Razorback
New Member
Expy 2003 - 160k miles.
My decision is whether to repair damage to the crank or swap in a rebuilt engine.
repair the crank $1500
swap for a rebuilt engine ~3500-4000
Just looking for thoughts on which the group would do.
Exp body is still in pretty good shape for it's age. I'm starting to have the one-off random things breaking, door lock motors, etc. Fighting an electrical problem that I think has been isolated now.
I usually just use the truck for long trips and hauling larger items than will fit in the car.
My fear is that if I repair it, other items in the engine are going to fail soon, so just spend the money up front. But the mechanic is confident nothing else is messed up, so why swap the engine at this point?
Details on what happened are below for those who want more background.
My 2003 had an oil pump failure recently. This is one of the maintenance items that falls out of my driveway skills/tool capabilities.
When it happened I was driving a short distance, noticed the loss of pressure on the gauge ( no idea the duration prior to noticing it, but had only been driving it for ~5 min), made it another 30 seconds into a drive way at which point it died.
Had it towed to a shop I've used for years and trust (well trusted until now).
He replaced the oil pump and timing chain since he was already in there.
When driving it home, it died. Didn't notice anything prior to that.
Had been driving it for ~10 min at that point.
Took it back in, it started fine, told him to drive it. He then saw it drop out oil pressure after running a few minutes, tore into it and found that the crank had some wearing around the bearings.
Mechanics suggestion is to smooth the crank and install new bearings. He's giving me a bit of a break on that work due to not digging into it far enough the first time around.
At this point, if you start it, it idles smooth and drives fine, but will drop out oil pressure after a bit due to it leaking around the bearings. Not 100% sure that I understand how that's happening, but that's the explanation I've gotten.
If he repairs it, he will give me a 6 month warranty that if anything else happens that involves the oil pressure dropping, it'll be repaired at no charge to me.
My concern is spending another 1500 and having something else fail in the engine soon.
On the other side, I'm concerned about spending 4k to drop an engine in it, and then start having tons of other issues crop up.
So what would you do? Repair and sell? Don't repair and salvage it out? Repair and drive with confidence?
Swap the engine and keep on driving it confident that you're good for several years?
Swap the engine and be prepared for the never ending list of small repairs?
Thanks in advance for any input.
Joe
My decision is whether to repair damage to the crank or swap in a rebuilt engine.
repair the crank $1500
swap for a rebuilt engine ~3500-4000
Just looking for thoughts on which the group would do.
Exp body is still in pretty good shape for it's age. I'm starting to have the one-off random things breaking, door lock motors, etc. Fighting an electrical problem that I think has been isolated now.
I usually just use the truck for long trips and hauling larger items than will fit in the car.
My fear is that if I repair it, other items in the engine are going to fail soon, so just spend the money up front. But the mechanic is confident nothing else is messed up, so why swap the engine at this point?
Details on what happened are below for those who want more background.
My 2003 had an oil pump failure recently. This is one of the maintenance items that falls out of my driveway skills/tool capabilities.
When it happened I was driving a short distance, noticed the loss of pressure on the gauge ( no idea the duration prior to noticing it, but had only been driving it for ~5 min), made it another 30 seconds into a drive way at which point it died.
Had it towed to a shop I've used for years and trust (well trusted until now).
He replaced the oil pump and timing chain since he was already in there.
When driving it home, it died. Didn't notice anything prior to that.
Had been driving it for ~10 min at that point.
Took it back in, it started fine, told him to drive it. He then saw it drop out oil pressure after running a few minutes, tore into it and found that the crank had some wearing around the bearings.
Mechanics suggestion is to smooth the crank and install new bearings. He's giving me a bit of a break on that work due to not digging into it far enough the first time around.
At this point, if you start it, it idles smooth and drives fine, but will drop out oil pressure after a bit due to it leaking around the bearings. Not 100% sure that I understand how that's happening, but that's the explanation I've gotten.
If he repairs it, he will give me a 6 month warranty that if anything else happens that involves the oil pressure dropping, it'll be repaired at no charge to me.
My concern is spending another 1500 and having something else fail in the engine soon.
On the other side, I'm concerned about spending 4k to drop an engine in it, and then start having tons of other issues crop up.
So what would you do? Repair and sell? Don't repair and salvage it out? Repair and drive with confidence?
Swap the engine and keep on driving it confident that you're good for several years?
Swap the engine and be prepared for the never ending list of small repairs?
Thanks in advance for any input.
Joe
