Hey Gang,
I ve known about the head gasket leakin antifreeze into cyl.#2 for about 4 months now and its been usin close to a pint a week.The orginal starter went bad about 2 weeks ago and we put a new one on....This morning a go to start it and it cranked twice ,then wouldnt crank anymore..SO, I thought this new starter had already gone bad....The van hadnt been started in a day so when I went to pick it up at the shop , they told me that the new starter had stripped out due to the pressure created from tryin to turnover with all that antifreeze that had been sittin in cyl.#2 (and others maybe)...Anyway, I was told by a guy who rebuilds motors that a rod or thrust bearing??? is knockin ..Pretty sure its NOT a push rod..(Ive had that before)...Its quite noisy with kind of a rattley sound that changes speed with the transmission shift..I still have good power/compression (not like when the push rod bent before)....Im definetly gonna need a new head gasket and I was wondering with a motor that has 206K mi, would it be better just to get a new or rebuilt motor or have this one repaired.....They said its definely a bottom motor problem so that means BIG$$ anyway.Any help would be appreciated...Also, could anyone recommend where to get a new motor, (crate or remanufactured?) the body is good and I plan on driving this one a while.
Thanks,
John in WV