UncaToddly
New Member
- Joined
- Aug 31, 2018
- Messages
- 2
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
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- Vehicle Year
- 1999
- Transmission
- Manual
First things first, thanks for reading this and the knowledge and opinions you may have. I am absolutely not mechanically inclined. Certainly not to this level. This truck has the original motor - 3.0L V6 OHV 12V FFV.
Engine Light came on a couple days ago when I headed into work. Figured I would make the drive and have it coded on the way home since I only work 6 miles from home and all city street and the truck had not been having any issues. Two miles in I said, "nah, I better get it home".
Engine had a ticking sound that reminded me of my 82 Riviera that had a rocker go bad or something. I get the truck home and leave it running and lift the hood to look for anything obvious (twig caught up in the fan blade, oil spurting out, etc.) but found nothing and while I stood there the engine died. Start it back up and it runs about 20 seconds and dies again.
So I have it towed to the shop my wife and I have been dealing with for about 25 years or more. It has changed hands in the last few years but they have still done good work for us. They just replaced the front suspension about a year or so ago, steering knuckle, upper/lower control arms etc and did a great job. Also replaced the radiator such when it failed.
This truck was running fine and had no lack of power climbing the steep hills in the Seattle area (Renton primarily). Heck, the night before I zipped right up one of the long hills on my way home like it was a brand new truck with no issues and no light coming on.
I go in yesterday to get the prognosis and he says, "I left you a message. Yeah, the motors done. It is surprising because those motors rarely seem to go bad, especially with miles that low (132k). We saved an oil sample back there. Not sure what happened but there are metal shavings in it. We could get it to run for a minute or two but it just dies again and is quite loud now."
Obviously I know this isn't good but I asked "So what are we talking about for cost to replace it?" He basically said it is tough to find them with low miles on them because these motors simply don't go bad very often. He found one used with about 107k on it. We would be looking at about $5100 for the motor and install, probably around another $500ish for anything else they might put on during the process.
Now I don't know jack about jack but that seems insanely high. Heck, I can buy the same truck with the same engine (though not extended cab) for less than $4000 locally (50k more miles but still). Pricing the motor online, the retail shops like O'Reilly have re-manufactured ones for right around $2,000 and with a 3 year warranty on them.
Am I right thinking this is WAY over the top as far as price? I mean, even at whatever they charge for shop time that seems like it would have to be around 20 hours of shop time or so.
Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks
Engine Light came on a couple days ago when I headed into work. Figured I would make the drive and have it coded on the way home since I only work 6 miles from home and all city street and the truck had not been having any issues. Two miles in I said, "nah, I better get it home".
Engine had a ticking sound that reminded me of my 82 Riviera that had a rocker go bad or something. I get the truck home and leave it running and lift the hood to look for anything obvious (twig caught up in the fan blade, oil spurting out, etc.) but found nothing and while I stood there the engine died. Start it back up and it runs about 20 seconds and dies again.
So I have it towed to the shop my wife and I have been dealing with for about 25 years or more. It has changed hands in the last few years but they have still done good work for us. They just replaced the front suspension about a year or so ago, steering knuckle, upper/lower control arms etc and did a great job. Also replaced the radiator such when it failed.
This truck was running fine and had no lack of power climbing the steep hills in the Seattle area (Renton primarily). Heck, the night before I zipped right up one of the long hills on my way home like it was a brand new truck with no issues and no light coming on.
I go in yesterday to get the prognosis and he says, "I left you a message. Yeah, the motors done. It is surprising because those motors rarely seem to go bad, especially with miles that low (132k). We saved an oil sample back there. Not sure what happened but there are metal shavings in it. We could get it to run for a minute or two but it just dies again and is quite loud now."
Obviously I know this isn't good but I asked "So what are we talking about for cost to replace it?" He basically said it is tough to find them with low miles on them because these motors simply don't go bad very often. He found one used with about 107k on it. We would be looking at about $5100 for the motor and install, probably around another $500ish for anything else they might put on during the process.
Now I don't know jack about jack but that seems insanely high. Heck, I can buy the same truck with the same engine (though not extended cab) for less than $4000 locally (50k more miles but still). Pricing the motor online, the retail shops like O'Reilly have re-manufactured ones for right around $2,000 and with a 3 year warranty on them.
Am I right thinking this is WAY over the top as far as price? I mean, even at whatever they charge for shop time that seems like it would have to be around 20 hours of shop time or so.
Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks