Re: O/T - 98 Cadillac engine shot - what next ??

Posted by trucker 40 on August 09, 2011 at 20:24:59 from (69.152.33.69):

In Reply to: Re: O/T - 98 Cadillac engine shot - what next ?? posted by MarkB_MI on August 09, 2011 at 17:15:21:

Well first off Im a mechanic not a geek.I dont even know what a carriage key is.I was in typing class for less than an hour and switched to art in high school.Dont regret it at all.Next is that big junkyards will have engines in a warehouse.They will have a story with them like this engine was in a car that had 80,000 miles on it and was running good and tested good compression when we pulled it.Just to see I even looked and for the same year as his car they have one for 1800 dollars.
I bought a car one time and drove it a short distance and it blew a headgasket.It was a dual overhead cam 4.6 in a Lincoln Mark VIII.I looked on the internet,found a big junkyard in Kansas City.They didnt have one that was what I was looking for,but on the internet they have where they can look at other yards for parts found a low mileage 4.6 out of Texas for 800 dollars.I got it for 880 dollars after they shipped it up here.Put it in and it ran excellently.I had a little trouble with it missing at first,but it turned out to be the big plug in where it plugs into the firewall had a bent pin in there.Otherwise everything worked and hooked right up.It was a 1993 and my car was a 1993.
Unless you cant find an exact year engine and you probably can,I wouldnt mess with trying to use a different year engine unless I put all of the accessories off of my engine on the newer one.That would add a few more hours to the labor at the least.Id be sure to ask mechanics their opinion of doing this before I tried to change years.If I had to,I would buy the whole front off of the car,frame,dash and all, if it was newer,and change computer and wiring harness and all rather than try and use a different year engine with the older computer.Try and make them a deal to bring them back the frame my old motor and wiring harness,computer,dash, once I got it running good.
Thats what I would do.You might be right and it might be hard to find one the exact year that old,but I bet you can.Also you would want to give a little more money for an exact year plug and play engine.Id say it would be worth 2000 for that car since they wanted 1600 for a engine with heads on it and nothing else.
Of course it would have to be up to who is spending the money if they would want to spend that much or not,and if you look hard you might beat that price too.I barely even looked and found that.Serious search might get the right year and all for a lot less.Maybe get the right year for a thousand.
Ive talked to a Ford mechanic who has worked on the 4.6 dual overhead cam engine,and he told me that it was by far the best way to go in my case by swapping the whole engine rather than put head gaskets in.Like you say its not a small block Chevy.Another thing to consider is also once you pull the engine out to replace the head gaskets,by the time you get it torn down,you could have the other engine in and running and be driving it.Those dual cam things are great when they are running,but a nightmare to work on.
I wouldnt mess with any junk yard that wouldnt guarantee the engine.You know if you talk to them a little they will usually either have the stuff,or find it like that one did for me.If its hard to find it will cost more.If its too much more junking the car might be the answer too.Plus a junkyard will probably have a way of hooking something to it to make it run.Or they might have it setting in the front of a car just for that purpose.If you want to hear it running.Also you can look on the internet for engines like that and it will say runs good,and probably have a picture of it,or it might not have a picture and it will say runs,high mileage and not in very good condition,low compression.They have all kinds,the better the engine the more money.
Ive bought more than one engine from a junkyard.Ill ask them before I buy it what they think of it,or which one is the best,and they will tell you.So far I havent got a bad one yet.I mean its not a perfect test to just start it up,but if they say yeah we had it running for an hour and didnt see anything wrong with it and it didnt smoke or anything,Id think like they do that its a good engine.If they tell you that one there just will run and smokes then you go on to another yard.Or you can ask if they can find a good one close.Most of those places have a network where they can look up stuff at other yards in the network.
Ive also noticed that they will have these engines setting in the rack,and even the tag on them will tell you some about it.So they dont go through the trouble of pulling it out and putting it in the warehouse unless they think its good.Thats the best I can tell you.Of course you have all different kinds of junkyards too.If you go someplace where you have to pull it out in the middle of a yard where cars are stacked 3 high all around you,then your chances might be quite a bit worse unless you can hear it run.Of course you will pay more for the ones they have in the warehouse,but you are expecting them to have a good one in the warehouse too.

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