I have a 2002 Dodge Dakota with 165,000 miles. It was my old work truck and has been generally pretty dependable. I "demoted" it to my 3rd car last year and have driven it weekly (usually on weekends only) since then. My daughter just turned 16 and has been driving it too. It has been great for retrieving firewood, towing a boat or snowmobile trailer, running crap around to different places and just having a 3rd car to use.
So, last week, my daughter was using it and it stalled on her. I went to rescue her and it was out of coolant. I had some water with me and added coolant, but it was missing on 1 or more cylinders (it's a small 4.7 V8). I had it towed to a local shop where they did some trouble shooting. There is 0 compression on one of the cylinders. The shop proposed doing a "leak down test", but explained that this could likely be a valve job (from a bent valve, or rocker problem), or some other larger problem. Repair relative to a valve job would be around $1500. The engine has never burned any oil and just started to use coolant about 3 months ago. I had been diligent about keeping coolant levels up including adding coolant the very day my daughter had her problem. I never saw coolant dripping out and coincidentally did an oil change the day before her stalling problem. There was no coolant in the oil.
So, I'm baffled by this one. I won't do the major engine work myself and can't decide if I should have it done, or just replace the engine. I don't think I would consider replacing it with a used engine. A new engine is about $2.5 - 3K, excluding labor. I plan to keep the truck for a while. It would be nice to keep it for my wood hauler for years to come. In fact, I'll have two more drivers next year (twin boys turning 15 soon). We'll need a 3rd car. Everything works on this truck. It's heavy, safe, (has been) dependable, and I've had a good amount of front end and suspension work done within the last 2 years. So, is it worth putting $4K into a truck with that many miles? Is it taking a chance to "only" do the valve job on a truck with 165K miles (assuming that's all it needs)?
So, last week, my daughter was using it and it stalled on her. I went to rescue her and it was out of coolant. I had some water with me and added coolant, but it was missing on 1 or more cylinders (it's a small 4.7 V8). I had it towed to a local shop where they did some trouble shooting. There is 0 compression on one of the cylinders. The shop proposed doing a "leak down test", but explained that this could likely be a valve job (from a bent valve, or rocker problem), or some other larger problem. Repair relative to a valve job would be around $1500. The engine has never burned any oil and just started to use coolant about 3 months ago. I had been diligent about keeping coolant levels up including adding coolant the very day my daughter had her problem. I never saw coolant dripping out and coincidentally did an oil change the day before her stalling problem. There was no coolant in the oil.
So, I'm baffled by this one. I won't do the major engine work myself and can't decide if I should have it done, or just replace the engine. I don't think I would consider replacing it with a used engine. A new engine is about $2.5 - 3K, excluding labor. I plan to keep the truck for a while. It would be nice to keep it for my wood hauler for years to come. In fact, I'll have two more drivers next year (twin boys turning 15 soon). We'll need a 3rd car. Everything works on this truck. It's heavy, safe, (has been) dependable, and I've had a good amount of front end and suspension work done within the last 2 years. So, is it worth putting $4K into a truck with that many miles? Is it taking a chance to "only" do the valve job on a truck with 165K miles (assuming that's all it needs)?