Rebuild, repower, or just replace?

[Franklin Jones]

Hay all -
Some friends of mine have a 12 limited EL with 160k or so.

Problem is that he drove it with no oil. “Something” happened and all the oil “drained out” while he was driving it. Did he pull over when the oil light came on? Nope. Drove it till it died.

The next day, I got it to turn over and even run with fresh oil, but once it was up to temp it dropped oil pressure and had all the warning lights come back.

Took it to my favorite shop and - without tearing into it - they diagnosed it as a bad motor and quoted “somewhere between 7500 and 8000” for a new engine. I can confirm that when I checked the oil I added, it was full of flakes so there’s definitely internal damage.

So here’s the question - without knowing anything else, would you rebuild the existing engine, replace with a used engine, or just throw the whole truck away?

(Btw - transmission is original, not rebuilt. Tires, body, interior, all in good shape. Frame is good, not rusted, never wrecked, etc. overall a good truck, Just has a bad motor.)

 

[Hamfisted]

Stupid should hurt... I imagine the rest of the Expy was treated the same way. Let 'em buy a new truck.

 

[Franklin Jones]

Stupid should hurt... I imagine the rest of the Expy was treated the same way. Let 'em buy a new truck.

Oh, they did. Bought a Toyota Highlander. Now they’re trying to figure out what to do with the Expy - repair it for a second vehicle, or sell it for parts/scrap.

The shop’s quote of $8k is … absurd. But we can find a different shop to put in an engine or rebuild it if it’s worthwhile.

 

[timo482]

8 is not off for a ford replace engine with labor.. they have a warranty.. but just a cheap replace yourself could be 4k or possibly less if you use used parts.. still stupid should really hurt.. that said, i know somebody who has been incapable of checking anything and signed up for a place that would bring gas when they ran out - literally burned up three cars before they retired - simply could not check anything.. and would do no repair until the car would not move. sigh. when i was just out of high school the first car they had me look at they thought just needed some "fixing" it ran out of oil and extruded the bearings - they were sooooo upset it was the car they took there kids to school in. had me put a junkyard engine in it for them.. ran perfect - lit it on fire a year later, it developed a oil leak and they simply could not be bothered to have it looked at, just dumped cat litter on the floor every day. got stuck in traffic when it was really hot out and ****. there was a gas station a block away that did full service - they refused to do full service because it cost more.. when the car started smoking they did full service and thought that the leak should be included - called me up to complain, i had moved out of state by then.. thank goodness.

 

[Franklin Jones]

Does anyone think there’s any point in trying to rebuild the existing engine?

 

[mjp2]

Does anyone think there’s any point in trying to rebuild the existing engine?

Definitely not. Remanufactured would be the way to go, and a quick search shows a Promar 5.4 coming in around $3200 with the oil pump upgraded and the usual stuff. That will be my approach if the time comes.

Of concern would be maintenance, or lack thereof, on the rest of the truck. A maintained truck is worth of a replacement engine, but one that's been neglected is going to need a host of other items replaced, possibly up to and including the transmission. The owner has to decide what the vehicle is worth to them.