Hi Guys, I've been lurking and reading a lot on here in the last 3 months or so and I've sure learned a lot. I bought my rig about 6 weeks ago for the princely sum of $1400 and have since been throwing a lot of cash into it (a lot more than I bargained for in fact) and have been starting to get a bit frustrated, especially since it appears as though I'm burning/leaking an unholy amount of oil (almost a quart every 100 miles).

When I bought the truck it supposedly had a rebuilt engine in it with maybe 1000 miles on it, but the guy who sold it to me warned that he had just bought it from someone who rebuilt it in their garage and the only thing he could confirm was that it looked new from the bottom when he changed out the oil pan (engine was a 22r from a 2wd PU). No receipts or anything like that. The body has about 246k on it, and the engine doesn't run like one that is that old, but then again, it burns a whole heckuva a lotta oil. Anyway, once I got it home I was cleaning it out and found a bottle of Mobile 1 in there, which leads me to believe that it was broken in with Mobile 1, not sure how much damage that did, if any.

I changed the oil out to some Shell 10w-30 with a Bosch filter, but it's still burning/leaking oil pretty rapidly. Luckily, I have a very short commute and don't put very many miles on it at all right now. I am beginning to think that maybe the rebuilder put new rings in but didn't hone the cylinders?

Since purchase I've done the following
-New Exhaust from Cat Back (was rusted out)
-New Idler Arm
-New Fuel Pump (old one was leaking oil all over) - New one leaks from gasket a little bit, but very minor
-New Passenger Tie Rod (done by mechanic)
-Pinion Bearing Replaced by NW Differential
-Oil Change
-Leaned out carb a bit (was running pretty rich)

Still have to do
-New Pitman Arm
-Front Brakes/Hub Rebuild/Bearing Repack
-Change Front Diff (bolt is stuck right now)
-Change Trans Fluid
-Change Diff Fluid

Right now I have put about $1700 into this $1400 truck....Significant other is not too pleased.

Any suggestions on the oil burning thing or any other maintenance I should get going on?

 

is it leaking , or burning? leaks could be from rear main seal, oil filter, valve cover gasket, oil pan, timing chain cover, head gasket, and oil pump and also the front seal. i am not much of an expert when i comes to burning oil, so somebody else will have to chime in on that. and what are you working on? 1400 bucks could be a good deal, if the trans and diff's are in good shape.

 

As far as I can tell it's burning, as there aren't any oil marks on the ground, even when it's sat for days at a time. I am however leaking a little bit of PS fluid from the pump and a little bit of coolant, but I think I have the coolant leak situation straightened out now. Regardless, I can't find any oil leaks on the ground, so that's why I'm thinking it's getting burnt. Oh, also there is no oil in the air filter.

There's a fair amount of black residue on the exhaust and I see some blue smoke when I drive up steep hills and hit the gas hard.

As far as the diff and trans, they seem solid, except for the pinion bearing problem on the rear, but that's already been addressed.

 

rebuilt? and the rings werent seated properly will cause what your describing.
adjust the valves too

a compression check would help diagnose

 

x2 on a leak down test.

 

How long do you think it would take for the rings to seat themselves? Assuming the engine has about 1500 miles on it, that seems like it should be enough time, right?

I will try to get a compression check done, but I don't have a tester or a good place to work right now (apartment complex - I do a lot of my work in a friend's driveway).

Would the valves being out of adjustment contribute to the problem?

 

Not to the burning of oil. Valve seals could be a problem. Get the compression test taken care of and go from there.

 

Well the synthetic oil isn't good for break in on the motor. Too slippery. Should have been conventional oil for that. But anyways if you want to still try and break it in you could try taking and hooking onto a good trailer or something and going up some good hills and getting right on it around 3000 rpm or so. Don't want to be too high or too low to over rev or lug it down. But this will really force the compression rings out and force them to seat if they have not already. Also I have never done this but I know it has been done on some motors including some from Land Rover and CAT diesel. You take a bit of that Bon Ami cleaning powder in a spoon and slowly let it be sucked up the intake. This will scuff up the cyl walls a bit and help deglaze them if they are glazed over from not being properly broken in. But I would try the tow a good load thing first and use the Bon Ami as a last resort. But compression test will help figure it out as well.

 

Sounds good on getting the compression test, still working on getting a tester and the time to do it.

When I first got the truck I tried to seat the rings in, gear braking, not shifting too early, etc, but it hasn't seemed to make much difference so far, but then again, I've only put about 425 miles on it so far, so it's hard to tell.

Right now I'm dealing with the resurgance of a slight coolant leak as well, the radiator looks to be leaking from the bottom passenger side where it has a slight dent. I ran some stop leak through it and it seemed to stop for a few days, but now it's back. The only wet spot is that corner, so I'm imagining that's the culprit. Is it easier to take it and out and take it to a shop or just put in a new rad?