backstory- truck has a little over 150k (1993 f150 5.0 auto). recently it has been drinkin antifreeze like crazy.

today i pulled out of my friends driveway and in the neighborhood the engine shuts down and i lose power steering, but the radio/lights/etc still work. so i get it in neutral and start it up again and it idled really rough. so i called my grandfather told him what happened and he said it sounded like a possible head gasket and to throw some water in the coolant to get the levels back up. i filled up the reservoir and started it again. at idle and low rpm it did ok but at higher rpm it was shaking kinda bad and my friend who was behind the truck said it was shooting gray smoke from the pipes. any ideas? and maybe how much a repair would cost?

 

Sure sounds like a head gasket. The first thing you want to do is determine if any damage to the engine has occured such as a hydrolock. Sometimes with a blown head gasket you can injest so much coolant into a cyl that when the piston is moved upward during the compression stoke it will try to compress the coolant in that bore. You can compress air but not liquid. When the clearance in the bore is reduced by that liquid the connecting rod will bend. Not saying this has happened to yours but if it has it will make a big difference in the cost of repair. If its just the gaskets and no other damage then you are looking at replacing the head gaskets obviously. Not sure what the going rate currently is for a 5.0. With the mileage you have it may be worth it to research the cost of a rebuild or low milage used. First make sure it is in fact the gasket and then determine if the engine is damaged and go from there with your decision. Good luck.

 

well if its anything to expensive il probably just buy a new truck. ive had the itch for a diesel my whole life...

 

trucks nearly 20 years old.. Its expensive at this point.

 

well lets say the head gasket is toast. what is it worth? is there anyway i could get $2000 for it? I know at this point aftermarket stuff doesnt really matter but it does have a decent stereo system, the exhaust, lights, and newish all terrain tires.

 

You may have a hard time getting 2 grand for an 18 year old truck that runs well.......

 

with a broken motor maybe $600 at least in my area. I have a friend who just pick up a nice 94 f150 4x4 xlt extended cab with a bad tranny for $200

 

If the motor hydrolocked, it wouldn't be running at all. I blew a headgasket on one of the motors I built in my mud truck, it ran long enough to get it on the trailer and then it hydrolocked. There was an instantaneous self disassembly of the motor. Split the cam shaft in 3 pieces and broke 2 connecting rods. Like said above, the motor will run for some amount of time on a slightly blown head gasket but can only ingest so much water/coolant. Replace the head gasket and sell it.

 

changed the plugs today- they showed no signs of a bad gasket. i also noticed that the water pump has a leak which explains the coolant problem so i'l probably pick up a new pump tomorrow and change it. how hard are they to replace and how long does it usually take?

 

There not to bad. 1-4 hours depending on your skills..

 

Thats a lot of coolant to lose from a water pump. I personally doubt its the pump. How do you explain all the smoke shooting out from the exhaust pipes.