Rebuild or Replace?

[mconner]

Hi All,
I have an intresting question to post. My wife has driven her 99 Exp for 10 years now, and loves it greatly. It has been well cared for and runs good, however it now has over 183k miles and is starting to leak oil from several places on the engine and transmission. It has had its share of problems; broken exhaust bolts, water pump, alt, etc. None of these problems have been so difficult, I couldn't fix them in my own shop. However the time is coming where we need to make the decision on whether we should replace the vehicle with a newer Exp, or should we invest in the time and money to "rebuild it". My idea of a "rebuild" being replacement of the engine, transmission, transfer case, and associated soft plumbing. Hopefully this would give the old girl (Exp) another 80k+ miles of life.
Has anyone under gone this type of project, of have any pros/cons regarding the idea?

 

[rtbrjason]

I've got a 99 that I love with about 137k on it now. I had some oil leaks from the heads over the manifolds as well as rotted manifolds with missing bolts etc. I was getting sick of the oil hitting the exhaust manifold and smoking so despite the fact that it still ran great, I had all the gaskets replaced from the heads up. While I was at it I also did timing components, water pump, alternator, manifolds and a few other misc items. I thought it was well worth it and plan on putting another 120k on this vehicle.

I don't think a newer Epxy will have the same feel as the 1st gen but it might be worth going out and driving a couple and then making a decision.

 

[mconner]

Hi RT, Did you do the work with the engine in the bay, or did you pull? I hear you about the rotted exhaust work, decided to install my headers when I found all the broken bolts... Never want to do that type of work again with the engine in place.
Merritt

 

[rtbrjason]

Friend of mine that owns a shop did that work since it's a bit more than I can pull off in my townhouse. He did it all with the engine in place though. Just started taking it apart from the top down. We cleaned up all the parts while they were out and it was nice to see cross hatching marks and reasonably clean piston tops once the heads were out.

 

[alaskanexpy]

i think when you get to this point its a good time to look over the condition of the body,frame and interior before investing in the drive train. Then decide if its time to rebuild or replace it with something newer.

 

[tonydiv]

It was always my plan (until I ended up selling) that I would do a rebuild on my truck to refresh everything and get some more power. That decision was made because the truck was in fantastic condition and had so many mods that I'd never be able to buy another one like it. If your truck is basically stock, you could probably find one that already has a rebuilt motor and trans for less than it would cost to rebuild yours.