Does anyone know if, with these thrust bearings going bad, damage could have been caused to the pistons, connecting rods, bearings, and/or cylinder walls? Is it likely? The truck seemed to be running good aside from the noise it was making.

 

$800 to change the rear main seal? Holy crap, I didn't know that was the going rate for a rear main change. I will admit its time consuming but the first one I did took a couple of hours, you should find a new mechanic. The rear main seal is $10 at the most, looks like they charged you $395 and hour and there is no other parts needed unless they changed the oil when they were done. Man, thats bad.

What exactly was the sound?

 

your crank needs to be turned most likely. new bearings maybe new rod bearings. that is it probably

 

Correction. It was $700 -- but I'm sure that's still bad based on your reaction. $800 was the total including some other work. It did include a loaner car for 3 days though.

I've called a few places, and here are my choices now: Reman for $3700 (Ford), $3000 (NECO), or $2445 (JASPER); rebuild for $2300; repair for $1800 or $1500. I think I need to decide if I'm going to keep it or not in order to decide which to go with.

Warranties on the remans are: For the $3700 - a 3-year, 36,000 mile; for the $3,000 - a 5-year, 100,000 mile warranty; for the $2445 - a 3-year 75,000 mile. The $3700 reman is pretty much out of the picture. The $3000 includes pick up and delivery which saves me about $150.

 

Well if you want an outside opinion, then I will throw it once again. If the truck is in the condition you claim it is and plan on keeping it, then I would say its worth it, main thing is it worth it to you.

The $2445 3 year 75,000 sound like a winner to me, jasper is pretty well known, I have heard bad things but more good. These include installation, correct?

Or you could look at it like this, if you repaired it for $1800 and it lasted a year it would still be worth it as compared to a cheap car payment of $200/month, which might be hard to find on a solid, clean 1994 truck. Thats how I see it anyway. later and good luck

 

I had the same problem you did. Fine one day, next i lost oil but couldnt find where. Noise on right side of engine then the noise came from the oil pan. I asked a guy from a parts store (he also races) and he told me my crankshaft was bad. Well, I drove it for about a week and a half and it finally died quietly. Now Im looking for a new engine. What happened? It was either the cold minnesota weather warped the crankshaft or I just lost my oil pump (no pressure). Check the crankshaft pully when the truck is running and see if it shakes. Or does the truck not run?

 

I went to the shop today. With a large screwdriver, the mechanic showed me how he could get the crankshaft to slide back and forth about 1/2". It's only supposed to move thousands of an inch, isn't it?

 

Yes

 

.004 to .008

 

I'm curious. Did you get your truck fixed by NECO? Who did you get it fixed with? How did it go?
This forum caught my eye, as my son's FordF150/2wd just blew and froze up, too, just 32 miles after a Jiffy Lube oil change in Oak Harbor, Wa. I've checked out NECO's price for him (he's in Navy, no internet access), but when I went searching for some more info on their reputation and such, I've found some bad things about them. Hmmm...trying to post here to see if there's any good. I especially don't like the time they seem to have it in the shop...sometimes months more than what the customers were told. Hmmm...

 

Yes, I had it fixed. NECO maintains contracts with shops. You buy the engine from NECO, and then NECO gives you the number to one of their contracted shops for the install. Then NECO ships the engine to that shop. So insist that NECO give you the name of the shop you will be dealing with so that you can check them out as well.

Although I've had to be gentle with the engine over its first 600 miles (which I just met yesterday), so far it seems very solid. I'm disappointed with a couple of things, however.

First, I had to have my vehicle towed twice; once on my own, and once through NECO. Now I've noticed that both bumpers are very slightly bent upwards, but because I wasn't able to observe either hook-up, I have no idea who did what. So BE THERE WHEN IT'S TOWED!

Second, the tow truck company was a nightmare. They are also contracted out, and I know they are getting well under the going rate, so they're probably not very anxious to do tows for them (towing to the shop is included in the price). They put me off for several hours, but kept telling me they were on their way. I think this was because they knew I was safe at home and my truck was some place else, so they knew I wasn't "waiting" per se on them. If it's sitting at your house, who cares?

Third, I seemed to have a billing discrepancy and getting to the bottom of it was mildly difficult. In the end, it turned out that there was not a discrepancy - it was just difficult to figure that out because of the way the receipts were written. You will get two receipts, one from NECO and one from the shop that does the install. Or at least you should.

Fourth, I STILL have not received a hard copy of the receipt from NECO. I've called about it several times, and the last time I called (February 13), I was told that it was being mailed THAT DAY. I insisted that they fax a copy to me as well, and the faxed one came immediately, but I STILL have not received the hard copy. I will take up that issue on the customer satisfaction survey I have yet to fill out and return. On the other hand, they had no problem sending out warranty papers.

Fifth, there is now a very small dent on one of the "bed rails" that wasn't there before about the size of half a penny. When I pointed it out to the contracted shop, of course, they had no idea how it got there. The shop itself was kind of a dump, so it wouldn't surprise me if someone there was irresponsible and tapped the engine against it as they were moving it in or out of the garage bay, but who knows. It seems that the install was under the going rate as well, so NECO probably tells these shops, "This is what we'll pay you to do the installs, take it or leave it." Incidentally, my shop had no BBB rating.

As for completion time, it was delivered to their shop late at night, well after hours (thanks to the towing company), on Dec. 19 (a Friday). The following Monday, the 22nd, they informed me of the few extra recommended parts (2 motor mounts, platinum plugs, water pump (had never been replaced during 107,000 miles), cap, rotor, wires, and upper and lower radiator hoses - I okayed everything but the upper radiator hose because I had just changed it two month prior). So that would SEEM to indicate that the old engine had been removed already. I can't recall exactly when I was told it would be ready because I was in no hurry since I had another vehicle, and it was over the holidays, so I can't beat them up over that at all. In fact, they insisted that it be ready before I could even pick it up, so perhaps they are addressing that issue.

If I had it to do over again, although the warranty on the Jasper engine wasn't as good, I would probably try them out since it was $500 less, and their shop was much closer to my house. On the other hand, I might use NECO again if their shop was closest, but I would have it done at a time when I could be much more attentive. For instance, I would make sure I could be there when my vehcile was being hooked up and maybe even unhooked from the tow truck (probably a good idea regardless of who does the job). I would pick it up on THE day it was ready so it would be in my safe posession rather than their contracted shop's.

For what it's worth, I checked the BBB beforehand as well. One NECO business had some negitives, but the one I dealt with had a positive rating. Look up "NECO engine" as opposed to "NECO engines". I dealt with the one under "NECO engine" in Manchester. Good luck.

 

Ok. Well, thanks for the info. Not sure what part of the country you're in, but my son's in northwest Washington. (it's his truck that needs the engine.) If he does do it with NECO, I will make sure that he or I check the shop out. (like I said, he has no internet access.)
Keep this forum posted, if you would, of any further developments. Especially if you have to exercise your warranty. People mostly post the bad stuff, so, of course, that's the end of it I've seen online...though then there were a few positive notes from others to disagree with the original complaint.
Thanks so much for all the info. Hope everything goes well.

 

Glad you had a fairly good experience. Good luck in the future