Engine Swap Saga

[red-runner]

Broke engine. Swapped for rebuild. Rebuild seized (water in engine). Returning rebuild. Back to square one. Bought JDM. JDM already arrived. Try again this weekend...

---------- TLDR ----------

So, when I spun a bearing in my old engine, I wasn't too depressed. I figured a high-mileage vehicle was gonna need a new heart at some point.

I bought a rebuilt long block. The guys I got the engine from were cool, but it took over a month for the engine to arrive. Not my main vehicle, so this was OK, but far from ideal (I went with the rebuild partially due to "speed" of delivery). Did some extra work on the runner in the meantime.

I was told not to buy a rebuild. I was told to buy a used engine. I was told to not be in a hurry. I bought a rebuild, because I was in a hurry. Well, after six weeks, that didn't pay off.

Rebuild went in last week. My buddy (a professional Lexus mechanic) did the work. It ran awesome...for 45 minutes. SEIZED. Water in oil. LOTS of water in oil.

Engine is torn down now, and ready to go back. Heat tabs didn't melt (not over-heated). No pool of coolant around the intake (not a mis-aligned intake gasket). Probably the heads/head-gasket. Who knows. It's going back, and we'll see how well the warranty works. Will prefer my money back, but if I get a new engine (or get the same one back), we're just going to build another truck (probably for my mechanic friend to keep).

I should have listened. Nobody said it was wise to buy a rebuilt engine. I'm not saying they're all bad. Hell, I'm not even saying it was the engine-builder's fault. I'm not sure what happened. It just didn't work out. This part of the saga will be resolved separately.

Found a JDM in LA on Tuesday. Seller is reputable (99.9% positive on EBay). Bought engine (claims under 60,000 miles), and it arrived today. Turns out the way to go if you're in a hurry is to buy a JDM engine -- lots of them out there. We'll get it installed this weekend, and we'll see how things turn out. It cost less than half the price of the rebuilt engine.

Hoping for the best...again...

 

[zgensler31]

Man that sucks on the rebuild, I wanted to go witha rebuild but you never know who is doing the work you know. Hope they resolve it well.

However I just swapped in a jdm myself, and while it has it's own challenges, it is running great and I couldnt be happier. Mine also arrived in like 3 days. Although it took me like a month to get it installed. Hope you can get it up and running again soon.

Post up if you run into any issues, theres like 5 or so of us that have swapped these in and know what problems/issues you might run into.

 

[red-runner]

The JDM looks good, but it was filthy. My friend tore it down to the block, and spent many hours cleaning every millimeter of it. Then we put an entire new set of OEM gaskets and a new timing belt on it (expensive, but proper parts). We also used a brand new water pump.

The engine is in the truck, and is running well. It will be back on the road very soon. Lots of spare parts from the JDM (alternator, power steering pump, AC, throttle body, intake manifold, exhaust manifold, etc.), which is also cool.

The rebuild is still unresolved, but it's gonna take some time. Pics when it's back in my driveway.

 

[nissanh]

YEah.. with toyota's always get low mile used engine. No one can re manufacture toyota engines even closer to a low mile toyota engine.

Why did you went with new gaskets? I would use it as it is. Of course new T-belt etc.,

This also the same reason why I always go with low mile toyota parts than brand new aftermarket parts. TOYOTA's and their craftsmenship is awesome! No on can beat that.

 

[red-runner]

Why did you went with new gaskets? I would use it as it is. Of course new T-belt etc.,

The engine had the wrong oil pan, so when we were swapping that, and looking everything over, we saw how filthy the engine was. Needed to be cleaned thoroughly, which required tearing it down... New gaskets were necessary after tear down and clean.

 

[kolelt]

Yea usually jdm is completely different. Like you mention oil pan different shape. Even injectors. Lucky me, I picked my jdm engine from a ware house. They had every jdm motor from 1jz to 2jz to whole front ends of cars. They had like 10 5vzfe. I picked the cleanest. Only replaced front and real seal, new valve cover gasket, new water pump and stuff.

 

[BrianSD_42]

What kind of a rebuild has water in the engine?

That sounds like FRAUD more than a rebuild.

Seriously though ... I don't think you even got a rebuild. I think you got a engine from hurricane Sandy that was flooded once and sold for $4000 as a rebuild when they did no actual work.