Suggestions on looking for a motor...

[SlugSlinger]

My buddy quoted $2200 for the complete rebuild with existing heads. If new heads are needed, they are $225 each complete rebuild of good cores with new valves and springs.

 

[SlugSlinger]

LKQ in Topeka has an L33 with 91K miles for 1605 plus shipping(I would guess 150-200 to a business). L33 would yield 15 extra hp and is lighter.

What’s included? Stuff like injection and drive pulleys, etc?

 

[Shadowrider]

So, I've posted here before, my Tahoe needs some motor work.

Top-half rebuild at the least, from what my mechanic tells me. Coupla grand total.

The type of heads I have are notorious for this slow leak of coolant into the oil. Been going on a few years now. I've been putting it off, just keep topping up the coolant.

I think I know of the problem you speak of. Anytime you are getting coolant in your oil it's a bad scene. The bottom end may not be in much better condition than the top. I had a Monte Carlo SS that either blew a head gasket or cracked a head. It had been slowly losing coolant for sometime and also going through CATS way too soon. That should have been my clue but I was also topping it off and driving it, because it ran the same as it always had, same mileage and everything. In my case the bill to put fresh ONLY heads on it was the same as the value of the car, so I called it "done" on that one. ETA: 247K on it IIRC.

The thing with Dexcool coolant is that if it gets low in the radiator the oxygen in the air space makes a chemical reaction with it that eats things like gaskets and seals up, but kinda slowly. Also mixing other coolants is no bueno with Dex. If switching it over to something else a complete and TOTAL flush is really important.

My BIL had decent luck with buying a 6.0L Powerstroke off of one of the larger eBay engine sellers. He got a decent low milage engine that blew at 11 months and they honored their warranty. 2nd time around on the engine change he did what I told him and ditched the tuner when he installed the even lower mileage warranty replacement. No more problems after that. Weird huh?

Wish I had better news.

 

[918evo]

What’s included? Stuff like injection and drive pulleys, etc?

A salvage engine will come with the intake, exhaust manifolds, injectors, maybe idler pulleys, but no accessories. LKQ used to offer a 90 day warranty, but the industry standard is 30.

 

[tRidiot]

Yeah, sounds like it's probably out of my pricerange, anyways.

 

[John6185]

Check Ebay, sometimes they have some good deals on rebuilt/reman engines.

 

[TwoForFlinching]

Find a friend in the auto business, hit an auction. Cousins work truck blew a motor, called our auto reselling buddy and hit the auction. Bought a totalled/wrecked similar model with a good engine, swapped it out next day, sold the chassis back off at auction. total downtime 3 days, total cost out of pocket was somewhere around $900.

The killer is labor, but if you have a buddy that can help, it's not impossible.

 

[xseler]

https://carpartplanet.com/2006-chev...tml?CampaignType=BingShopping&utm_source=bing


$1425 for a 2006 LM7 with 90K miles

 

[n423]

Salvage motors normally have a compression check on them and that's about it. A leak down is a better choice as to health of an engine. Still at 200k your wasting money on a salvage engine imo. They will sometimes offer a very short warranty or basically that it wont knock. The problem is you are out your time of putting them in and taking them out if its bad. A motor swap can be done with a cherry picker and not a lot of tools just time and fluids basically.

If your going to pull your current engine and take on a rebuild it can be done but you will need a full rebuild kit an engine stand, torque wrench and a pile of time. Then you have to send off the engine and have it machined. Along with getting yourself a set of rebuilt heads that are not leaking castechs. Thats not going to be a cheap venture in itself. You are really getting to the point where you have to decide how much money you want to sink into that vehicle.

As for the tranny its probably coming on needing a rebuild at some point soon. Best bet is to use a reputable re-builder and be done with it. I haven't priced any of this stuff in a while but your in the thousands either way. Its probably not worth 2k in trade value. I would just keep driving it adding some dexcool as needed and when the engine goes or tranny then put it on CL for $500 and have someone haul it off.

The other thing to think about with a vehicle this age is everything starts breaking. So at some point the hvac compressor blows. There is $1000-1200 bucks. Your front or rear diff goes out break out another grand. Need front wheel bearings $600 and on and on. This thing can eat you alive.

Agree 100%

 

[John6185]

https://carpartplanet.com/engines/chevrolet/tahoe?Condition=remanufactured&CampaignType=BingSearch. I was going to suggest this place for a remanufactured engine but you don't want to spend a lot because the Tahoe isn't worth 3-4 thousand. Slugslinger above has a better price than this joint. There are a lot of them on the internet, you gotta search around and maybe bargain for shipping and overall cost.