Aquaintance has trouble getting engine fixed ... This is sad

12 year old vehicle with a busted engine (or a tranny for that matter) is the end of the line for many owners.
Yep, especially in the rust belt. It's an interesting time because normally the customer could be convinced to just put the money they would've spent on repairs towards the down payment on something off the lot. That's hard to do with nothing on the lot.
 
Likely depends on the location & the vehicle, A decent Ford or Chevy Truck will get a engine/transmission replacement 11 out of 10 times around here!
Exactly, in the rust belt 12 years old the frame is usually badly rusted, the bed sides have no wheel wells and the cabs are rotten on the bottom (cab corners, rockers, etc. The underside of the trucks are usually all rust, fuel/brake lines, brake backing plates, drive shafts, suspension, you name it, they are gone. It would be a unicorn to find a 10-15 years old daily driver that was clean enough to warrant putting an engine in it.
I have seen Ford, Toyota and Dodge Rams broken in half at much less than that, the GM frames seem to hold up a bit longer even though the body is shot.
 
This is why I got a non-raptor 11 6.2L F150. They are pretty much indestructible, but a rare as hens teeth option. Still the standard engine on a Superduty. Trucks with that are usually absolutely fully loaded. The Ford place that state inspected it said they would be out of business if they relied on that engine for engine work :lol:. He said they have Superduties that are put away wet with 300K on that motor. The tech at Ford said he worked at Chevy and Dodge and believes the Ford 6.2L is the most reliable large Gas engine by a stretch.

Gets in the 13s city, 18s on long trips. Runs like a new truck, and it is high mileage (close to 190k). The 6R80 works even better after a fluid exchange.
 
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NYE,

This doesn't help your friend, but I think worth posting for someone in the SouthEast looking for options on major vehicle repairs.

When I have spent time in Leesville, Louisiana (FT Polk), I am always amazed by the quantity of independent mechanic shops doing offering major repairs. Most of these shops do the repairs outside, under a large canopy. These seem to be on every block. My guess is many people in the area may not be able to buy new cars, and the hourly labor for mechanics is likely around the $10-15 per hour mark. And that may be high.

I have no idea of the quality of the work in Leesville, LA area. But shops are everywhere to swap engines and transmissions.
Yeah, the guy I would take this truck to is nicknamed "Lean-to" by our delivery drivers because of how the shop looks. It is a hole in the wall, but he is very smart and detailed. His customer base is entirely word of mouth, the previous business name is still on the sign from years ago.
 
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Exactly, in the rust belt 12 years old the frame is usually badly rusted, the bed sides have no wheel wells and the cabs are rotten on the bottom (cab corners, rockers, etc. The underside of the trucks are usually all rust, fuel/brake lines, brake backing plates, drive shafts, suspension, you name it, they are gone. It would be a unicorn to find a 10-15 years old daily driver that was clean enough to warrant putting an engine in it.
I have seen Ford, Toyota and Dodge Rams broken in half at much less than that, the GM frames seem to hold up a bit longer even though the body is shot.
I had to do just that, unfortunately. I found the no-rust 20 year old vehicle I was looking for. Unfortunately ,it ended up needing an engine.

The good news for me was, there's plenty of vehicles that rust out by 100,000 miles. So low mileage engines aren't ridiculously expensive
 
$12000 for a 11 year old truck to get another 10 years out of it, or $65000 to replace it (plus a dealer upcharge)? Seems like the replacement engine is the right way to go. I'm even considering a $3500 reman transmission for my 2001 F-350 because of the cost of new trucks.
Some brands are already back to doing the $10k off msrp thing....Stellantis, cough cough.

I know how they stay in business, just not sure how people are paying for all this stuff. Maybe the economy is better than I thought... or people are just up to their eyeballs in debt.
I think you are underestimating the spending power of semi-successful middle-class families in major metropolitan areas.
 
Haven't seen the guy since the day he told me about the truck. Also haven't seen the truck at the train station so I know it isn't fixed.
 
Update... Day before yesterday I see the truck back at the train station. I wait around for a minute but the guy must be on a later train. Yesterday, I walk past it on the way to my truck and again, I don't see him. On my way down the road home, he blows past me in the right turn lane and all I can think is no wonder that thing blew up. He didn't even warm it up and now he's got it to the floor.
Long story short, it's fixed. One day our schedules will match up and I'll find out what happened.
 
Have him go talk with Pit Bull Motors in Freeport, NY. Decent shop with a lot of capability. Generally a Mercedes shop but a lot of know how.

