Whelp... Pretty sure that's the engine blown...

[BobBski]

Glad to hear you're mobile again, all the best to ya.

 

[TMG51]

Glad it all worked out for you.  As for what you did, as long as it didn't involve crossing any state lines for immoral purposes, the feds can't charge you . . .

Regards
John

Good one. I'm still not telling.

About pushing 'er hard, I s'pose I'll lay off for the first 500 miles just to be sure, but I can't help but wonder if these aren't the mechanic's equivalent of old wives' tales?

 

[GotSmart]

Look at it as cheap insurance.  Take it easy, listen for funny noises, and change the oil at 500 miles.  

My favorite mechanic built Sprint Car full race 350 engines.  He would break them in on the bench with Ajax powder, then change the oil. 

His reasoning was that if it lasts 5 minutes running on the bench, it would last 25 miles on the track.  (50 to 100 laps)

 

[offroad]

well that was disappointing. all this story and we never find out what the best solution was. people are so secretive. but then again people are so nosy. lol. as long as it works.

 

[Patrick46]

Good to hear that your back on the road...so that's good!


...but what about our story??!!! (the suspense is killing me!!!)

 

[66788]

At Pick 'n Pull in NorCal a complete long block is less than $250.00. You can pay someone to pull it for you for a few bucks and if you choose a vehicle that has obvious collision damage in the side or rear, you will probably get a good engine. I've done this many times and been happy.

360 ci (5.9L) motors are plentiful.

 

[JoshIsLosingIt]

Don't just assume that engine's bad!  If it only has 80k on it, then unless somebody did something stupid, it might be fixable.

If somebody did do something stupid, try to figure out what it was so you can be sure not to repeat it.

I think I would do a serious cooling system check too, and make sure your gauges are accurate.  If you don't have an actual gauge, I would add one.

There's a 5.9L, 2001 in Stevensville for $1250 on CL.

Sadly, it seems that no matter how simple of a fix these may be, the shops don't want to fix anything, they want to charge you like 5 grand to put a new engine in?     They aint trying to hear about small fixable problems.  They want those labor hours.  Its a terrible situation to be in.

 

[SoulRaven]

Sadly, it seems that no matter how simple of a fix these may be, the shops don't want to fix anything, they want to charge you like 5 grand to put a new engine in?     They aint trying to hear about small fixable problems.  They want those labor hours.  Its a terrible situation to be in.

Prior to switching to older vans which eliminated 99% of all my problems with the newer vans, I would sometimes stop by a small used car dealership and ask for recommendations for a good yet cheap mechanic.  They would usually have several that they used, usually people working out of their homes.  I had very good luck with them.

My biggest problem was that on the newer vans, it was a never ending process of fixing one thing after another.  They just don't build them like they used to.

Today the dealers make their big money in their repair shops, and I truly believe that the newer vehicles are intentionally designed to start falling apart as soon as the warranty expires.

 

[Reverse Engineer]

My nephew ran a race car on dirt tracks in MO, and had to yank the engine out of the car after just about every race for an overhaul. Then there was the body work to be done from the minor collisions in the race.  lol. It's not that hard if you have a lift and the engine and transmission are relatively simple.

However, most people are not so mechanically inclined and do not have Nephew with a lift and a good wrench hand. lol.

So you gotta go scoping around for mechanics, and the commercial operators have to make a living, so they charge plenty for this type of stuff.  If you are new to a nabe when your engine goes bad, you can't find a backyard nephew at the drop of a hat to yank your engine for you.

So, at least for the time being, I tend to think about the motive power of the whole vehicle to be disposable, and you just need to be able to shift your other systems to another motive instrument when it dies on you.  If you are doing Van Stealth, buy a cheap used Van.  If using a Cargo Trailer, buy cheap Used towing vehicles.  It s cheaper generally speaking just to replace the vehicle than to ty to have it fixed, if fixing requires an engine haul out.

RVs with onboard Engines are tougher in this regard.  It is much harder to switch out when you have a lot of systems installed on an RV, so fixing at high cost may be the better option than trying to find another good used one.

 

[Goshawk]

Keep reading statistics on the most longevity of vehicles by manufacturer and model. F250 ford gets the best rating for trucks. Maybe people just try to make them last.

 

[SoulRaven]

So, at least for the time being, I tend to think about the motive power of the whole vehicle to be disposable, and you just need to be able to shift your other systems to another motive instrument when it dies on you.  If you are doing Van Stealth, buy a cheap used Van.  If using a Cargo Trailer, buy cheap Used towing vehicles.  It s cheaper generally speaking just to replace the vehicle than to ty to have it fixed, if fixing requires an engine haul out.

I also subscribe to this philosophy and believe that my vehicles are disposable.  ALL of my contents are portable and easily transferred to a new vehicle if necessary, with no tools required.

If a repair was to cost more than my $1k van is worth, then it's time to replace it.  Of course this poor old van just refuses to die.  When it started smoking somewhere past 400k miles, I just switched to smokeless motor oil, and it still even passes smog tests.  With the smokeless oil it quit burning any oil as well, went from one quart per tank of gas to zero oil usage.

Now approaching 500k miles and still running strong.  Old and cheap doesn't mean junk, it just means sensible.

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

Today the dealers make their big money in their repair shops, and I truly believe that the newer vehicles are intentionally designed to start falling apart as soon as the warranty expires.

Honestly, I don't know if that's true or not.

I was the parts manager for a Chrysler dealership for about eight months back around 1990.  I was the eighth parts guy they had had in seven years.

The Chrysler factory rep at the time told me that EVERY single dealership owner was an ex-car salesman.  He claimed that if they had THEIR way, they wouldn't have service and parts departments, it was only that the manufacturers REQUIRED them to have them as a condition for having a dealership.

Moreover, about 80 to 90 percent of the work the service department performed was warranty work - at reimbursement rates set by the manufacturers, set so low that it was almost impossible for the service department to show a profit on them.

Little wonder the dealership owners try to grind every last buck they can get out of non-warranty work that comes in the door.

Regards
John

 

[ramblingvanman]

True, dealers make very little on warranty work and the techs make even less. However, when I was a full time tech, they had a policy of "planned obsolescence". Parts were designed to wear out at certain points. When I worked at a Nissan dealer, we had corporate call for a timing belt to be sent to them because it lasted 63k miles. It was supposed to wear out and break between 60-61k miles.