I don't see a lot of smoke, but,admittedly its hard to watch the tailpipe all the time.

Usually it uses about half a quart between oil changes (3500-4000 miles), its gone down half a quart in about 200 miles since this happened.

And today I (briefly) heard what sounded like piston slap? Not 100% sure, but, it was definitely a sound I haven't heard before.

Prices on Dakotas around here vary widely (by huge margins), no rhyme or reason. It's VERY rare to see one below $800 no matter how trashed it is.

I almost scored another '93 for cheap last year, but the owner wouldn't budge on the price. The truck ran good but had a blown trans, they were asking $650, I had $500 cash and honestly couldn't go higher at the time. They junked the truck instead. I guess Pick-A-Part gave them more than I could.