'92 2.3 Swap to Newer or Same Motor?

[MikeyMike93]

I have a 1992 with some high mileage and it is starting to burn oil fast.
I was wondering what would be best, either a rebuild? Used motor? ReManufactured? New or Old? Price differences and complications?
I would like to stick to a 2.3

 

[The_Epsicle]

I have a 1992 with some high mileage and it is starting to burn oil fast.
I was wondering what would be best, either a rebuild? Used motor? ReManufactured? New or Old? Price differences and complications?
I would like to stick to a 2.3

If you're burning oil you might be able to fix it with a partial rebuild if you just need to re-ring the pistons, new head gaskets, ext.. of course that's assuming there are no other issues with the block and you can afford to have the car down for as long as it will be. You never really know what you're going to get with a used motor (assuming not remanufactured) and chances are you would probably have to do a rebuild on that one anyway. I just did a quick google search and found the first result for a rebuild kit was $310 on Ebay, and that included new pistons which you may not need, a remanufactured motor(long block) would run you $850 - $1,000. A rebuild would be your cheapest option and I would advocate for that route, but if you've never done one before I would expect it to take you anywhere from 1 week to 3 weeks depending on how much time you can commit, and also if you've never done a rebuild before pick up a Chilton's repair manual, lots of useful info in those. I honestly don't think you have a serious enough problem to get rid of the engine especially if you're going to replace it with another 2.3.

 

[Andy D]

What is "high Mileage"? Burning,leaking,maybe both? I would do a compression test and check the oil pressure with a real pressure gauge before I gave up on your engine. I would suspect valve seals only due to its age. I dunno what replacing is like on the 2.3 but for an OHV engine ,its not a hard job and valve seals are cheap and you also need a valve cover gasket, Wabbout the seals up front and the rear main, etc. It is a 23 yr old Ford pick up. Anything and everything is likely to break if it hasn't already.