I just bought a pretty good looking high-mileage (140K) 1998 4.6L Triton V8 with some "lifter" noises--such a good $$ deal that I thought the necessary repairs [maybe even a replacement engine] would still keep me within my budget. A few days ago--with lifter noises sounding more like piston noises, and/or worse--my local Ford dealer gave me a quote of $4500+ for a full, rebuilt engine replacement. OUCH!

What should a new engine cost installed? Is it worth the price savings to go outside of a Ford dealership to have it done? Is it any better (or cheaper) just to nickel and dime the lifters, pistons, head gasket, etc., as they gradually need replacement? Remember, this engine is 140K miles . . .

What y'all think?

 

I'm fairly sure that you can buy a whole new engine, not just rebuilt, for less than that. That is NUTS for a crate motor. What I would look in to is rebuilding the engine that you have. I imagine it would save you a lot of money, however, It would take longer. Either way, look to different options than the dealership you went to.

 

Neal can give you all the best things you can do to increase performance at the same time if you decide to replace or rebuild your engine. Just remember in that respect that "horsepower costs money, how fast would you like to go?"

-Flea

 

Keep your eye out on ebay......every once and a while a motor pops up.

 

I looked up the price of a 97 4.6L while at work today just to be nosy. Selling price is like 2300-2500. That was for a complete long block from Recon Engine Remanufaturers ( a pretty good engine rebuilding company), standard warranty is 15 month/unlimited mileage, for 99.99 you can get that 36 month/unlimited mileage. Fine print is that to maintain the warranty a ASE certified person has to install it and you have to keep up on your regular maintence. I like you bought a high mileage truck (mine was only at 86k when bought, now at 127k), so a engine replacement may be a big hit, I would still come out pretty fair.

 

look around on the internet, karkraft.com offers crate motors for alot less than the $4500.00 the dealer quoted you.

 

You just answered my questions. I got on today becasue I may possibly have blown the O-rings in my 97 4.6 with 97K miles. I was wondering about how much a crate motor and install might cost versus a rebuild.
Further testing may be required before I know if I have a serious problem or not, should know by tomorrow.

BTW, where in Northern Kentucky are you? I'm only about 20 minutes from Kentucky on I-275.

 

I'm about 30-45 minutes south of 275. I live about 20 minutes from Dry Ridge, KY (where I work). Yeah it's BFE down here, but it's peaceful. I know just about where you live, I do not know Milford at all but have been past there. In fact I was all around OH last weekend, for a family reunion in Brookville and then looking for the Bass Pro shop in Fairfiled, wound up going all around 275 and stopping in at Eastgate.

Any ideas what may of blown? You said o-rings, do you mean fuel injecotr o-rings or did you mean a gasket, like the head gasket.
As far as the engine thing goes. I can only tell you what my Advance offers. We only offer complete longblocks remanufactured by Recon. Recon is a very large engine manufaturer with years of expereiance and over 3 million in equipment. Eash engine is inspected like 3 times for crackes and damage. Everything is put back to OE specs as close as possible. Now of course on things like cylinder walls, they may be an oversize in there just due to machining out the scrathes. Standard warranty is 15month/unlimited mileage, for 100 you can make it 36month/unlimited mileage. Now to tell you the truth we have had pretty good luck with these engines (can't say the same for the transmissions Advance offers). It usually takes about 3-7 business days to get one in. Being this is a newer motor and probably not as many being rebuilt at this time (compared to a old 302 or something) you might see longer lead times, less availbilty, and experience higher costs.

 

You could always opt for an additional $400-$600 bucks and get a 5.4 and put in there........

 

i have a 4.6 engine complete with all harnesses, alt, wire harnesses manifolds everything, a complet take out that i just did for 5.4 lightning engine. the engine has 49,000 but is in meant conditionand i have a vortech v-2 supercharger kit to go on it, so you can get the best of both worlds at once. i am not very far from you, i think about 4-5 hours. i have it on a stand and it is wrapped. drop a line if your interested. gary sons

 

I have a 1997 F150 w/ ORP 4.6L 5spd and I have bad bearings (noisy and annoying). The ford garage said the engine should be replaced (it has 94,000 miles on it) and they quoted me $3200 or $3900 installed. That comes with a 2yr / 24k mile warrranty. I am choosing to rebuild it because it will cost $1900 and comes with a 4yr /40k mile warranty, including labor .