I just purchased a 92 chevy 1500 w/t 4.3 118,000 miles. I've noticed white puffs of smoke coming from the dipstick tube when the dipstick is removed. Also when I remove the cover from the throttle body there's white smoke coming from there as well. It seems to burn a decent amount of oil. I've only put 750 miles on it and I've added two quarts of oil in that time. I've done some research and my first guess is blow by. I'm not very mechanically inclined. Just looking for info/help on the issue. It seems to run fine but seems sluggish with slow acceleration.

 

White smoke is a sign of blow by. However for it to be bad enough to make white smoke the problem is serious. This problem is most always caused from the timing being too high. What happens is the cylinder temperature goes way up and burns a hole through the piston or along side the ring landing allowing compression to enter the crank case. The only repair for this is to put a new piston in the engine. I strongly suggest you rebuild the engine and not just put a single piston in it. You say you have little knowledge so for you the best deal may be for you to buy a long block. This will give you a completely assembled engine that you only have to bolt on the external parts.

 

I purchased the truck for $1,000. Just put in new front and rear shocks as well as new cv axle. Did some searching for used long blocks and found a couple for around $1,200. In your opinion is the truck worth spending that kind of money? It has a little rust above the back wheel wells but no other dents or rust. It's a w/t so it's just the basics. I'm not sure how long I'll be holding on to it. Wondering what kind of resale I could get if replacing engine. Thanks!