Will general metal recyclers normally take aluminum cylinder heads/timing covers, iron block, pistons/con rods etc? Have an old Caravan engine that I thought would be fun to take apart and make go away, plus I have other metal to recycle anyway.
I try to separate things, but the pistons/con rods might be a challenge........
I know metal recyclers have certain requirements etc. Thanks for general tips?
Recycling scrap engine parts
- Thread starter oilboy123
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here you must pull the oil pan and valvecovers
here, mixed metals are ok, but like chris said, the oil pan and valve covers come off. I think this prevents oil getting everywhere at the recycle yard.
call each one and ask. I have to say today I was really spoiled by http://www.allamericanrecycle.com/ when i brought in 2 engines, a tranny, and a couple mowers. one engine was together, the other was a subaru which was in pieces.
they had an army of guys who picked through everything, sorted everything, and i came out with twice as much cash as i expected (but less than half of what i deserve!)
The ones around me will. As long as it is drained of all fluids and you remove any and all plastic components.
Well I have the heads off...... I was going to pull the oil pan,crank, and pistons. This was a motor that died from sludge.
Curious about what the bottom end looks like.
Kestas
Staff member
Just so you know, iron is somewhat of a "poison" in the aluminum waste stream. Theoretically, the more ferrous bits you can remove, the more money you should get for the aluminum parts. I imagine that in practise, they probably chop up the aluminum and separate the ferrous bits with a magnet.
So how does things like piston/con rods, and aluminum/steel parts on heads etc get recycled?
Does a recycler just turn them in and they get mulched up in a machine, and separated with a magnet?
If the heads are any good I'd throw 'em on ebay. Can always scrap them later if they don't sell. See if ebay has a "no sell, no pay" option for listing, I think they do.
Apparently a "clean" aluminum rim (20 lbs) is worth around $15, FWIW. I traded two rims and a dead saturn motor for two used tires, I probably good snookered but it cleaned out my garage.
The last time I worked with scrap engines, the metal recycles offered use a case of beer for each dead engine. 1 was an aluminum block and iron head engine (Nissan Sentra 1.8) and the other one was an iron block with aluminum head (VW 2.slow).
What I always wondered when recycling engines was what would happen to copper and lead engine parts.
Originally Posted By: artificialist
What I always wondered when recycling engines was what would happen to copper and lead engine parts.
tear it down and separate it into iron/steel and aluminum parts. If you bring it in mixed you will get a mixed rate. It's worth more separated.
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