Head gasket and possible rear main seal

[squirrelchill]

I have a '99 Limited 2wd 5vz-fe with 226,5xx miles. Frame and body are in good shape, interior is great, I love this truck. Engine has been starting rough the past few weeks, shakes for the first 10 seconds and then eventually smooths out. Also noticed coolant overflow tank was empty. I hadn't had any white smoke but I let the car sit for 5 days and went to start it this morning and was enveloped in a white cloud. Haven't done a compression test yet but all signs seem to say head gasket. Combined with this the rear main seal seems to be leaking, as are the valve cover gaskets.

So the question is what's the best option? Pull the engine and do all gaskets and seals? Try to find a new engine? Or just scrap it and buy a 4wd. I also live in a city and have done all the work so far on the street in front of my house so I don't have the best setup but so far it's been fine (did a timing belt, wp and radiator replacement like this). I'm just bummed because I've put a bunch of time and energy into this truck and it's in great shape physically.

 

[thegipper]

That sucks to here, I've been down the same road.

If you need 4WD or really want it, you may want to just sell it and get a different truck with 4wd.

If not having 4wd isn't a deal breaker, I would either rebuild that engine or swap in a new/used one.

Since you need to do your rear main seal anyway, I would pull the motor no matter which route you take. It's so much easier to work on the engine on a stand instead of under your hood.

If you don't have a garage to work in, maybe you can find a friend who has some space for a couple weekends until you get your truck fixed.

Lots of good information and helpful/knowledgeable people on this forum.

Good luck either way

 

[19963.4lsr5]

Waiting for your heads to get done is the longest part of the wait.

Do it in a garage.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[vipergrhd]

Time to let go

From my experience and not having a place to work on I say let it go while you can and get a 4WD with lower miles if possible. Save the money and put it towards your next ride just take your time and don't rush, I went down this rabbit hole with my 3rd Gen. but I bought it with a blown HG and with the mileage it had a replacement engine is needed.

 

[SilverRidgeRunner1]

Yea thats a tall order to fill on the streets I would hate to have to deal with that. 4WD is a nice perk though trade it in and upgrade.

 

[squirrelchill]

Decided to upgrade

Well given this advice, which affirmed what I was already feeling, I decided to shop for a new truck... and less that 12 hours later I picked up a 1998 Limited.

I found one locally with a solid frame, zero body issues, 4wd, 172k miles for a decent price and pulled the trigger. It's green with black cladding and chrome bumpers (bumpers are immaculate with zero dents or rust, which I've never seen here in PA). I'm definitely missing some of the '99 interior trim compared to the '98 but now my old guy is going to be a donor vehicle to upgrade some of that. Sad to see my first one go but I wanted to trade it for a 4wd eventually anyway. Any advice on parting out vehicles?

 

[gamefreakgc]

Well given this advice, which affirmed what I was already feeling, I decided to shop for a new truck... and less that 12 hours later I picked up a 1998 Limited.

I found one locally with a solid frame, zero body issues, 4wd, 172k miles for a decent price and pulled the trigger. It's green with black cladding and chrome bumpers (bumpers are immaculate with zero dents or rust, which I've never seen here in PA). I'm definitely missing some of the '99 interior trim compared to the '98 but now my old guy is going to be a donor vehicle to upgrade some of that. Sad to see my first one go but I wanted to trade it for a 4wd eventually anyway. Any advice on parting out vehicles?

Craigslist for the large parts you cannot ship (bumpers, body trim) and Ebay for the ECU's and smaller parts. Then when you've got it down to basically a frame, post that up on Craigslist with photos and eventually someone will buy the frame from you, usually for a couple hundred. Saves you having to get it towed to a scrapper. Takes a few months to part out a vehicle though.

Oh and always have the buyer come to you, unless you like driving all over the place only to have the person change their mind or flake out on you.

 

[Cagies]

Pull that somm*****

The 5VZ-FE is a super easy engine to pull, 8 or 10 tranny bolts, flywheel bolts and four bolts total for engine mounts. If you are mechanically inclined and have the ability to, I would pull the motor and reseal everything, you've seen how far you got the first time, itll probably do the same mileage over again.

 

[gamefreakgc]

The 5VZ-FE is a super easy engine to pull, 8 or 10 tranny bolts, flywheel bolts and four bolts total for engine mounts. If you are mechanically inclined and have the ability to, I would pull the motor and reseal everything, you've seen how far you got the first time, itll probably do the same mileage over again.

I'm a little detailed, perhaps more than most so take that into consideration.

5VZ-FE's are easy to pull, but take a lot of work to put back in with simple DIY tools and equipment. I've pulled 3, but only put back in 1. It took me about as long to put 1 back in than it did to pull 3 of them. Without a garage to work in, putting in a new engine would be realistically impossible if working on a street that's even slightly busy with traffic. I had a backyard so it was doable.