Buying engine from wrecked truck

[Johnny1]

Hey guys! im looking at a pullout engine from a wrecked truck. other than compression test and lookin at blow by tube for excessive blow by. What are some ways to gauge what condition the engine is in without starting it........
it has 100k miles and the valve cover appears to never have been off. i know this because the valve lash sticker is still intact.

i will post pictures.

 

[Johnny1]

here are some pix

 

[Johnny1]

engine is just dirty there are no visible signs of leakage. the truck it came out of had no visible signs of oil on the frame. the blow by tube had some dirt on the out side, i consider that normal, the whole engine just appears to never have been washed.

 

[Bad-Duvall]

Here's what I tell people about buying junkyard engines.
You never know what kinda life it had before service wise? Was the truck rolled? If so did it run upside down? Ask if it comes with a 30-90 day warranty? most Salvage yards do..

Other than looking it over and baring it over thats about all you can do.

 

[dangerous06]

^^^^^^ Yup^^^^^^^^

 

[spare tire]

Is the starter still attached? I brought 2 good batteries, a starter switch, compression tester, & oil pressure gauge. I got lucky the starter was still attached all I did was crank the engine over it developed 20psi of oil pressure during cranking. I couldnt get the damn injectors out so I couldnt do the compression test though. But it didnt sound like it had a weak cylinder ( yes you can hear sometimes if a cylinder is considerably weaker.) I said to hell with it and bought.

 

[Mark Nixon]

If you can't run it and they won't warranty it, walk away, otherwise it's a $1200 core TOPS.
I have pulled the oil fill cap and run them on ether for about 10 seconds, if it has blowby in this quick test, it definitely fails.

Mark.

 

[spare tire]

Core buyer I talked to said they would give $2600 for a complete engine with injectors and all the fuel related stuff

 

[zfaylor]

Core value or walk away period.

If they aren't willing to run it for any amount of time that is all it is worth.

It really isn't even worth full core value given it is missing accessories and the turbo.

There are too many small nickel and dime pieces to worry about as well. Even if it runs well.

Piston ring condition
Bearing condition
Is there an ecm and does it function properly
Is there a hole in the oil pan like many scrap yards put in them to drain the oil?
Injector condition

Too many factors and that engine is really missing quite a few things. Cummins considers a core to be a fully dressed engine. Head to tail. So as I mentioned it realistically isn't even full core value.

 

[zfaylor]

Core buyer I talked to said they would give $2600 for a complete engine with injectors and all the fuel related stuff

Until you get that money in hand do not count on it. Core buyers are often times men with paper azzholes. I deal with them daily. Get the engine there and they whine and cry about it and how the market really has gone down blah blah blah.

 

[Mark Nixon]

Zfaylor hit the nail on the head, BUT if you truly have a core buyer that'll give $2600 for a loaded up 5.9 Commonrail core, then I have a couple to off. Typically I give $1200 and I like to see 6 injectors, a pump and a decent turbo core.

Mark.

 

[leeso]

Take a oil sample.