89 Trooper II w/blown head gasket

I think my 89 Trooper II (4cyl, 4x4 w/86k original miles) blew the head gasket. It suddenly starting running very rough, white (sweet smelling) smoke was coming from the exhaust, and the radiator is suddenly low on fluid. I immediately pulled over, shut it down, and towed it home. I figured it was the head gasket.

The big questions: Is it something that a “do it yourselfer” can repair? Is it better to shell out the bucks to take it to a shop for repair? Is getting a rebuilt engine that way to go? Or, is it not worth repairing and I should cut my losses and sell it as is?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I had the exact same thing happen to me. I tore of the head gasket and took it to a machine shop to see if they could resurface it. They said they wouldn't touch isuzu head gaskets. After the same response from many other shops, I started looking for new gaskets. A new gasket costs $600-800. I bought a remanfactured engine for $800 and put it in myself. Kind of a pain. The engineers ar isuzu definitely were not thinking of the do-it-yourselfer when designing these cars. Took me about a week to get the engine in.

Anyway, after puttin the engine in, it ran well for years.

Hope this helps
Jesse

I'm not sure what you are talking about...a new head gasket and complete kit is only $125 at NAPA. Is there something I'm missing here or reading wrong? I've never heard of a head gasket costing nearly $800. Please clear this up a little more.

I got mine from Autozone for about $80, maybe less. Now the heads themselves are expensive.

I got mine from Autozone for about $80, maybe less. Now the heads themselves are expensive.

Thanks for the info. Are there any "pit falls" I need to watch for when I tear into the engine?

Just the timing marks. When the crank and the cam are lined up with the timing marks - #4 is at TDC not #1. You adjust the appropriate rockers at this point and then rotate the crank one turn. Then # 1 is at TDC, you will notice that the cam sprocket will be 180 degrees from where it was when #4 (4 is up and 1 is down) was set up. You then adjust the rest of the rockers.