Originally Posted by NiteTrain

The 'turn on the heater' trick doesn't work with aluminum engines. Once the light comes on you have to pull over immediately. No way would a '03 bring 13K in this market, even if it the VIN is outside the bad oil pump range..they all just have a bad rep. '04s, the best DII, are going for under 10k. If you're not able to do an engine swap yourself I say part it out.

Originally Posted by cybercop

Wife called me and told me the Truck was smoking. Since it had oil leaks from the valve covers and I just changed the oil, I figured that it was just oil that blew onto the manifolds.

She later called me and said that the engine light and overheating light was on. You guessed it, it was really steam and not smoke. Told her to turn the heat all the way up and drive to the nearst service station. Before she could get there, it died and I had to have it towed to the shop.

They called me and told me the cylinder sleeves were lilfted and would need a new engine.

A $7500 repair for a truck that even though it is a loaded and very good looking truck, could only fetch $13,000 on a good day. Only gonna get $7000 on a trade in. In the end, even with a new engine, it is a truck with 128,000 miles on it.

Questions.

Should I sell it as is, and if so, who would buy it.
Should I part it out. The rims, factory DVD, seats and so on should be worth something.
Should I fot the bill on the engine, risk anything else going bad, and take a risk on selling it for anything more than $13000?

Any ideas?