I was at the bar, drinking, and my water pump was weeping. I had to no choice but to cripple it home 7 miles. It stalled twice. I went and got a water pump and threw it on in a rush. Instantly there was white smoke puffing from my bad exhaust manifolds and tailpipe. Milky coolant. Turned it off and haven’t run it since. The truck already has 160 thousand on it. Should I dig in and put a new gasket/heads on it? Retrace steps and do the water pump again? Or just get a new engine? Please help.
I really dont mind pulling the heads and buying a kit. I’m laid off right now, have nothing but time. I’m sure the heads are warped. And have figured I’d be buying new heads anyways instead of just getting them machine and checked for cracks, which I’m sure there are.
What’s important is if there’s coolant in the oil…not if there’s oil in the coolant. If there’s no coolant in the oil, and you have confirmed this by draining out the oil, then I’d leave the motor in-place and repair/replace the heads. If there’s any coolant in the oil, there’s a risk that even if you fix the top-end, the bearings will go bad in the near future. This risk can be reduced, but not eliminated, if you pull the oil pan and clean the inside of the oil pan, pull and clean the oil pick-up tube, etc.
If there’s any coolant in the oil, it is probably cheaper to find a working used engine. By the time you pay for machine shop labor to recondition the heads, a new gasket set, new head bolts, new timing set, new water pump, etc, it’s not much cheaper than a working used motor. Even worse, you could pay all these costs, put it back together, and still end up with a spun bearing, knock, or timing chain problems.
Old mechanics told me never open up a high mileage engine. Doing heads will mean valves and afterward likely cause oil consumption. I’d spent the same effort swapping a used engine but keep the/new pump.
According to Edmonds, the value of a used 2001 Dodge Ram Pickup 2500 ranges from $707 to $2,621 , based on vehicle condition, mileage, and options.
It probably would be easier and cheaper to find another one in good condition. Or another vehicle.
You alreary said the oil was milky. That means there us coolant in your oil.
Coolant is corrosive to bearings. I would not put heads on an engine with 160k that has overheated and had coolant in the oil.
If you don’t mind doing the work, head gaskets are cheap and getting the heads checked and flattened is not too expensive but I predict bearing failure in the future.
Around here old pickups are going for a lot more than the Edmunds quote, if the truck is in decent shape. I would also go for a used engine.
Uf you are not afraid of replacing heads, swapping an engine is well within your capability.
Overheating the 5.9 (360ci) engine until it stalled out twice can/will collapse the piston rings, possibly crack the heads etc, you need to run a compression test to confirm…
Also if you have an automatic, then you have the A518/46RH transmission, overheating these transmissions that bad will burn up the OD planets, OD hub and OD sun gear, and can collapse the OD clutch return spring, OD sun gear bushings and possibly the intermediate shaft, just to mention a few, basically the transmission could be junk…
