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Replacement Engine

pearsonbe

Active Member
Joined
January 26, 2005
Messages
87
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City, State
Maryland
Year, Model & Trim Level
91 XLT
I'm on the fence about buying a used or remanufactured engine and could use some help deciding. What are my chances of finding one in good condition with relatively low miles? Is it worth the risk?

I have a '91 with an automatic transmission and it currently has about 196k on the odometer. The engine has a slow oil leak, low power, a slight miss, and is a little hard to start cold.

Thanks
 



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Your engine sounds just fine ! Many leak, have low power and the slight miss a tune up mite fix...But if you want to replace it..
Ask a fortune teller. Unless you hear the engine running, run some tests on it and know the mileage, you just can't tell...Depending on how deep your pockets are a reman would be the best bet...
A friend of mine bought a used engine from a yard with a 90 day waranty...Put the engine in and it was crap....oh boy a warranty...yeah but he had to pull it all over again !
 






Or see about the cost of a minor re-build on your engine ??? At least you know how yours has been looked after ! BN
 






i say rebuild. you dont know how that replacment enging was treated. you DO know however what parts were put in to your rebuilt engine. and BTW, ohv engines arent power monsters, nor will they ever be. the price we pay.... :)
 






You can still find first gens with decent engines that you could buy and pull, but those with low miles are few and far between, and if you find such a monster, you might find it easier to just use the whole vehicle instead of pulling the motor and putting it in your '91.

It's also worth noting that ALL OHV Explorer motors have similar issues, so even a lower mileage one will eventually need some stuff to improve these. Most common are worn rocker arms, pushrods, leaky lower intake gaskets, and sometimes even cracked heads and manifolds, especially on '91-92 models.

If you can pinpoint the oil leak on yours (head gasket, valve cover gasket, rear main seal, something else?) you can get a better idea of what you have to look at for repairs in terms of refreshing the current motor over buying something else to drop in.

It also depends on the shape of the current engine and what you know about it. If you bought it new and took care of it for those 196,000 miles, you might be better off throwing a few hundred in parts at it, which might make it last another 200K and beyond.

To give you a general idea of what you'd be looking at for a refresh, you'd spend about $400 on new heads ($200 ea), $200 on new rocker assemblies, $50 on pushrods, and $100-200 on gaskets, and then maybe another $100 for tune up materials like plugs, maybe new wires, etc. and then new hoses and belts. Maybe somewhere around $1000, and you've essentially fixed it up to better than new shape and taken care of the current and most possible future issues. Compare that to a rebuilt engine for $2000+ and it's a pretty good deal, though if you can find a rebuilt motor with a decent warranty for closer to $1000, you might seriously consider it. My experience with most rebuilts is they tend to do the cheesy repairs on wear items like the rockers, rather than replace them, which makes even a rebuilt questionable unless you can find out for sure they use new parts for such things.

It's your ride and it's up to you, so you'll have to decide what you're wanting to do, how much you want to keep it, and what you're willing to spend on it. If you can do the work yourself, just this basic refresh, or even a full rebuild can be very much worth it, if you can afford the down time, or even locate a motor to use in the meantime while you're rebuilding yours, or you could even rebuild another motor and then change it out. Overall I'd say spending $1000 or even more isn't too shabby if you plan on keeping it, at least compared to the expense of buying a whole new vehicle, or even a used one.
 






Thanks for the replies. Years ago I helped my father put a junk yard motor in an old Honda and it immediately burned oil like crazy. He was pissed. So, I wouldn't consider one from a source I didn't trust.

I really like the truck, but $2000 for a basic re-manufactured engine would blow my budget this year for my other projects and it's getting to the point that I avoid driving it unless I have to. I am not the original owner, but there are signs the engine was well maintained. Many of the maintenance receipts were in the glove compartment. It has a nice idle and runs good until I need to accelerate or pass.

It sounds like I wouldn't be much happier with another used engine. Where's the best place to get parts or a kit for a rebuild? I would probably start with another motor and do the rebuild myself. The master rebuild kits I've seen aren't cheap and don't include new rockers or push-rods. Ford probably has those. What are the options for performance parts? Summit has camshafts, pistons (regular dish I think), rings, and bearings.

In the meantime, what can I do to help the current motor make more power? Is it worthwhile to invest in a set of full-length headers, intake, catalytic converter, or muffler?
 






Delta Cams makes a perfect set of replacement rockers and the kit comes with push rods for $200 + $40 core charge.

Headers are not worth it on the 4.0 IMO. A high flow cat back exhaust is worth it.
 












What about finding a "newer" model OHV motor from a later model X.... I've seen them up to 97-??? (unsure of exact year they stopped) and then swapping over your year models sensors to ensure the computer and sensors are kosher?

Just a thought.

Who knows maybe you could find a low mileage total loss truck or a severe rusty x that got sent to the scrap yard..... granted like it was already said not everyone treats their vehicles the same.
 






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