If the vehicle is in good shape and clean, might be worth it to invest 2-3000 dollars and have it fixed. What can you buy for 3k anyways used? Then, you don't know whats all wrong with that vehicle you are buying either. At least you know the history of your truck and what sort of maintainace that's been done with it. We are seeing more and more people do this with the bad economy. I agree, if its in your budget, just dump the truck and buy a new car, but some people cant afford that right now. Look at it this way, investing 3000 dollars in a new engine only comes out to 62.50 a month broke down over 4 years.