My Max with 149,000 miles on it is finally getting a new motor today,Bad knocking noise for a few months finally got to me,Drianed the oil a few days ago and saw more metal the oil....Its time,Got a motor from a scrap yard with 59,000 coming.
Few pics of disassemble

 

bump... Might have to do that soon myself. If you dont mind what year and how much did u pay for ur engine?

 

what yr 3.5

 

Car is a 02,Paid 1200.00 for the motor that has 57k on it

 

Not bad, i got an 06 motor with 54k for $980 with the old core for my 03 max

 

i didnt see this anywhere mentioned but did anyone who just got a new motor think of getting the vin# in advance to verify the motor they paid for is what they got and to run a carfax or whatever to verify the miles???

 

Didn't really think it was necessary,Ill be able to tell if its the right motor as ill be cherry picking it off the truck when it gets delivered,If its wrong it goes back i\and im on the phone *****ing about getting another one

 

I wish I had the skill to be able to identify the mileage of a motor just by looking at it...

Yeah, it's obviously easy to tell if its the "correct" motor for you 5.5 gen, but running the VIN numbers allows you to actually check to see if the motor has the mileage claimed. They could easily sell you a motor claiming to have "XXXXX" miles. Since most people don't bother to compare and check VIN numbers anyways, junkyards can turn around behind your back and sell you one with a higher mileage that nobody wants. Yeah, shady stuff right there, but it happens and I know a couple of buddies that had such things happen to them since they didn't bother to actually verify what they were purchasing. Just a tip.

 

That is a very good idea, because who knows if the junkyard isn't lying right ? Yes i did paid to have the carfax ran the VIN from my donor car. And the mileage is correct.
http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/1978/photo5b.png

 

Nice....

 

Well anytime you buy from a scrap yard you run a chance at getting less then you paid for,Im not so much worried about the mileage as i am the condition and how it runs,Ive seen motors come in here that were butchered as they were taken out,Dont get me wrong im paying 1200.00 for a 57k mtr and thats what i want,Ill see if i can call and get a vin....Keep ya posted

 

Oil consumption or chain tensioners killed the original motor?

 

i paid 300 for my 05 engine with 46k on it

 

Not really sure,Bought the car a few months ago and it had a severe lower knock and 140+ miles already,It also was consuming oil pretty bad already,Got it cheap enough and the rest of the car was in good shape,My first MAX so wasnt sure what to expect,I made the decision to swap the motor cause i really do like the car

 

WOW great price,Still running good?

 

warranty included? to anyone who has bought a used engine

 

Standard 90day warranty

 

awwww yeaaaaaa

 

Wow where did you get that engine so cheap. I paid close to $1000 for an 06 max motor with 54k and 90 days warranty.

 

That's a good deal. I got a 140K for $850 but you can never really know how much an engine have on it. My boy works in the scrap yard and he told me when they pull out an engine they put what ever they feel like and if the egine looks clean they drop the mileage even more.

The 90 day warranty is just basically for you to install it and it runs. So it's a gamble, sometimes you win, and sometimes you loose. But good find though

 

That's why i ran the VIN of the car that i got the motor from on carfax to prove the mileage :-)

 

You found a car with the engine still in it? Good for you. Well mine has already been installed, new clutch and spacers. So i'll break in the clutch and the engine and see if I improve my 14.2 on the 1/4 mile