Reinbag

Hey all,
So I've posted on here a few times. I have a 94 with a 22re and it's been a lemon from day one. I rebuilt the top of the engine, the fuel system, and the exhaust system after many frustrations (truck drove fine when I bought it). When I took the head cyl to a machine shop they pressure tested it, resurfaced and told me I was good to go. It did sit for a while with the bad head, like over a week. I didn't know to drain the oil. That was two months ago. The other day I overhearted on the freeway. Replaced the thermostat. Overheated again. Took it to my mechanic. He saw some particulate in the oil in the valve cover and diagnosed right away. He told me my camshaft bearing was bad because I let that oil/coolant mixture sit in the bottom of the engine and that I would need to buy a new engine, or strip the whole thing down again and do I full rebuild.

First off, financially I'm screwed now. I've put over $4000 into this truck and driven it about 400 miles. I kind of have no choice but to get it running otherwise I think I'll loose $2500 easy selling a p.o.s. like this.

So my questions are this. Do 22re's even have camshaft bearings? I've read they don't. Second, if I was to do a total rebuild, where do you find that stuff? It ultimately might make more sense to just buy a new long block engine through the japanese exchange. Is there a chance my mech is wrong? I mean what else should I look for?

Thanks y'all. I want to believe in these trucks, but this has been a total train wreck from day one.

scope103

Well ... I would never buy a 23 year-old truck that overheats, even if the owner told me "all it needs is a ...." Because the owner doesn't know what it needs; all he knows is that it doesn't run and some mechanic told him something. So if you don't fix it, figure you're "out" the full $4k.

But if you do try to fix it, then what? You say it's been a total train wreck; how sure are you that putting another $1-$2k into it will turn it into a cream puff? The people on this site, for the most part, know their trucks really well, love them, would do anything to keep them running, and know in advance if they fix this one problem it will be a great truck. Do you know that?

The 22re does not have removable cam bearings (like rod bearings); the cam "bearing" is the part that bolts to the head. To "fix" it you need to get an over-sized cam and line bore the bearings to fit. So it's not done very often.

It's hard to imagine how a bad cam bearing would lead directly to overheating. I suspect your mechanic saw ground metal on top of the head. He might have found that the cam had a little more side-play than he expected. And that was enough ... A good mechanic can conclude those symptoms mean the engine has been really abused, and there is just no point to fixing the overheating however it was caused. As to the oil and coolant mix, he was probably just guessing, but to me it sounds like a good guess as to the cause.

If it were me, I'd think long and hard about how much I like the truck. Then I'd price out long blocks. Then given that there was a reasonable chance that it would not solve all my problems, decide on if I want to keep going forward or cut my losses now.

Sorry.

atcfixer

iTrader: (1)

I might be thinking cheap, or more DIY, but I'd opt for a used engine, but I have the tools and ability to install it. Since you're in the situation you're in, I'd say you'd want to hear the engine run, and if the truck's in a drivable state, drive it around for a good 15 mins to be sure it doesn't overheat etc. A compression test on each cyl would be ideal to validate a healthy engine (compression wise), and make sure it has no odd ticks or noises. If you don't typically work on vehicles it's a little harder since paying someone to do all the work gets expensive very quickly and buying a guaranteed engine would probably be the best bang for your buck since you'd only have to pay for the installation once.

I haven't seen your other posts, but why did you redo the top end? I've met people that went for all new parts "rebuilding" their top end, only to have a top end failure with under 50k miles on the rebuild. I don't know if the "new" parts are china low quantity or what gives, but ironically it seems OEM used parts in good shape out lasts aftermarket new parts based on stories from people I've met. Personally, I have used parts, so I use... used parts with the exception to a few things (radiator, hoses, belts, etc).