beaters - Building Cars and Daily Drivers

 What am I going to do about my truck? Part One.

At some time in the past, somebody thought that this truck was worth
investing money in. Now it's my turn to make a similar decision.

I've written that my truck was starting to display some mechanical maladies at 185,000 miles.

I bought this truck new, back in 2007, and it will be twenty years old next year. This is my second longest ownership of a vehicle. The other was my '77 Sportster XLCR, also bought new and kept for 20 years.

These issues have resulted in me doing a lot of serious thinking about the future of my truck. It's important to me that the truck is fully usable, reliable, and capable of being driven anywhere at a moments notice. 

There are only a few options:

1) Ignore the problem and run the truck into the ground.

2) Find and fix the problem.

3) Replace the engine with a used or remanufactured engine.

4) Replace the truck with a new, or newer used model.

Let's take a look at those options.

1) Ignoring the problem won't make it go away and it could lead to even more damage to the engine, as well as make it more difficult to repair if I choose that course. 

I don't plan to ignore it, but I need to follow a logical plan for diagnosis. 

2) Find and fix the problem. After I make a diagnosis, I will have to do some disassembly of the engine to inspect some internal components. Then I'll know just how much work has to be done, or if replacing the engine would be a better idea.

3) Replace the engine with a used or remanufactured engine. A lower mileage used engine could be an economical alternative, but this is an iffy choice as you don't really know the background of the engine. A remanufactured engine is completely rebuilt with new parts and machining and is often better than the original unit. The labor cost is the same in using either engine. The cost of labor is a major part of the expense.  In fact, in light of the quote that I got for the cost of the installation of a rebuilt unit, that amount would make a nice down payment on a brand new truck!

4) Replace my truck with a new, or newer model used truck. This of course is the most expensive option. A new truck is quite expensive. My base work truck cost me around 16,000 dollars, back in 2007. The last time I priced similar trucks a year or so ago, they were around the mid 30,000's. 

A good low mileage, late model truck would run around 25-35 thousand dollars. There's no point in buying another truck with a lot of miles. I've been looking on Craigslist, and many of the trucks listed are higher trimmed and optioned models going for even more. Base model trucks like mine, were most often purchased as fleet sales to be used for actual work, as opposed to sale to normal family use buyers. Most of these trucks are super crew cab models. These usually have a 5 1/2 ft.bed, but  occasionally, 6 1/2 ft. models are offered. 

A short bed truck won't serve my needs. I like the crew cabs, but I don't plan to use my truck as a daily driver, or as family transportation. 

Besides, I really like my truck. The access cab isn't offered any more on new models and V6 models are all now turbo powered. My truck is pretty simple. I also won't be putting a lot of miles on any truck, so a new truck is an expense that I don't really need.

I'm just not excited about new stuff anymore, in fact I never was. But it makes sense to compare the cost of all the options to make an intelligent decision. 

So let's explore the second option; diagnosis.

Noisy lifters indicate that there is excess clearance between the tip of the rocker arm, and the top on the valve stem. Because of this excess space, the rocker arm is pounding on the end of the valve stems. This results in the tapping sound and can cause the tip of the valve stem to mushroom.

So far the noise appears only upon a cold start up. The noise stops after two or three minutes on it's own. 

My assessment is that the lifters may be worn enough internally that they don't initially build up enough oil pressure at start up. They also "bleed down" after the engine is stopped and sitting overnight.

This makes sense, internal components obviously wear over time, and that results in larger clearances between surfaces which can reduce oil pressure. In the past, with my older vehicles, I would switch to thicker oils to help compensate for that wear. I generally would avoid oil viscosity improving additives like STP. 

The recommended oil for my truck is 5-20W. That was fine when the engine was new, but it seems pretty thin for an almost twenty year old engine with almost 200,000 miles of service. I would step up to 10-30W at the minimum. 

Using heavier oil can be seen as a stop gap, and it is. But I'd rather do that then to add a can of STP. There isn't anything wrong with using heavier oil. 

