ok, so the last post was a bit dramatic. I'm not planning to just discard the truck, but I'm in the middle of a move, am getting married in August and I just spent a load of money on a new road bike so I don't really have the money to pay a mechanic and it's gonna be tough to find the time to do it myself.

I've watched my father and brother throw money away trying to keep his landcruiser going, so I want to avoid that myself. I would rather let the truck go and remember it as the trouble free vehicle that got me through high school and college than waste money trying to bring it back.

That being said I'm planning to tear it down ASAP and assess my situation. If it appears that it's just the gasket, then yeah I'll switch it out and get her going agian. If it's a full rebuild we are talking about or even a swap then it'll be quite a while before I'm happily motoring along again.

In the mean time, I'm gonna be shopping for a decent and cheap used car to get me from point A to B and saving up for a new Frontier. Maybe if I'm lucky we'll get the diesel engine that Nissan sells oversees!

I'll keep you guys up to date on the tear down as I get it going.

I honestly believe that replacing the head gasket would take less time and money than shopping for and buying another used vehicle that may need stuff fixed on IT as well.
Even if you want to sell the truck, it is worth MUCH more in running condition. Additionally, if it sits with even a small amount of water in the cylinder for a while, you WILL be in for a much more extensive repair or replacement. right now, it just seems to need a gasket. Less than $100 in parts and machining.

Go relax, have a cold one. Get a good nights rest. You just need time to put it in perspective.

Before you remove the head, buy (or fabricate) a pressure tester for the cooling system. If it doesn't hold, say, 15psi of pressure and you don't see coolant all over the ground then pull the head.

edit: I just re-read the 1st page...so it's smoking a lot from the exhaust? Maybe you should just skip the pressure test and pull the head

It could be worse...you don't have to pull a head off of a V8 F-body.

very true there Pathy, at least it isn't a Ford, haha.

So sadly it's gotten worse. I went to turn it over for my dad and I think I've thrown a rod. Following a loud clunk, the engine no longer turns. I'm thinking that because this one overheated (and due to the miles on it: 193k), I'm probably better off with an engine swap than a rebuild. I'm going to start looking around the scrap heaps to see what I can find. Wish me luck!

Thanks again for all the help. I'll keep you updated.

if you have coolant in the cylinder and you crank it over, your going to hear a bang and no more turning over! try pulling the plugs and try to turn it over again..

Yep. Hydro locked. Like he said. The water in the cylinder is preventing it from turning over.

heard that from a guy at work today too. i am surprised that i would hear the clunk, but i'm gonna give it a go this evening.

if i have that much water/coolant in the engine, do i really want to pursue a repair or am i better off swapping it out?

I guess a better question is:
Can I expect more problems down the road due to the water in the engine even after a rebuild?

I was thinking the clunk would indicate a cylinder was stuck, but had not heard of hydro lock until this morning! I just figured that a stuck cylinder would be due to siezing or something.

The thing that concerns me with the rebuild is that I would need to replace bearings, etc due to the overheating. My thinking here is that maybe spending a little more for a remanufactured engine would be easier and would come with a warranty.

I would at least pull the head to get a look at the cylinders, might get away with a light honing and some gaskets. If you have the $$ get a re-man engine, drop it in, then when you have the time & $$ rebuild the other one! or just us it for a boat anchor

If you fix it now, and don't run it, you won't do any damage. You WILL need to change the oil because there WILL be water in the bottom of the pan. if you run the engine, however, that water will get sucked into the oil pump and through the bearing, doing damage.

You might get another 80~100K miles out of it for the cost of replacing a head gasket.

i found a re-man engine with a 3year unlimited mileage warranty today. sadly they want 2 grand for it. the good news though is that i just pulled the plugs and the #4 (of course it's the back one...) was wet. i went ahead and turned it over for a second and it spun nice and easy.

a couple buddies and i are going to pull the head sunday and make sure it's just the gasket thats failed. keep your fingers crossed for me!

i can't thank you guys enough for the help so far. i'll post up sunday evening!

Just an update for anyone interested:

I discovered that the water pump failed (which is probably why changing the thermostat didn't help much!) and was the initial problem. The truck is in pieces and is proving to be a bit more of a job than I have time (I just got married 2 weeks ago) and tools for.

On a stroke of luck I found a guy that lives nearby and has experience tearing down and rebuilding a '92 KA24! He's picking up the truck any day now and is going to hook me up with a complete rebuild (new rings, clutch, seals, etc) along with warranty all for the price of just the re-manned engine, so I'm pretty stoked. I should have the truck back in about a month. Get some seatcovers and a new paint job and she'll be good as new! I'm looking forward to at least a few more years with my hardbody.

Thanks for the input earlier this summer from everyone that responded as well as viewed my thread. I'll update as I

How, exactly, did the water pump fail?

There was a squeek kind of noise I kept hearing intermittently. I actually thought it was a worn/loose belt, but after changing all three belts the noise was still there. It was only a week later that the engine overheated. After pulling the water pump you could hear the slight squeek when spinning the pump by hand. I'm assuming the bearing went bad or something.

I think the impeller can corrode over time, reducing pumping efficiency. And I suppose the surrounding housing can do the same- also reducing the pump rate.