the_dingman said:
Remanf is usually a new engine, made by someone other than Toyota.
I've been led to believe that remanufactured parts are those that have an original core with everything else new. A rebuilt part is one that has only had the non-working parts replaced along with any parts that need to be replaced every time it's disassembled. However, I've noticed a lot of people generally refer to the process of remanufacturing their engine as an engine rebuild, and also refer to their engine rebuilds as engine repairs, which makes the distinction a bit more confusing.
For example, if a piston goes bad and you replace that piston, and any seals and gaskets, belts, or hoses, I would call that a rebuild. If your engine is just running poorly and you strip everything off of it but the core and replace everything else with new parts, that's an engine remanufacture.
However, I'm more used to hearing "remanufactured" to describe things like alternators or starters, where someone might take the original casing and replace all of the guts, as opposed to just fixing/replacing, for example, the worn out starter contacts (which would be a "rebuilt" starter). I don't know if this same logic applies also to engines.
Either way, if one is looking to buy a remanufactured or rebuilt engine, one would do good to determine which definition the seller is going by. If they've just replaced some bolts and gaskets and called it rebuilt, it might not be quite as rebuilt as you think it is.
