reman engines your luck?

the post below got me thinking and while thats dangerous according to my wife, lets post on re-manufactured engines, what brand you bought and how it held up , there is a lot of junk on the market these days, a post about this may be informative as to which brands are best, and which are junk, built by 'workers' who have no mechanical training, they just slap part A on part B and call it good, the fact that there is a clearance issue doesn't enter their minds , lets include both agricultural engines and pickup truck engines as there isnt a farm out there without pickup trucks on it

If you have the time, money and/or talent, there is nothing better than rebuilding your own engine. I have had great success with doing many engines when I had the time and inclination to do my own.Only way to go with somethig special.

That said, our service fleet got remans. The first re manufactured engine I got was a Jasper and it worked just fine in one of our service vans.
In our current fleet of Chevys if we need an engine we go to Chevrolet and get a Goodwrench crate motor. They built the first one that lasted 200-300K+ miles so why wouldn't this one...

I've put in a lot of Jasper Rebuilds and had good luck with them, they come with a 100,000 mile warranty too! I best correct myself, they had a good warranty 10 years ago. It's been that long since I put one in.
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When I worked as a mechanic we got to the point that we only installed OEM rebuilds for engines. Too many comebacks with "othere brands". We never installed a Jasper so I can't say anything about them. I think Gopher Motors were the worst. Joke was "install one an gohper another".

Rick

I put a Jasper in my 1988 GMC 3/4 ton 4x4 pickup about 4 years ago and it's great, no problems yet, and I'm hard on trucks.

What I found out is that Jasper just doesn't rebuild engines. If a specific engine has a chronic problem they fix that then rebuild them.

Jasper engines are great until you have a problem. I used to be a Jasper dealer, no more. I put a 4.6 in a ford pick-up. Complete engine with installation kit. It used more oil than the old one we took out. They jerked me and the poor guy that bought it around for three months, calibrating dipsticks,running compression tests, leak down tests etc. I finally told Jasper to send him to another dealer and to tell their salesman not to come back. End of story on Jasper. I rebuild all my own engines now, take care of my own warrenty and we have very few problems.

I used a 4 star several years ago, 20 years maybe, still working.

Hesco Parts Corp, Louisville, Ky. I bought a 300 inch 6 for my F 100 in 2009 and have had excellent luck. I would reccomend them. Ellis

I bought a 302 long block from Auto Zone because the price was right and had a friend put it in my daughters 71 Mustang and before it was in, another guy told me I'd have to get 2-3 more til I got a good one. Well she drive it for 78k miles without any major problems. I think the warranty was 1 year unlimited miles. She drove that car from age 16 to 25 and then I got it back.
I sold it last year and the engine was still strong with no smoking or knocks. I don't know who rebuilt them for AZ back then.

If your worried about enginew built by workers who just slap part A and part B together, ansd have very little real training, then your also talking about the OEM engine in the majority of vehicles on the road nowdays. Even worse, or better, are the ones that are assembled mainly by robots who are programed by someone who probably has a hard time knowing a piston from a crankshaft.

That said I've heard both good and bad about Jasper over the years, but none of the stories were really specific enough to come to a conclusion one way or another. Beyond that, if you can read a manual, have the basic tools, and can buy, borrow, or rent the ones you don't, it's not that hard to build one yourself. That way you know exactly what parts are in it, and that it's done by the book. I've built quite a few different brands of heavy equipment diesel engines over the years, so I'm no expert on any one brand. As a result, even for someone who is a mechanic for a living like I am, it all comes down to exactly what I just stated, even for me. Before you start, get the book, follow it, and you'll wind up with a running engine for your time.

Son bought his 1st and last from Oriellys. Could not get it to run, took the timing chain cover off, chain and gears had not been replaced, too worn out to run.

I bought a 3.0L V6 for my Mazda B-3000 about 6 years ago through AutoZone. I think the company name was Pro-formance. It runs good. I put about 150,000 miles on it before retiring the truck. The downside is that it starting leaking oil from the back end early on. Not sure if it is the rear main seal or the oil pan gasket. It also started burning a little oil.

Blackwater Engines, Norfolk, VA. Fresh 05 Duramax, got it in, ready to dump fluids in and fire it up, couldn"t pull a vacuum on the cooling system. Pressurized it, had air coming out through #2 injector hole. Tore the front clip back off to pull the head and send it in with the core, they said the new head would be here last Friday, called them Monday and they said "we"ll try to get it out today".

Our guy putting it in used to work at a Cat dealer, he swapped a fresh long block (from Cat) into a semi for a guy when he worked there, and the block was porous at the turbo oil drain, it was weeping right through as soon as it built oil pressure.

This is story is so old it really has little to do with what you are talking about. Dad's 51 F6 ford truck needed an engine.He got a long blk from the local parts place. We installed, boiled water out of the radiator (Crack)we ended up putting in 4 engines before they gave up and gave him his money back. He then went to the local Ford dealership and bought one. There deal was if you got a bad one they changed it out. WE put their engine in and they ended putting in 2 before he got a good one. 7 engines all total.
Ron

If your current engine has a good head, block and crank I would rebuild it or check into having it rebuilt. Years ago Jasper would rebuild your engine and return it. Don't know if they still do this. I do know Jasper Jasper rebuilds cracked heads, etc. so you never know what you are going to get.
We have had best luck with automotive machine shops doing machine shops rebuilding heads and reboring blocks as required. There are not a lot of automotive machine shops left, mine does most of his work on vintage/restoration projects. He can't compete with people that cut corners and cheap labor in Mexico. The parts prices have gone up a lot faster than inflation making do it yourself or local machine shop expensive in many cases.

A lot of the 'factory' reman stuff is now done in Mexico. Cummins moved most of theirs down there 2-3 years ago.

Opinions are like *******, everybody has one. So
I'll defend "Gopher" rebuilders, of St Paul !
I've installed dozens of Gopher engines, with
never a problem. And i've toured their plant..
incredable Quality Control!

I bought a 300 6 from Ford many years back. Drove the heck out of it and never had a problem. It had close to 200k on it when I sold it. Still ran great.

Bought a 454 Goodwrench from GM and put in my old 1 ton. What a heap. Thing started smoking and using oil like crazy at about 3,000 miles. Took it back and they handed me another one. stuck it in and same thing happen around 6,000 miles. Finally got mad and took the truck to the dealer and had a chat with the service and parts manager. After threatening to turn it into a Ford they decided to take care of it. I left it and a week later they called and said it was ready. Before I left the lot the service manager did confess that they were having tons of problems with their rebuilt big blocks. The rebuilder that GM was using was not really doing a good job. Heads were not getting new valves and guides. They were just knurling the guides and sticking the old valves back in. Cylinders were not getting bored. Just a quick hone and slap rings in them. When I lifted the hood the check out the install I was very pleased. They had put a brand new Vortec in it. GM paid for all of the needed parts to make the Vortec fit the old 1982 truck. After that never another problem. That thing ran really good. Service manager told me that GM was stepping up to upgraded swap in cases where guys had been through two or more engine failures in a short period. It took a while, but I was finally happy.

Greg