Some people should not work on trucks

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1_8TTony

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Geez.
So this guy asks me if I got time to replace an engine in his 1999 truck. Says the replacement engine is already in the back of the truck ready to go. Make an easy 500 bucks......The truck gets towed to my house......I look at the engine. I see the intake manifold is broken, the transmission bell housing is busted off with pieces remaining on the engine block....one exhaust manifold is busted, the fan is destroyed, the oil pan is cracked. Oil dipstick is bent in all kinds of crazy directions. The metal portion of the EGR tubes are bent.......what the heck.

I ask him who took the engine out of the other truck. He says he lifted it out with his PG&E telephone pole boomtruck. Man, thats one powerful hoist.
 

t.stimpson

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obviously he doesnt know what "ready to go" means lol
 
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1_8TTony

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I should have taken some pics, but I didn't.

I've already got the bad engine out of the truck. The engine had seized due to over heating. When the owner told me that he blew up the engine and asked me to replace it, I didn't ask him what exactly was the problem with the motor. we agreed on a price of $500. However he didn't tell me that the engine was locked up.

The engine being locked up will not allow access to the torque converter bolts...........this COMPLICATES things tremendously because the converter will have to come out WITH the engine!!!!!!!!!

I called him and explained the situation and told him I wont be able to have his truck running for a couple days (because I have to figure out a strategy for getting the engine to separate from the transmission.

Do I pull the transfer case and then the transmission and then the motor? Do I pull the transmission and X case out while still bolted to the motor?

It was a learning experience. This is what I did:
I unbolted all the bell housing bolts and slid the engine forward to remove it.

Easier said than done!!!!

First I removed the intake manifold to gain access to the top 3 trans/motor bolts. Then I removed both exhaust manifold heat shields, then the exhaust manifolds themselves. Then unbolted the motor mounts from the engine. Then removed the motor mounts from the frame brackets. I also removed the water pump, and both engine accessory mount brackets from the front of the motor........pretty much stripped the motor down.

But the dang thing still wouldn't come out. It was free of the transmission. After studying the situation further, I saw that either the oil pan and oil pick up tube would have to be removed OR the front differential would have to be removed. I chose to tackle the front differential. Once I removed the bolts (which secure the differential to the vehicle) it dropped down a couple inches, and as luck would have it, the engine was able to squeeze thru.....up and out of the engine bay.

I don't think it would have came out had I not removed all the pieces mentioned earlier due to the fact that I had to tilt the engine up at an extreme angle. I don't know what the angle was that the engine was tipped back, but I know I lifted it with my hoist chains bolted onto the front of the cylinder heads. Once the engine was more near the radiator, I was able to set it down and relocate the chains to a more appropriate locations on the engine.

I kept the owner informed of what all was going on and apologized for not having his truck finished in one day as was our agreement. He told me to take my time and do it right, then he hands me another $500 hundred dollars. He then told me that the shop wanted $1,300 to replace the engine. He towed it over there and they said with the engine being seized, the price would be closer to $2000 because they would have to remove the transfer case and transmission.

If I ever run into this situation again, I'm going to do the same thing.......only next time I wont be scratching my head about what to do first.
 
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