Hello all, just found this forum. Was looking for a place to discuss the same type of truck that everyone has.

Will be posting pics of my truck tomorrow.

Anyways, I'm 16. Just got my first truck back in August. I'm still excited about it. It's a little 86 4cyl 2.0 Max. So far I love it and it runs fairly good however, it has a few cons.

It's a 5 speed stick. NO power steering.

It only has around 131k miles on it. It was given to me for free. It sat for around 10 years but the old owner got his drivers license back and got it running about a year ago. New battery, 02 Censor, Wheel Bearings, Transmission Fluid, Engine Oil, Differential Fluid, Air Filter, Oil Filter, PCV valve, Carb Cleaned it.

I still need Brake pads, a Brake System flush and brake line replacing, heater hose, and what not.

I redid the interior bench seats with some cheap gray leather and couldn't find a spring for the seat so I tore a spring out of the neighbors couch that they dumped across the street and it fit perfectly into my seat.

I also threw in a Kenwood stereo with two pioneer speakers for bass. I still need treble speakers.

I'm going to give it a paintjob myself as the old paint was chipping off and there were tons of ugly decals on the truck. I melted off the old decals with a hot razor blade, sanded it, and primered the rusty parts. (I still need to primer it fully.) I plan on buying some digital camo stencils and doing a desert or snow camo design for the paint job. I have a camper shell for it too.

So, if anybody would be willing to give me some advice on my little truck, that would be great. I plan on keeping this truck for at least another 2 years.


Here are a few things I need help with...

TRANSMISSION:

Hard to shift into 2nd gear. (Sometimes grinds into 2nd.)

Sometimes it only shifts halfway into 1st so I need to use a lot of force to get it going.

Sometimes it will grind into reverse (at a standstill) or not go into reverse unless I push and let out the clutch 3 times.

ENGINE:

BURNS + Leaks Oil (Depending on how much I drive it, I might need to add a quart every 2 weeks.)

I can't exactly find where the leak is coming from but I think it's the oil pan gasket which I will have to replace. It might also be the lower part of the timing cover gasket.

Smokes quite a bit while warming up and makes a puttering sound unless I rev it and then it will Idle high until it fully warms up.

The smoke is burning oil and water from the catalytic converter mixed.

Sometimes it even smokes while driving or taking off from a stop.

After driving it for about 15 miles or on the freeway, it idles really rough and my tachymeter needle goes anywhere from 550rpm to 1000rpm so I need to keep my foot on the gas pedal to keep it idling smoothly.

(Luckily, it has never died on me while idling roughly.)

Those are pretty much the only problems.

Thanks for looking!

Welcome to the forum. Sounds like you have a plan and work cut out for you. Cheers.

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