Edit - looks like it is OBE.

I get the hesitance to do this work. My mechanic is dealing with this with the head gasket on my 1991 350SD.

I’d suspect that the better answer is a good used engine, with replacement of the timing chain when it is out.

And this is a good case for folks who think that chains last forever and never need to be replaced. No. They need to be checked for wear, damage, and actually replaced on a schedule in some cases.
 
Have him go talk with Pit Bull Motors in Freeport, NY. Decent shop with a lot of capability. Generally a Mercedes shop but a lot of know how.

Edit - looks like it is OBE.

I get the hesitance to do this work. My mechanic is dealing with this with the head gasket on my 1991 350SD.

I’d suspect that the better answer is a good used engine, with replacement of the timing chain when it is out.

And this is a good case for folks who think that chains last forever and never need to be replaced. No. They need to be checked for wear, damage, and actually replaced on a schedule in some cases.
Funny going all the way back to 1990, I bought a used Volvo 264 (the PRV V-6). It had blown head gaskets and I didn't know--I got ripped off. Was a kid. Had a used motor and tranny installed at a salvage yard, and with that the top end rebuilt, and timing chain replaced, new water pump, alternator, for $900. I just checked and that's $2,100 today, not cheap. But I drove the car 1990-1998....memories
 
Have him go talk with Pit Bull Motors in Freeport, NY. Decent shop with a lot of capability. Generally a Mercedes shop but a lot of know how.

Edit - looks like it is OBE.

I get the hesitance to do this work. My mechanic is dealing with this with the head gasket on my 1991 350SD.

I’d suspect that the better answer is a good used engine, with replacement of the timing chain when it is out.

And this is a good case for folks who think that chains last forever and never need to be replaced. No. They need to be checked for wear, damage, and actually replaced on a schedule in some cases.
Where is that line drawn between an unknown quantity and repairing what you have?
 
That's why we would just quote an engine. There is no local machine shop that I would feel comfortable even sending SBF iron heads to and have them machined properly.
This has been my recent experience. I paid a lot of money to have SBF heads refreshed with new valve. Basic valve job.
The shop installed the exhaust valve springs on the intake valves. I discovered that I could push the intake valves open about a quarter of an inch... after the engine was put together and didn't like to run above 3500 rpm. The quote to from a far more competent engine machine shop was almost the price of new aftermarket aluminum cylinder heads. Engine shop said "don't waste your money on these cast iron heads.

Sad. I remember a time where the local machine shop had competent machinists in every small town. Now, it takes a lot of investigating to find that treasured competent shop that is always busy.

It is good to DIY..
 
I finally ran into this guy and asked what happened with the truck. Conveniently, his sister or cousin or somebody married a guy who owns a machine shop. They bought a used engine, went through it, replaced the chains and whatever else looked less than perfect and swapped it themselves.
He still gets in this thing ice cold and just lays into it. Hope they don't mind doing it again someday.
 
i do a bunch of the big work no other shops want to do, mostly timing belts and clutches. there's very little competition, and I'm still a high school kid, but I'm also trying to get a job at a machine shop, because I don't know how to rebuild engines, i just swap them. all the big companies want to do the easy (profitable) jobs that people with very little training can do, so if I learn how to do the big jobs and bore/hone engines i should have plenty of business keeping old cars on the road. at some point i probably should learn how to fix hybrids/EVs but most of my customers like their old simple cars that nobody will fix.
 
If you can convince someone to let you change their timing belt, you should go into marketing. I doubt most people would let an 17 year old change their oil, letalone a job like that.
i actually don't do much marketing. my dad used to help some friends with their cars, got too busy, and told them I could do it. when I first started fixing cars for money, when I was 14, i would only charge like $200 for a timing belt, and quickly realized I could grow this business easily and make money without leaving home, working under a boss, or leaving my house. and all my customers come to me after getting quoted 1500+ by a dealership, and hearing about me from someone I've done work for. I've also never had someone come back for work I've messed up on. i generally wouldn't recommend having a high school kid do your timing belt either.

the hardest thing is to convince people to check their coolant. most people know to check their oil, but don't know about all the other things that you should check, and things like power steering and transmissions rarely leak or quit without giving obvious signs first. but water slowly evaporates and old plastic radiators leak, and people don't care until their coolant temp light comes on or the gauge is well into the red area. half the time it's just never been checked or topped off, we put some water in it and send them on their way.
 
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