By tim barber (64.158.9.86) on Saturday, August 18, 2001 - 10:59 am:

i've got a '79 1500 that blows out smoke when i first crank it sometimes. we are talking a cloud! i am a new owner of this car and know of any history. it just tripped 200K. what do any of you think is the life expectancy now, and should i opt for a rebuild of current engine, rebuilt donor engine, or just a used; and what i can expect to pay for this to be done. thanks, on borrowed time in carolina.

By ddechon (12.78.117.241) on Saturday, August 18, 2001 - 04:39 pm:

I'll take a crack at it.
I believe it means your valve seals have gone bad or dried out. When your car sits, the oil drips down into the cylinders. When you start your car, it burns all the oil. While your driving it gets burnt and doesn't get a chance to build up, so you don't see the big cloud. The seals are made of rubber and it's normal for them to harden after time. Your motor could be in great shape with bad seals. On the other hand it could have overheated and caused the seals to dry out faster. If it drives good after it warms up, the motor is probably in good/decent shape. If you do it right, you can replace the seals without taking the head off.

You might want to consider rebuilding the head. It usually runs around 100 bucks if you take the head off yourself and take it to an engine rebuilder. They will replace all seals and resurface the valves to give you better performance.

That's all I can say about what you have. What you do depends on what your comfortable with. Just make sure you have fun doing it!


ddechon