1999 Tahoe 5.7L 350 engine

[east302]

Not sure if the 350 is an interference engine (pistons can hit the valves) but don't think that it is. Ask your guy. His thought on a compression test is valid in that it'll tell you if you have piston or valve issues, but I'd want to know where the nut came from. That is, is something in there broken and shedding parts?

Did it fall off the oil pump/deflector plate, fall down through the distributor opening when the engine was installed, is the distributor gear ok...?

It's probably a safe bet that the manufacturer will not honor a warranty claim on this unless it is obvious or can be shown that the nut came from some failed internal component. Pulling the oil pan and having a look to see if anything is missing would probably be a good first step.

Cost for replacing the timing chain and gears? Book time is probably four or five hours, so at $80 or so per hour of labor you're at around $400. Add a timing cover, chain, gears, coolant and oil change you're probably at $150 in parts if you do it yourself. A shop will mark it up, so maybe $300 in materials for a total of $700-$800 or so?

A new crate engine installed is probably in the $4000 neighborhood. You could maybe save $1000 or so by using a salvage yard engine.

Sorry.

 

[HowardDog]

Not sure if the 350 is an interference engine (pistons can hit the valves) but don't think that it is. Ask your guy. His thought on a compression test is valid in that it'll tell you if you have piston or valve issues, but I'd want to know where the nut came from. That is, is something in there broken and shedding parts?

Did it fall off the oil pump/deflector plate, fall down through the distributor opening when the engine was installed, is the distributor gear ok...?

It's probably a safe bet that the manufacturer will not honor a warranty claim on this unless it is obvious or can be shown that the nut came from some failed internal component. Pulling the oil pan and having a look to see if anything is missing would probably be a good first step.

Cost for replacing the timing chain and gears? Book time is probably four or five hours, so at $80 or so per hour of labor you're at around $400. Add a timing cover, chain, gears, coolant and oil change you're probably at $150 in parts if you do it yourself. A shop will mark it up, so maybe $300 in materials for a total of $700-$800 or so?

A new crate engine installed is probably in the $4000 neighborhood. You could maybe save $1000 or so by using a salvage yard engine.

Sorry.

Thanks for the reply.

I'm not sure what I will do. The tahoe is in great shape. I don't think anyone rode in the back seats until I bought it. I guess I could just try and salvage what I can out of it.

 

[willxfs]

Sorry to hear of this crappy situation your in. No good at all. I hope it works out with just a timing chain/ gear change and oil pan drop for inspection. Keep us posted on how it works out. I'm curious as to where that nut came from. I've dropped the oil pan on my tahoe 3 times in the last year (after rebuilt engine install) and cant really see how a nut could make its way in from the oil pan to the front timing cover. Interesting situation for sure. Still sucks though.... Best of luck.

 

[HowardDog]

Sorry to hear of this crappy situation your in. No good at all. I hope it works out with just a timing chain/ gear change and oil pan drop for inspection. Keep us posted on how it works out. I'm curious as to where that nut came from. I've dropped the oil pan on my tahoe 3 times in the last year (after rebuilt engine install) and cant really see how a nut could make its way in from the oil pan to the front timing cover. Interesting situation for sure. Still sucks though.... Best of luck.

Thanks.

I'm waiting to hear back from Power Torque, they said they were calling the O Reilly store I bought the engine from to get more information but the warranty does not transfer to new owners. (I bought the Tahoe right after the new engine)

My next step is to talk to my mechanic about the timing chain/gear and see if he thinks it is worth it.

 

[HowardDog]

Update: He went ahead and replaced the timing chain and gear and checked the compression. He said it was good at 125?

Next step is the drop the oil pan and clean it out and check the oil pump. Replace the timing cover and fire it up. He said hopefully there won't be any knocking.

I sure hope not because he said it's going to cost me around $800-$1k to do what he needs to do just to crank the engine and listen to it.

 

[OR VietVet]

I would ask why a picture of the problem could not be sent to get the ball rolling. The engine came with the timing chain but likely no timing cover. If it came with the timing cover then it came with the oil pan, I would bet on that. But it likely came only with the timing chain and the timing cover and oil pan were swapped from old engine to the new engine. Any bolt will fall. It is gravity for crimeny sake. The only bolt that could get in "there" at the timing gears/chain area would be a bolt that holds the gear on. If the bolt in "there" is somewhere else, then where is that bolt at that got in "there"? That "mechanic" should be able to tell you either he can see the bolt or not see it and if can see it, then where is that bolt at? I can't stand general terms like that from a tech. If that tech has removed the timing cover he should be able to tell you, easily, if the crank and cam are locked for any reason.

Ok, well you posted the latest update after I replied. Good luck.

 

[bunchz71]

I have a phone call in to them and I'm waiting to hear back. My mechanic said it looks like a nut or bolt got in there and broke the chain.

I have no idea if the engine is seized or not.

Will the engine crank or does the starter just bind up ?

 

[HowardDog]

Will the engine crank or does the starter just bind up ?

We haven't tried to crank it since he put the new timing chain on. He said he had to clean the oil pan and oil pump before he would crank it.

 

[rAiN_Twist]

This interests me. Keep updating, sorry for the ****** situation.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[HowardDog]

Update: He replaced the timing chain and gear, dropped the oil pan and cleaned it out now it runs like new.

Hopefully it runs another 100,000 miles.