Help me decide on the best course of action

[Tynee]

General background: The '70 in my signature is my daily driver. When I bought it, I looked at the ground under the truck and there were no oil stains, and nothing was leaking. After driving it for a couple of days, it developed a pretty decent sized oil leak. I've been keeping oil in it and waiting until the right time to repair said leak. It's the expensive method of maintenance.

Specific background: Tuesday morning when I got out of the truck at work, I noticed a little puff of white smoke, but didn't think much of it, sense it was a fairly cool morning. Wednesday, I jumped in and headed to the gym, as I was pulling into my parking space, I realized I never did get any heat all the way there, so I checked the gauge, and it was PEGGED. Its an inexpensive aftermarket gauge, and its not backlit, so I hadn't noticed in the dark that the temp was high. Well, after I finished at the gym, I went to investigate a bit more, now that the truck has cooled and I have some daylight, and found that there was no coolant in the radiator. So, I jumped in and limped down tot the closest gas station, filled up the gas and the radiator, then headed for work. I watched the c temp gauge all the way to work, and everything looked good - the truck ran like it always does. When I got to work was when I noticed the steady stream of white smoke from the tailpipe, I jumped out and smelled it, and it smelled a little sweet, so I checked the oil. The color was good, but the level was high. I took the filler cap off, and it was milky under the cap. SOOOO - Long story short, I'm assuming I blew a head gasket.

My plan: I believe that my oil leak is coming from the rear main seal, call it a gut instinct. I intend to buy a gasket set that includes head gaskets, manifold gaskets (intake and exhaust), main seals, oil pan gasket, and valve cover gaskets.

Here's where you come in: Do I want to pull the engine and do all this work on the stand, or would it be a whole lot easier to leave it in the truck, and do the main seals laying under the truck, and do the top side work under the hood? I'm a pretty decent wrench, and can pull parts and replace them with the best of 'em. My buddy and I swapped motors in a small FWD Mazda in basicly 2 solid afternoons. I spent the better part of a week changing the intake manifold gasket (twice - don't ask) on my Wife's old Grand Cherokee.

I'm looking for some input, guys. Also, is there another possible source of a fairly major oil leak that I won't be addressing if I do all of the work I've mentioned above?

[TonyJohnson]

Sounds like the same amount of work to just pull it. Then you could get it drained, cleaned and give it a good going over. Might be a good time to throw in a cam and change the timing chain/gear...

oops... an opportunity...

[lowriden58]

as far as the oil leak goes i would clean everything up nicely and then run it for a bit to find where the leak is coming from. could be from your dizzy seal...

but with having a blown head gasket i wouldnt run it anymore or you could cause some damage to bearings/seals with the antifreeze getting mixed in the oil. i would pull the whole motor and do a refresh job on it myself..

[brad_man_72]

if you have other transportation, pull motor. get heads magnafluxed new valve guide seals. clean/paint engine and engine bay. may as well put some trans seals in while your there to.

[berencam]

How is your garage/shop setup looking(or lack thereof). if you dont have a garage, shop, ect id say keep the engine in and change the head gaskets, then drop the pan and change the rear seal. If you do have a shop, hoist, stand ect. and have transportation for a few days, brake that thing out of there and do it on the stand. Like the guy up there said too, now would be a good time to freshen up the heads. If your using a auto tranny, and you end up pulling the engine, change your seals on your trans too. If your using a manual transition, change your clutch while your in there. They have a tendency if wearing out in the winter, when it snowed all week and its 10 below. Then your stuck with fixing it in that stuff.

[Tynee]

Originally Posted by brad_man_72

if you have other transportation, pull motor. get heads magnafluxed new valve guide seals. clean/paint engine and engine bay. may as well put some trans seals in while your there to.

Good advice, I have other transport on a SHORT-term basis. The other thing is, as usual, I'm trying to do this as CHEAP as possible. It's actually terrible timing, since I just bought my wife a vehicle 3 weeks or a month ago, and bought a bunch of parts to dress it up and fix little stuff like a cracked mirror. I'm cash poor right now. We've got emergency savings, but I can't see my way clear to paint the engine and under the hood on emergency funds. We'll see.

[HoupPhotography]

If your a decent wrench and you have help, take the weekend and pull the motor. I would take the heads to a machine shop and have them professionaly done, maybe even take the heads off tonite and get them to the machine shop tomorrow, pull the motor this weekend (hopefully your heads will be done) You should be able to get the motor done by the end of the weekend.

IMO - have the heads professionally done at a machine shop, they will get done right and shave them if they need to, it's preventative maintenance so your not doing this again in a month.

[70rs/ss]

Just pull it and have a set of heads handy. The sweet smell is more than likely a head gasket, but the heads like to crack too, so be prepared. In a weekend, you should be able to pull it and replace all the gaskets and be back together and back in in the two days. Cam and the other stuff is in addition if you can afford, but not a necessity.

[steelhorse]

If you are like me once I get ot out and apart I always find more to do.If it even looks a little worn Ill replace it,thats why "just putting in new gaskets"always ends up being pistons,cam,intake,rockers,ect.