Not dying necessarily, but she's burning a lot of oil (about 1/2 quart per tank of gas). I've seen signs of very small amounts of oil in the radiator. I'm guess the HG is going out.
The oil is black, but not goopy black, should be good for another 1.5k according to the bottle)
My truck just turned 195,000 miles, which, i know does not put her on her death bed. However, I have had serious questions about how the previous owners took care of her (she had about 1/16" of black gunk all over the inside of the intake manifold).
The head shouldn't be that old (from what I was told when I bought her a year ago).
So right now I'm trying to decide if I want to change the gaskets on the top end and hope that fixers her nicely (which is likely). The advantage to this is I can do this where I am at (college campus, lousy parking spots and limited tools).
Wait until June and pull the engine and rebuild the whole thing at home.
Wait until June, buy a different engine (thinking a chevy 4.3 because, despite those who will ridicule this, I'm a chevy fan). Though other engines could be considered...
I've never done a swap or a rebuild before, so either one will be new to me.
I'm a college student, so every penny counts.
I love getting between 18 and 26 mpg.
So I'm looking for any thoughts, ideas, suggestions, anything to help push me one way or another. (right now I'm leaning towards the rebuild) Also any help as far as good rebuild or swap kits would be appreciated.

 

well, If you are loosing that much oil and small amounts of oil in the rad.

sounds like you are burning oil either through the rings or the valves.

1. I want your 22re set up if you decide to swap the motor

2. I have an engine hoist you can use (for EFI set up )

3. I would put this post in the 86-95 section.. there are alot more readers there

 

Would I be wrong in having most of my suspicion in the rings? The top end was supposedly done about 18 months ago with a new head (and it looks to be true).
The more I've been thinking about it, unless I find a good engine for super cheap, I'm not going to swap it, seeing it would cost me a couple grand, which is most of what I'll make all summer and i need to save some money, thanks though.