Ok guys, I am green... by that I mean that I've never had a vehicle that broke down, so I'm not familiar with costs, on average, for different jobs. This is my second Ford, I previously owned a 88 Bronco II, that was basically ruined by Hurricane Katrina.
Anyway, I posted earlier about my truck cutting out after reving it up, and a bad vibration at about 35 - 45 Mph.
It is an 92 F150 EFI, 302 5.0.
Well, what I saw at the shop today was disturbing. the driver side rear piston head was destroyed. My motor needs a complete over-haul. Here in Houston, there is a place that does all the work on my families vehicles, so I took it there. He seemshonest, and has a decent reputation. He is A.S.E. certified.
He wants to charge me 2500 dollars. Everything...labor, parts, kit, cam, water pump, everything. Guaranteed.
What do you guys think, and please understand that I don't know anyone that can do it in my garage, or that can come over and knowlegably pull a motor out, then rebuild it.
Replys welcome

 

How much of a warrenty is he willing to give you on that rebuilt motor?

 

do you want a brand new motor? my point being, how long are you going to have this truck? maybe pick up a junkyard motor and have the mechanic install it? Check around on the net for the cost of a stock, rebuilt 302.

I'd find out how much he'll charge you to remove and install another engine, no rebuild. Worst case, you know the problem now...ask another mechanic in your area how much he'd charge for the rebuild.

 

2500 isnt bad at all. but i like the wrecking yard idea to. i did that for my 5.8 swap into my bronco. found a good motor complete for $800 with 80,000 miles on it.

 

I have seen 302 rebuilds going for as low as 1800 including labor. They used (supposedly) quality parts for the rebuilds, but I guess having a shop you know and trust to do the change may be worth a few bucks extra.
Nevertheless, I would give a lot of thought to the possibility of getting a junkyard engine and have the mechanic make the swap. You may end up saving a few hundreds and still having an engine that will work perfectly for another 100,000 + miles.
I have seen very good junkyard 302s going for as low as 650, some of them even including the computer and harness.
Hope this helps.

 

The 2500 price if it includes swapping efforts (i.e. labor) is not unreasonable. Rebuilt, warrantied engines are typically in the 1500-2500 range depending who rebuilt it, the warranty, and the amount of exclusions in the warranty (atk engines, jasper, motorcraft, and others).

A running junkyard engine is a good alternative. Some junkyards actually test engines (basic compression test, oil pressure test, etc), then tag the engine with the VIN and vehicle it came from, as well as record the mileage on the odometer. Then they rack them or store them inside out of the elements.

There's a couple of yards near me in NJ that do this, one is less costly (typically <450 for a complete accessorized V8 with the EFI harnesses hacked), and another yard which sells the engine in the same condition except they carefully unplug the EFI harnesses, and offer a 90 day "no questions" warranty, and typicallly charge 850-950 for a completely accessorized V8. The no questions warranty of the second place does not include labor. You pick up the engine, and you bring it back if there is a serious problem.

I've bought a few engines this way, and saved a ton of money. I always tear into the engine to replace the block plugs and the gaskets, so I'd in theory only have to do that kind of work once for many miles/years.

The last engine I bought from the cheaper place has almost 80K on the engine, plus the 130k that's on the car itself.

 

I will have spent $2000 just on parts and shop work. $2500 for everything is pretty good as long as he stands behind it.

Mike

 

Thats what I thought...He even explained what the machine shop charges, and the cost of all the parts.

Thanks...I just wanted to be reassured spending that kinda money...as I'ma broke college student.

 

i would opt for a reman engine. he is going to do a rebuild. not near the same thing. i bet they don't even do a 3 angle valve job on the heads.

 

I'd also like to say, guys, all of you are awesome. I'm new to the site, and I now come on everyday. Thanks a bunch for all the feedback. I'm going to go ahead with the rebuild...I feel a little safer knowing this guy will do a comlete job, and back it up.

I'll post pics and stuff as soon is I get it out.

 

i still think you are going about this the wrong way. consider a reman engine.

 

remans arent always the ticket. I would rather have my own block rebuilt then get a reman. you never truely know what they put in them for parts.

 

I would buy a junkyard engine, except in his case he can't do it himself. I know that a lot of mechanics are touchy about swapping engines for you, because of the quality. When they put an engine in, they don't know how good it is and they can't really offer a warranty so they tend to charge high prices.

Good luck with it, and how many miles did that block have on it?

 

163K...but it sat up for over a year, and had bad exhaust problems...so noone could tell that there was such a bad problem. Then to top it all off, I drove it for 4000 miles with a small problem....it turned into the monster problem I have now

 

other than pulling the engine how much work is it to rebuild your own engine ? could the average person do this by using a manual I have an 88 F250 with 173k on a 351 which I know I will have to do something to it within the next year . The truck still looks good and I use it for work everyday and with the price of new ones I would rather keep drving this one.