Junkyard engine?
 

While that sounds like a great band name....I have a serious question. I've never had to purchase a motor before so I really don't know about these things.

I bought a motor from a junkyard for my F250. The mechanic is amazed at the condition.....all ten coil packs are gone (among other things), every wiring harness is torn, every hose busted and every bolt sheared. He said it honestly looks like someone tied a chain to it and yanked it out of the truck. Is this common? To have to either purchase or pull missing pieces from my old motor to create a frankenmotor?
Thanks, y'all.

................I would have expected the mechanic too inspect the motor before any money changed hands ! , fordy

Generally I have had better luck purchasing a long block with transmission attached. This generally includes wiring harness, ecu, motor accessories all bundled up nicely.

I bought a "used" engine on line, from a wrecked BMW for my wife's car. Very pleased. Outfit is in Tulsa, OK. Came crated and complete less starter and gen.

Bubba must have been having a bad day when he pulled that one out.

You should have a complete engine, the coil packs should have been there, wiring harness fairly intact, hoses being cut would be normal. I would take it back and find a better salvage yard to do business with.

Tens of thousands of "junk Yards", all sorts of methods. If I were buying a complete engine, I wouldn't expect the coils to be included or the computer or the hoses. I wouldn't need them if I were simply replacing the same engine.
Engines are sold in several levels of complete-ness.
Short block is the engine without the heads, intake, exhaust, water pump, etc.
Long block is the engine with heads, but no intake or exhaust manifolds.
A complete engine includes waterpump, distributor, manifolds and SOMETIMES may include wiring.

Since yout F250 has it's own wiring and hoses, so I don't know what your mechanic is crying about.

Sheared bolts is another thing. Replacing manifold to exhaust pipe bolts is common and easy to fix before the engine is installed. If you have sheared bolts on things like alt., air cond compressor, power steering brackets that go into the engine, I'd be mad.

Do this. I have bought 3 different used engines and *never* had such issues!

Definitely agree. Even without the coil packs and wiring harness, there should be no sheared bolts. Sounds like a very poor job. And Ford V-10s are expensive enough to work on without any "help" from the guys at the salvage yard.

Most cars end up in salvage not because the rest of the car rotted around the engine but because of the engine.
A friend just swapped his wife minivans and after the first one was in he found it was a smoker, pulled it and got another (exchanged) but made it clear he would not be doing it a third time, he paid for a good running engine not for a rebuild.

You can do pretty good with a junk yard engine but you have to know what your doing and be careful. When I re-powered my 2500HD with a 6.0L I ended up finding it was easier (though not cheaper) to purchase a remanufactured long block.

I agree with the others, take it back and do business elsewhere.

Sounds like your motor came from a metal recycling yard and not a salvage yard. Recycling yards just stick the excavator arm down in the engine compartment and yanks it out, they just want to separate the " melt" from the tin. Sometimes salvage yards buy these in bulk . I'd keep looking if I was you. Benny

A number of years ago, I replaced the 2.8 V6 in a fiero with a 3.4 V6 from a Camaro. I bought it over the internet, arranged shipment to a local freight depot. It was shipped from NY to northern MI. Just swapped out the parts from the Fiero motor and away we went. The 2.8, 3.1 and 3.4 are all in the same "family" and are about the same externally and share many components. I did have to drill a hole in the block for the starter because it needed to be on the other side from what the Camaro is. But that's another story.
In my experience, drivetrain parts (engines, trans.)are available due to traffic accidents. Body parts are available due to worn out drive train.

My son rolled and flipped my 1997 F-350 4x4 with 30,000 miles on it. I'm sure that engine made someone a very happy driver.

I can think of several yards that will give you an engine in the condition you described. If your mechanic placed the order, I'd be talking with him. But if you placed the order, and had it delivered to him, that's on you.

It's also become quite the game around here, to play a few rounds of "that's extra". Alternator, distributor, water pump, etc. Those aren't included in the base price for a bare or basic engine. That $200 engine quickly becomes an $800 engine.

A few yards here will actually unbolt and remove an engine. Most will rip it out with a loader, and maybe a torch. I've watched them chain an engine to the tines of a loader and then smash the car off it.

Tryin' to answer everyone at once..found the engine online at an online junkyard listing. Junkyard is right down the road from me. A friend negotiated the deal and saved me 50 bucks off the listed price. Then it was delivered to the shop, no inspection by anyone. Don't recall the engine saying short or long block on the listing, I did make sure it was the one without the egr valve, though.

It's not that he's crying, he is just amazed at the condition and the swapping of stuff from motor to motor is delaying my getting my truck back. He's not charging extra for the swapping time but of course is charging for drilling out the manifold bolts and for any parts he has to buy.

Sending the motor back and buying another isn't an option, he's already been working on it and again, v-10s are hard to find and spendy when you DO find them.

Yes, it's a junkyard, not a shredder.

I paid 750 for the engine knowing it needed a piston sleeve (the right name?) which the dealer did, in stainless with a lifetime guarantee to not blow the plug, for 150.

I did ask the mechanic to keep a record (he offered to shoot pics too) of all the damage and when I pick the truck up I intend to take a little ride down to the junkyard....

I am getting a deal on the labor, I think. 600 for the tow (about 30 miles), pulling the motor and putting the new one in. Fifty bucks an hour on the other labor.

Doesn't hurt to do some checking when pricing motors. Some times the price difference between a used, rebuilt, and new crate motor aren't that far apart.

Here is a couple of online salvage yard search resources. http://www.car-part.com/, http://www.partshotlines.com/?phl=ne...ch_id=26742215

I used to run an auto repair shop and bought a lot of good used motors from our local salvage yards. About the only things left on them were the water pump and manifolds but lots of times I had to swap out exhaust manifolds anyway. Alternators, power steering pumps, coils etc had to be transfered from the original motor. The salvage yards in our area keep track of the milage on any of the engines they pull so anytime I could buy one with less than 50 or 60k miles I figured I had a pretty good engine and would have a satisfied customer. Just transfer the stuff you need from your old motor, install and drive it. :)

I strongly recommend car-part.com as well. Saved me about $500 to have a rear sipped from Minn as opposed to buying locally and I got a better warranty.

I'd say more end up there due to WRECKS

True at all the salvage yards I know of. Lots of smashed up vehicles only a few worn out seems to be the norm. To the op you learned a lesson for next time.

Don't expect anything more than to have the dog turned loose on you, or perhaps a gun pulled out. They got your money, and that is all they care about.

I used to rebuild engines for a living. I've dealt with hundreds of junkyards. If you bought a longblock (and it sounds like you did) this isn't uncommon. A longblock is block and heads, nothing electrical and no accessories. They pulled the coils because they're worth $$$. Wiring, sensors, etc. are rarely worth money to a junkyard. They will cut/yank/break anything that isn't in the block/head.

Don't worry about it. If your mechanic is sleeving the block, He'll check out the rest of the engine.

Ah your mechanic wanted a full dressed engine. He is lazy. Personally I do not think he is much mechanic. I would never go back to him.

Sounds like he's doing a lot of work for a great price.

Make sure it gets a new water pump before it goes in.