What would you do?

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magnumdust

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Went over to my buddy's shop to give him the heads up that my heads/cam were gonna be here soon and now he is trying to tell me i should have a local machine shop go through my 5.9 magnum. The engine has 73k. His concern is that there is sludge in the valve covers a decent bit of carbon build up in the cylinders. pics:
 

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Depends on how the compression is, Given it's a magnum, fuel injected with only 73k, I wouldn't expect it'd need to be bored. Just take it down, clean up the pistons, dingleberry hone the cylinders, rings, bearings, put it together again. Though that carbon buildup is kinda troubling, I doubt it should need any major machine work.
 
Yeah, that's an engine that hasn;t had regular oil changes and some miles. If you are planning to go long term, then you may want to rebuild it. I'm sure it will run that way. But the crud on the cover and piston tell me there's some ring wear at minimum.
 
Mine had a good 125K on it & it was alot cleaner then that, tear it down & freshen it up, give the block a good cleaning.
 
Then run it..... Use a oil with a crazy detergent like DELO400, and change it every 500 miles for a while, and drive it until it dies....

Or, tear it down and re-ring it.

Me thinks that thing had 3 oil changes in 73,000 miles...... and the 73,000 miles was put on a mile at a time!
 
pull the pan and jet wash both pan and valve covers.

then put it back together after a lil wd-40 and rag treatment to the piston tops and shop vac debris out.

it's either low buck or mo buck
 
That sucks man. Mine had 80K and looked lots better than that.

Compare the price of going through it with the cost of getting another one from a yard.

If you get another one, take the valve covers off before you buy. The gaskets are reusable anyway.

Steve
 
LXguy said:
That sucks man. Mine had 80K and looked lots better than that.

Compare the price of going through it with the cost of getting another one from a yard.

If you get another one, take the valve covers off before you buy. The gaskets are reusable anyway.

Steve
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well the basic estimate i got from my friend was $650, although i kind of expect it to cost more.

Anyhow, first thing tomorrow i'm calling up the wrecker about this, and when i get what i expect to be the inevitable "tough ****", i'm gonna write them a **** review on a few websites w/ these pics and likely put in a complaint with the BBB.
 
dodgetkboy78 said:
Dude, it's a used motor, suck it up and deal.
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So used = ok to sell people junk??

Screw that, i bought the engine after the guy said bluntly "its a good one". At the very least i'm gonna give them the appropriate amount of grief that they're causing me.
 
magnumdust said:
well the basic estimate i got from my friend was $650, although i kind of expect it to cost more.

Anyhow, first thing tomorrow i'm calling up the wrecker about this, and when i get what i expect to be the inevitable "tough ****", i'm gonna write them a **** review on a few websites w/ these pics and likely put in a complaint with the BBB.
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If you got this Magnum from a wrecker I'd find it hard to believe that he'd take the blame for not knowing that the previous owner was allergic to oil changes. Unless of course the wrecker was the previous owner but not likely. That engine probably ran fine before they pulled it, it was probably just down a bit on HP. Strip her down clean her up, new rings and quickey hone, new crank and rod shells and she's good for another 100K if you change the oil more than twice. Suck it up, you pays your money and you takes your chances.:-&
 
That's just how things go man, You have to remember, you bought it from a wrecking yard, there's a REASON it was in the wrecking yard and not on a used car lot. There's no point in trying to complain about a company that sells broken stuff for having sold you some broken stuff.

Just remember to pull it apart before you take it home next time.

If re-ringing it is out of the question, I'd agree with Wild&crazy, WD40 and a brillo pad to the pistons, shop vac out what you can, rinse out the rest with brake cleaner, squirt a generous amount of assembly lube or 50+ weight oil around the edges of the pistons, and turn the motor over a couple of times to get it all over the rings. Put it back together, run a heavier, high-mileage oil and maybe even a bottle of lucas. Should run fine.

I know alot of mustang guys prefer to pull half-blown motors out of the junkyard, clean up the carbon deposits, build 'em, Put in heavy racing oil, and race 'em. They don't last, but it's cheaper and easier than actually going through a motor.
 
I agree with the above. It may have been a good running motor. But a salvage yard can't tell what it looks like on the inside. If the car is worth it rebuild it, if it's not clean it up and run it.
 
demon seed said:
Strip her down clean her up, new rings and quickey hone, new crank and rod shells and she's good for another 100K if you change the oil more than twice.
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Well at this point that's where i'm at with. Still it just pisses me off and honestly i might as well try calling them. Worse thing that happens is that i am back where i'm at now.
 
Except they are laughing at you.........

Save yourself the embarrassment, and just deal.

Clean it up, or re-ring it, no use being a plonker calling the wrecking yard griping about a motor that ran fine and had sludge..........
 
Magnumdust, its hard to get mad at a wrecking yard, its a 50/50 when buying something, I'm sure it ran "fine" when they got it, they don't tear into them to see how clean they are, they went by the mileage, just suck it up & freshen it up, The game will play will "ALLWAYS" be a money pit! No getting around that.
 
Any time that I buy a motor, I consider it a core until I tear it down. That way there is not much disappointment when it turns out like yours. I don't care if the guy claims what it was rebuilt 500 miles ago. Getting upset about this is kind of silly.
 
good advice wild&crazy and baddart....put a quart of transmission fluid in it for the first two oil changes will clean her right up
 
Were the heads cracked on this? Call them, you might be surprised.

Heads were cracked on mine, yard gave me a couple hundred bucks back. Said they didn't want to exchange because it was likely the replacements would be cracked too.I just put the money toward the Iron Rams

Maybe they would swap you for a different one?

Steve
 
Dude, I'm a dealer tech and I've seen a lot worse put back together and they are fine. I'm sure my own 433,000 mile 5.2 looks worse than that, been rode hard and put up wet all it's life. I'm sure the heads are cracked too, it's been severely overheated on several occasions.

Clean it up and run it, should be fine. You can always go through it later.
 
LXguy said:
Were the heads cracked on this? Call them, you might be surprised.

Heads were cracked on mine, yard gave me a couple hundred bucks back. Said they didn't want to exchange because it was likely the replacements would be cracked too.I just put the money toward the Iron Rams

Maybe they would swap you for a different one?

Steve
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Well as it turns out i was surprised. I called them up, gave them the info that it had sludge in the valve covers, the huge amount of carbon build up, and that 1 cylinder had rust in it.

The first clerk immediately passed me to what i have to assume is his supervisor. I explained the situation again, and the guy said even though the 30day warranty was up and he might catch some flak from his supervisor, if i brought it down they would exchange it.

So i did, and they let me have a quick look at the motor they have. no sludge on the valve covers was all i could really determine right there and then. And my mechanic friend is gonna roll up there with me when they get the engine out of the truck to check it out on site.
 
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