I am not mechanically inclined and I need your help. I have a problem with a 1984 E350 van (old Class III ambulance) with a 460 engine. It has a c6 tranny and dual rear wheels (2wd).

I have a 1984 E350 van with a 460 engine in it. It leaks oil and coolant. Its not a great amount about a quart of oil every 500 miles and a pint of coolant every time I warm the engine. I can see coolant dripping around the front of the engine near the hose connections and below (its not the hoses). The oil appears to be coming from the same general area (front of engine). They both drip down and has coated the front side of the block and the entire underneath of the pan. The engine has a very hard 65,000 miles and untold hours of engine running to use as a generator for electricity (it was an ambulance with converters and inverters).

Since this is a MAJOR undertaking to work on this engine (basically I have to remove the front end of the van...so lots of labor cost) what do you all think it might be. I've been told by my gear head freinds that it might be a head gasket, water pump, etc.

What do you think about replacing the entire engine with a remanufactored engine, like JASPER? I have been looking at a RV 460 engine from Jasper but at $2,300.00 thats a lot of money, not to mention the labor to replace it.

If I could find someone (good builder) to build an engine I would lean that way but....anyone know of anyone in the Pittsburgh, PA area (actually 30 miles south of Pittsburgh).

Any suggestions or ideas are welcome.

Thanks,

Rick

 

Does the engine spew any smoke when first started after sitting for awhile? does it smoke while its running? a VERY bad intake manifold gasket would be the best case scenario, assuming you are correct about the oil and coolant coming from the same place. under which hose do you see the coolant leaking from? the one on the top of the engine or on the front? the worse case would be a head gasket, but thats still not TOO big of a deal as long as nothing else blows out before its fixed. of course, it could always be some bad gaskets in the timing cover area...theres really a lot of possibilites. first thing's first, find out for sure where both the oil and coolant are coming from. get some engine degreaser and clean the engine, then after runnning it watch closely for leaks. one quart of oil for 500 miles really isnt all that bad for an older, abused engine. does it drip oil spots on the ground after its completely warmed up? an oily engine compartment is *somewhat* normal. puddles on the ground arent. try to find out exactly the area where the leak\s are coming from and give us some more details. good luck