I have a really strange issue with my '94 2.3 (the junkyard dog truck) yesterday was running fine, i stop at the bank after work for maybe 5 min, shut it off while i was there, went to leave and its missing bad, didnt think much of it, once in a while when starting it would miss but straighten out, figured it was a fault fuel injector, it is a 94, 145K miles on it. well anyways, i went to the dmv then the house, still missing bad, got worse the more it ran. this morning, same thing, drove it 5 miles to work, can barely pull itself, 4.10 gears and the most it will do is 45, 4rth gear, will idle but horribly. work my 8 then before i leave i check things over, nothing seems wrong, oil level and coolant level fine. drove it home, about halfway its smoking alot, i pull over and pop the hood, can see its oily around the #3 manifold port on exhause and its smoking from where the manifold joins the downpipe (i knew it was leaking there before) i get it to the house, pull plugs for a compression test, i had done a compression test when i first got the truck in july, it was roughly 150/160 across all 4. well now i have 160 on 1, 155 on 2, 20 on 3 and 5 on 4. so yes, 2 dead cylinders, my thought is blown head gasket between cylinders (havent pulled head yet) but theres one thing yet puzzling me. after the engine cooled down i checked fluid levels. coolant fine, oil down to the add mark..... yes, i lost a qt of oil i under 5 miles of driving. i did notice oil pressure guage acting weird during driving, it would dip halfway down then go back up. almost acted like a bad connection it was moving so much back and forth. motor sounded like it was "hammering" while driving too. i took a couple of videos, at idle after the drive from work it almost sounds like a diesel. both 3 and 4 plugs were oil soaked, i cant understand why the oil loss/burning is happining. any ideas? yes, i know i have to keep digging and take it apart. but this is just incredibly weird. ran great up until it didnt..... was surprized it lost 2 cylinders. guess that proves that its not always as bad as you think it could be.... sometimes its worse....


this was how it was running before, took about a month ago:

on the drive home today:

parked after the drive from work, idleing:

heres a picture of the exhaust manifold side, look at how oily it is at the #3 exhaust port...
https://www.flickr.com/photos/154582078@N03/24861638758/


sick....not in a good way....

 

After you get the head off, with it having consumed that much oil in such a short distance, have a close look for a cracked piston/s too!!!???

 

well, its tore down, original head had cracks in valve seats in every cylinder, head warped too, at some point in its life this engine got really hot. found another head and its on its way to the machine shop to be checked out and give a good go-over and valve seals before i put it back together. head gasket blown between 3 & 4, and blown out so bad it reached the oil return hole from the head, thats why it was inhaing the oil and fogging for mosquitos. as far as i can tell block is still good and pistons are ok. i was expecting to find missing piston(s) or something. it made the drive from town to home, 12 miles on 2 cylinders, 45 mph. got the bed full of parts right now, hopefully it will be back together next weekend. glad i have a barn and space heater. but why do i always end up with major issues when its cold? i once lost a trasnmission in january. brrrr

 

Dang, we used to call that "rode hard & put up wet"!!!! lol
Good to hear you seem to have a grip on what was going on.
I'd also consider a new water pump, timing belt, belt tensioner, idler pulley, thermostat, upper & lower radiator hoses & pressure cap while your in there.

 

yes, new water pump and timing belt waiting at local napa for pickup (how is it they didnt have those in stock? tose 2 parts are probly the same for every "pinto" 2.3 ever made!) going to get a tentioner and pulley for timing belt too, just didnt think about it when i placed that order. thermostat was new just a month ago. have newer fuel injectors to put in. been cleaning everything so once i can reassemble i can do jut that and not have to scrape/clean. i woder if it got overheated when towing? it had 3.45 gears and a ball hitch on the bumper when i got it, according to the book they dont recomend any towing with that ratio. i swapped in a 4.10 axle and built my own receiver hitch. have only pulled my "ranger bed trailer" with it. did fine.

 

well bad week. after not hearing anything about the #2 head, i call and eventually find out it never got picked up, well they did finnaly get it and its cracked too, not as bad but still a unuseable oversized paperweight. so i drive to 100+ miles round trip after work to go get it, hopefully get my 120$ back from the junkyard. they stamped their intials in ti but i cant find the receipt. im seriously thinking of ordeing a new head assy from one of the local auto parts stores. not too happy with napa, twice this week i was in picking up parts i had ordered and my head was still there, never shipped out. seems those dummies thought the head there was the 1st one.... well this was a complete (dirty) head with a cam and all the valave train present, the one that was first sent out that i got when i dropped off head #2 was clean, no cam or valvetrain parts..... morons. and reason enough to make a 3 hr drive after work vs waiting more..... still not sure where i'll order from, gotta look at all my options...

 

Dang, when it rains on you, it Pours!!!!

 

heres the heads, top one is the original one that head gasket blew on, lower head is the one i got last week from a junkyard. both are 60# paperweights. think im going with a autozone head, can get one with valves but no cam/lifters for 350. a complete head with cam, valves,lifters and such is 532. think i have enough other peices that will work. just bites that "estimated delevery time" is dec 28. dont feel like taking chances with another junkyard head. just hope this isnt a china casting. they dont call it "the land of almost right" for nothing....

 

well, pulled the trigger on a new autozone head, the $350 one with no cam/lifters/rockers. just a head with valves in it, got my other peices i'll need soaking in diesel, cleaned with gas first but wanted a diesel coating for a little lubrication. head is supposed to be in saterday, guess we'll see, i was able to get my money back on that junkyard head that turned out to have cracks.

 

after nearly a month, its back on the road again, fired it up last night about 10:30, like most 2.3's it seems to run on the cool side, even with a new thermostat, only issue ive really seen is that the oil pressure reading isnt as high as it was before all this, could be the sender, i dont know. i did change the oil after its first warm up, 5w30 pennzoil. nothing is knocking or tapping like a oil pressure issue, guess i'll just watch and see what happens. nice to be able to go through all 5 gears again and not be stopped at 3rd with a max speed of 40. took some pictures before putting cap back on, kind of like the look of it without the cap but need the weight for the snow thats here now and its nice to keep the bed cleaner this way, i had took it off mainly because i was putting all the parts in the bed while i worked on it and it was alot easier to just reach over the side vs going through the back.

 

Ok good feedback & to hear all seems well with the new AZ head. +1 on some weight over the rear wheels.
Rural folks in the mountains around here where their roads are the last to be plowed, often toss a shovel & a couple of 80lb sand bags in the bed at the axle for extra traction weight.
Both sand & shovel sometimes come in handy when stuck & some extra snow removal & sand under a tire for extra traction is needed.