2003 cadillac 2wd to AWD

ok i have a 2003 Cadillac escalade,5.3 2WD awesome body and paint, zero rust,

recently have a bad misfire, which might turned out to be bad cylinder. not sure yet. havent got time to check,

worst case it turns out that i will need a new engine. or do the head. it has about 256k miles on it,

now i own a 2002 gmc yukon denali AWD. 6.0, i stopped driving it about a year ago, because its rusted out, i was going to fix it, but rust is so bad its everywhere, even the drivers floor is gone,.


how hard? is it possible?

swap engines form yukon denali to the escalade?

transmission? front and rear diff???

Engine and tranny are dimensionally the same and will swap right in. 6.0L along with its PCM will need to be moved to the 2003. Rear diff and axle housing is a direct swap in. The front diff is i believe a little trickier because of mounts on passenger side. I believe the AWD/4WD frame is different vs the 2wd frame, atleast on the front end. You may run into some wiring differences and will have to move the TCASE and associated wiring harness and controller over to the 2003.
Its not going to be a weekend job, thats for sure.

Dan2002 said:

ok i have a 2003 Cadillac escalade,5.3 2WD awesome body and paint, zero rust,

recently have a bad misfire, which might turned out to be bad cylinder. not sure yet. havent got time to check,

worst case it turns out that i will need a new engine. or do the head. it has about 256k miles on it,

now i own a 2002 gmc yukon denali AWD. 6.0, i stopped driving it about a year ago, because its rusted out, i was going to fix it, but rust is so bad its everywhere, even the drivers floor is gone,.


how hard? is it possible?

swap engines form yukon denali to the escalade?

transmission? front and rear diff???

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I have no experience in this swap. My thoughts would be ECM, BCM, and TCM. The dash module (instrument cluster) also changed between 2002 and 2003. I'm not sure how they interface or their compatibility. If you are in an emissions sensitive (like CA), you are not allowed to put an older engine in a newer car. The model year of 2002 to 2003 transition had many changes. DBC and DBW TB also comes to mind. It would be much easier to do this between a 2001 and 2002, or a 2003 and 2004 for example.

another idea i have is to sell this 6.0 since many people look for LS swap . and buy a 5.3 with lower mileage for the cadillac?

Dan2002 said:

another idea i have is to sell this 6.0 since many people look for LS swap . and buy a 5.3 with lower mileage for the cadillac?

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Its going to be very hard to find a pre 2007 5.3L with low mileage. Im sure some grandpa may have one sitting in the drive used only to goto church on sundays and breakfast locally during the week but they are few and far between. In 2007 GM went to a higher count reluctor wheel for more precise ignition timing and the PCM for it is different from yours. They do make an aftermarket adaptor to marry the the old with the new but is it worth it??? Youd really be better off just buying a rebuilt long block 5.3L for yours and stick it in there or maybe have yours rebuilt locally. Shop around. Your 6.0L sold will help pay for your rebuilt 5.3L. The BW Tcase of your AWD is worth something too. Id part it all out instead of letting it sit there collecting dust. Just depends on what your future plans for the rusting heap are. You have choices and directions you can take.

Dan2002 said:

... have a 2003 Cadillac Escalade, 5.3L ...

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Dan2002 said:

... own a 2002 gmc yukon denali AWD, 6.0L, i stopped driving it about a year ago, because its rusted out ...

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Put the 6.0L in the Escalade where it belongs, gottdamnt.