Usually as engines wear they use more oil because of the increased clearances between the rings and the cylinder walls. It also gets in through worn valve guides. Oil gets into the combustion chamber where it gets burned, producing that familiar blue haze that trails old cars. Heavier oil helps to reduce or eliminate that problem.

Oil pressure also drops due to wear in the main, rod, and camshaft bearings. This can be excessive in really high mileage engines, resulting in the oil pressure warning light coming on once the engine is hot, the oil thin, and the engine is idling.

A handsome trucks, but unsuited to modern expectations.

Both of these issues were present on my '66 F250. Oil pressure was very low and the warning light came on during the first few days that I drove it. That was also indicative of a low oil level, as that engine went through thin oil at a rate that I couldn't believe. Though it would only smoke a little under hard acceleration. Luckily I never heard any knocking from the rods or the mains.

Eventually I switched to a heavier oil, straight 40 weight and that brought consumption down to fifty miles a quart. The heavier oil also increased the oil pressure a bit but installing a new oil pump kept the warning light off, even during hot idle. But there was never any noise from the lifters.

Either way, I got many thousands of miles of service out of that truck, I even drove it up to Windsor, which is north of Santa Rosa, to pick up a replacement engine. I added four quarts of oil to the engine during that trip! But it kept on running without a breakdown.

Since I no longer do my oil changes at home, the service center that I use probably wouldn't want to deviate from the specified oil. I can understand that, they don't want the liability if a problem develops with a customer's car.

Since it was time for an oil change, I usually have that done every 5,000 miles, I went to my local Oil Changers shop to have the work done.

I asked the tech if they could use a heavier grade and he seemed okay with the idea. They didn't carry 10-40W, but said that they did carry 10-30W. Unfortunately they were currently out of it. So I gave them the go ahead to use 5-20W oil.

Since I just had the oil changed a couple of days ago the level is still full. 

Instead of changing to thicker oil I decided to add a product like Lucas oil treatment. But I'll have to drain off a quart of oil first. I thought that I could use one of those dipstick suction systems. 

This is the first, most logical, and easiest thing that I can do. Thicker oil can reduce a lot of noises in an older engine as well as cut down on oil consumption. The oil pressure currently reads fine on the gauge, well over halfway on start up.

As I detailed in an earlier post, after consulting the internet I replaced all the rocker arm assemblies along with the push rods. I was unable to inspect the lifters themselves without removing the intake manifold. If I were to remove the manifold I'd remove each lifter and see if the camshaft is displaying normal wear or if it is scored. If the cam looks okay I'll change out all the lifters for new ones.

If the cam is scored then I think that it would be best to replace the engine with a remanufactured unit. I didn't have any real idea about how much it would cost me to have a shop remove and replace the motor. 

The 4.2 engine is a simple OHV 
pushrod design. 
photo source: Powertrain products.

Remanufactured engines are like new, in fact many are better than new in that updated and higher quality parts are used in the rebuilding process. Also the block is now seasoned and more stable than a new green block. 

I did some checking on the web and found a company called Power Train products incorporated.

They currently advertise the engine for a sale price of 2,849.00, marked down from 3,199.

I had seen an auto shop along Monterey Rd in San Jose that advertised engine rebuilding. I contacted them to inquire about the labor cost to remove and replace an engine. They advised me the labor would run 3,300 dollars.

I had gone to look at an old Navigator at a shop in Fremont a couple of years ago. I'd noticed a sign advertising that they were a Jasper engine installer. Jasper is a remanufacturer that I read about from a couple of different sources. I went to the shop and they provided me with a written estimate for labor as well as for the engine. 3,000 dollars for the labor and approx 4,500 for the engine and new parts needed for the install. The total was just under eight grand.

I went to the company's website and found a list of installers much closer to home.

Now I have a better idea of how much this project would/could cost. 

My first step is now to find a way to drain a quart of oil.