Tell me I am crazy

[LisaO925]

I am actually looking at a 94 4wd that has a broken head gasket. $800!!!

I keep thinking thats a deal, but someone tell me that its not worth it...lol Or tell me if it is

[L0sts0ul]

if you are SURE that that is all thats wrong with it.... snap it up.

[MrShorty]

Not enough information to give a good recommendation. My thoughts:

A lot depends on how much the engine was run after the head gasket blew and how much coolant got into the oil. There's a good chance that the entire engine is bad and will need to be rebuilt/replaced. It will probably be difficult to determine the extent of the damage, so I would probably approach this with the idea that, if you buy the truck for $800, you will need to replace the engine.

So do you go with a full rebuild (essentially putting 0 miles on the engine's clock) or a used engine with however many miles it would have. How cost effective this is depends, in part, on the condition of the rest of the drivetrain/body (any rust in the body? transmission ok?). Some of those things (like the transmission) may be difficult to check out where the engine doesn't run.

It might be worth the effort, I don't know what resources you have for rebuilding/restoriing a truck like this. I would first suggest you get a feel for what it could cost to get it driveable.

[unplugged]

I am actually looking at a 94 4wd that has a broken head gasket. $800!!!

I keep thinking thats a deal, but someone tell me that its not worth it...lol Or tell me if it is

Ok, here goes........You're Crazy

Just kidding. I think the deal is sweeter if you are doing the mechanical work to get the beast back to running condition. If you are paying someone else for the work, it's no deal at all. And that's if everything else is OK.

If you have the $800 in your budget and not another 2k-3k left to make it a daily driver, then the burb becomes a curse not a blessing.
Don't roll the dice if your betting the rent money.

There are enough mid 90's burbs under $3k that are in better running shape. ...momma used to say; "Don't throw pearls before the swine." and we didn't have any pigs!