I had a previous thread, but since this has turned into an epic cluster F$#@ I decided to start a new one.
Background. I bought a nice little 85 22R 4x4 last day of May this year. Has been issue free mostly. It would want to stall occasionally, usually just after waiting at my first stop light, after that it would run fine the rest of the trip. I have driven about 1,000 miles since I got it with no issues until last week.

Was making the 200 mile or so drive back from my dads, the thing just started hesitating and bogging real bad, had to pull it over. After a 6 hour wait for AAA, I finally got it home and to a shop. They had no idea what they were doing. They spent a week looking for a new idle compensator, when I told them it would be fine without it they promised it back the next day. Got a call the next day, and they tell me the head gasket is shot and there is coolant in the #3 cylinder. I told them not to do another thing to the truck. I completely lost faith in the shop after my dealings with them. Got it towed home yesterday, and now it is sitting in my driveway.

Today I checked the oil, do not see the milky oil I expected to find. Will drain the oil tomorrow to see what is going on in the pan. The coolant looks ok, smells fine. Will be doing a block test and compression test tomorrow to help me get a better idea of what is going on.

I have been looking at the common issue of the timing chain eating through the housing. I will pull the cover tomorrow and check the guides. Will post some pics for analysis.

Will pull the valve covers and take some pics as well.

I am going to have to do this work myself mostly. I can not afford to send this to another shop.

The truck has 190,000 miles on it. With the engine being this old, and not having a good history of maintenance from the former owner. I am wondering if just doing a swap to a newly rebuilt engine with a warranty would be a better way to go than fighting these problems as they come along. I would also like to Upgrade to a EFI system over the carb. From the searches i have done, having the carbs rebuilt over and over again is not the best for the stock Aisan carbs. The weber carbs are not a reasonable option due to CA emissions laws.

Has anyone out there done a swap lately? Does anyone know of a good source for a rebuilt engine? How much would this run me? Is it worth it just to get a rebuild instead of messing around with the current engine?
From what I am seeing a newly rebuilt engine is going to be about $900.00. Just the new head alone from Engnbldr is going to be about 350.00+ gaskets and other parts as they come up.

How can I tell if the block is cracked as opposed to the head gasket going? Is there a good way of telling whether the head gasket is bad, or the problem is with the timing chain? I took a few auto courses in high school, but this is beyond what I learned. I have been running searches and found good info, the only problem with the searches is wading through the bad info and posts from know nothing-know it all's can be difficult.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I will update as I go along with my findings.

 

Rebuild = $300 in machine work. $250 for engine kit $200 for the head. Thats DIY install.

Good complete longblock rebuild already put together $1200

Running take out from a wreck $500

But you may not be looking at any of those If its a hg or timing chain issue. Just need to verify your problem first.

 

You can pop the valve cover and inspect the guides of the tchain but if the cover has been eat through the oil will be white. Hg can do a number of things depending on where it breaks. Water can enter the exhaust creating white smoke. Exhaust can pressure the cooling system and force water out and it can also contaminate the oil. Do a compression test to verify.

 

I finally got some free time to look at the truck. I pulled the valve cover off, worried at what I might find. Everything looked fine. The oil was its proper color, no milky or mocha coloration. The timing chain guides looked perfectly fine. From what I understand the timing chain guides are worn away eventually which will then eventually start wearing into the cover, the guides looked fine.
If anyone spots anything please point it out.




I ran a block tester on the engine. The loan a tool program at O'reily is kind of handy with odd items.



This is what the block tester showed after 2 minutes. From what i understand the color is supposed to change to yellow if combustion gasses are detected in the cooling system. Does no change mean the head gasket is OK? Is a block tester reliable?

I am going to do a compression test tomorrow. If anyone has any other ideas please let me know.

 

Did i do the images wrong?? The wont open when I try to view them. Posted a link from photo bucket. Here is a link to the album:

http://s1210.photobucket.com/user/Ra...?sort=3&page=1

 

you could try taking all your spark plugs out and turning it over a couple times. If coolant shoots out of any of the cylinders then you know you need a headgasket. if not it could still be a HG but you'll have to dig deeper to know, i just got back from a test drive, just finished a hg on my 84! lol. the sputtering you felt before you pulled over was probably coolant leaking into one of your cylinders weakening your spark. good luck man, if you have questions ask away.

 

oh and one other thing, if you run the compression test and it shows your holding compression it could still be the HG. my cylinders were all with in 10 of each other and my HG was jacked when i took the head off.

 

Block tests are very reliable! Engine must be up to operating temp to do an accurate test. Any change from the original color usually blue is a sign of exhaust gases in the coolant. Slight leak- usually greenish, big leak-yellow is common.

 

Hey guys, thanks for all the good advice. Compression test on cylinders 1,2,4 were excellent, no issue there. Cylinder 3, well... looks like the jackasses I brought the truck to for the carb stripped the spark plug threads, so a compression test is a no go on cylinder 3. I tried a block test, fluid stayed blue for the 2 minutes I was able to get the truck to run. This thing will not run without at least 1/2 throttle. So, I am beyond frustrated. I have not had a running truck for over a month. The truck crapped out on me 28 days after I bought it. I am so bummed, my awesome truck I love is just driveway decoration.
I decided that I would just like to get a new engine. My rationale is that this engine currently has 190K on the clock. I do not trust the PO at all, he says he maintained the engine the entire time he owned it, but also told me a bunch of other BS that has been disproved.
If I just drop in a new engine in now I see it as, this engine is mine, I know its history, I can keep fixing problems on a 28 year old engine as they come up, or know that this engine will last me another 200K. It seems like a better investment than dealing with 28 year old engine problems as they come up. Plus a rebuild is more expensive than a new engine from what I have found.
So, I have been shopping around. Places I have taken cars too before are quoting me 2400 on labor alone. Engines are running 900-1500. I found an ad on Craiglist from a guy named Arley Leghorn he quoted me 1600 for the engine and installation. Luckily I checked around, because this guy is apparently a scam artist.
Can any members in the Bay area recommend someone who can rebuild an engine and drop it in?
I do not feel confident in my ability to handle this job myself. So i need it done by someone professionally. But 3,000 is well beyond my price range.
Any advice is welcome. Thanks guys.