Our beloved 1994 Montero LS (no rust, everything works) has suffered a terrible injury. After 230,000 basically trouble free miles he started blowing heavy white steam with the smell of antifreeze. Should we say farewell or get him fixed? The tranny has never been serviced. Could this be an issue for more near term expense if we address the engine?

You could just sign it over to me.

Can you do the work yourself?
How much do you like the vehicle.
Is it otherwise reliable?

Dont fall for the it will cost more to fix then it is worth deal most people will tell you.

I look at it more like how much will it cost to get a vehicle as reliable as what this one would be after repairs.

In the way of the tranny going by what I have seen on here. If you have never overheated the tranny or abused it in any other way you probably have another 30-70k life still in it.

Make sure you get the H.G. replaced before you hydralic a cylinder full water. Also I belive antifreeze is corrosive to the Cat.Converter.
Don't get ripped off if you don't do it yourself, 3.0 12 valve H.G. is not that hard to do.

These trannies seem to last forever. I'd have the fluid replaced and the filter cleaned.

The head gasket is not that bad a job. I bet it's the gasket and not a cracked head, but even if it's the head(s), a new casting is only around $200 a piece.

You have the classic repair/replace problem. You have to look at the costs of the two alternatives. I bet you could get the head gaskets done for under $2000, including a tranny service while it's in the shop. You could do it yourself for well under a grand. If you go buy a new one, the payments will cost you that much in well less than a year. The correct answer seems to be repair, especially if you love the truck...

i think i have a head gasket set for it

To all who have responded: Thanks. I did pull the head from the bank with the problem and lo and behold, blown gasket, head looks good. Will replace gasket along with timing belt and cam and crank seals. anything else? Maybe the water pump? It was replaced at 180,000. Also, should I use copper anti-sieze on the head bolts?

30 wt on the head bolts and look for the TSB on the torque spec change. Run a bottoming tap on all the bolt holes and get the heads checked to make sure they are flat.

Really good time to get the valve seats cut, valve guides checked and new seals put in.

Kevin

Another thing I came across in my '89 is warped exhaust manifolds. The driver's side one snapped two studs. You may want to get at those while the head is out and at the machine shop.

Thanks! I do have a broken stud. What do you do for a warped manifold?

For a warped exhaust manifold, have the machine shop run it on a table belt sander.... only takes a couple of minutes to do.

For a warped lower intake manifold (most will bow-warp end-to-end), have the machine shop mill it flat.

Frank