Dodge Charger Engines Available

We have great availability of Dodge Charger engines and have updated our engine listings to show this.

The most recent engine to become available has been the 3.6L engine which was added for the 2011 model year.

Make sure to contact our sales staff if you need a used Charger engine at 800-709-9233!

Popularity: 1% [?]

Will Your Supplier Be Around Tomorrow?

Low Mileage Engines has been selling used engines for 8 years. In that time period, we’ve seen competitors come and go. We’ve seen more go than stay, and seen many of our competitors go bankrupt. For example, one of the biggest competitors we’ve seen go bankrupt and out of business was EverDrive. They offered a three year warranty standard on all used engines. That sounded great, and it sold them a lot of engines! However, they simply could not honor all the warranty claims they had. Customers had problems with their engines, and EverDrive didn’t charge nearly enough on each sale to be able to handle warranty claims.

 

I could list a dozen other suppliers that have gone out of business in the same time period, and I could name a dozen suppliers now who either don’t honor their warranties or are about to go out of business. They have weak financial positions and while their price is great, their products and follow through are pathetic.

At Low Mileage Engines, we honor our warranty. We follow through with each customer, handle problems, and work hard to make sure you have a good experience with our company.

We’re more expensive than our competitors, but we’ll be here in a year to honor our warranty – in the rare case that a warranty happens. We sell better engines – which is what you pay for. We thoroughly check engine compatibility, which is why we have the lowest return rate in the industry. Most of our competitors simply do not do this.

If you want to do things right the first time, deal with Low Mileage Engines. Spend a little more up front, and save yourself time and money in the long run.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Very Nice 2002 Subaru Legacy SOHC 2.5L Engine Available

We haven’t made a habit of posting “good deals” we have available, simply because we receive a massive amount of phone calls and sell used engine pretty quickly. However, I’m making an exception because of a unique circumstance.

We have a very nice 2002 Subaru Outback / Subaru Legacy SOHC 2.5L engine available. It will only fit a 2002 Subaru Outback or Legacy, and the vehicle it is going into must have an automatic transmission. This engine has 62, 249 miles available, and runs $2100.oo delivered to a freight dock or commercial address anywhere in the country. It is a nice used engine!

Call Matthew at 901-384-5625 (direct number) to inquire about this engine. Like all of our other used gasoline engines, this comes with a 1 year unlimited mile part warranty.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Where Have All The Ford 5.4L Engines Gone?

I love F-150′s and I love Ford, but right now I am concerned about availability of 5.4L used engines – specifically the 2 valve engines.

I’m only concerned about 2 valve 5.4L engines, because we’re currently not selling the 3 valve 5.4L engines. There is a tremendous demand for the 5.4L 3 valve engines, and our cost to acquire them has more than doubled over the last 18 months. Any time demand gets that high for an engine, we pause on buying them, and we freeze selling them. The reason for this is that we wouldn’t want to sell something to someone we’re not confident in, and when demand shoots through the roof like that on a specific engine, we want to understand the reason. If there is a problem, we want to know about it.

We do still sell a large number of 5.4L 2 valve engines. The problem is that everyone wants them. They made millions of F-150′s and F-250′s with the 5.4L 2 valve engine, and with the age of the vehicles, sourcing them is getting difficult. We can still supply these engines and we make an effort to do so. Many customers have reported to us that remanufacturers have faced periodic shortages of 5.4′s. I am curious about why. Is it simply too difficult to findrebuildable cores for 5.4′s?

Popularity: 2% [?]

Spring is Here! Is Your Car Ready?

Spring is here and for many Americans that means the time is now to either spend a Saturday morning with your car or to take it into the shop to have proper annual maintenance performed.

I’ll go ahead and confess that I use long life fluids wherever possible in my vehicles. Because of that, my maintenance intervals might be different than yours. However, the general principles of the article will remain the same even if the maintenance intervals you need to follow are different than the ones that we follow.

Oil is something that should be checked continually in every vehicle. I typically checked my oil every 5 to 10 days to make sure that my engine is properly lubricated. Since I use long life Amsoil in all my vehicles, I typically change my oil in the spring. Amsoil makes 15,000, 25,000, and 35,000 mile oil and oil filters. In my Camry, I use the 15,000 mile oil filter which was recently improved by Amsoil. There are some other great synthetic oils and filters on the market that offer anywhere from 5,000 to 15,000 mile oil change intervals and spring is a great time to change your oil if you use such an oil but never have to change based on mileage.

Coolant is also incredibly important. We sell used engines and as such are very familiar with common points of failure in the engines. I’ll share a secret with you: very few engine failures are actually caused by engines. Over 50% of engine failures are caused by a failure at some point in the vehicles cooling system. Coolant is corrosive over time and should be changed after a complete cooling system flush. I have mine flushed annually. It is my experience that even the long life coolants should be changed frequently, especially in older vehicles that have a higher likelihood of some type of break in the system. It doesn’t take much oxygen in the cooling system to rapidly accelerate corrosion damage everything from water pumps to various seals in the engine.

Go ahead and have your tires rotated and balanced and have a good shop check out your alignment. There are two secrets to saving money on your tire rotation and balancing and on your alignment. The first is to purchase your tires from the shop that will sell you an agreement to do so as long as you own the tires. Such an agreement lets you take your vehicle to the shop at a predetermined mileage interval for a “free” balance and rotation. The second secret is to find a shop to perform the alignment which will sell you a lifetime alignment agreement. With such an agreement you can take your vehicle in for a “free” alignment if the vehicle goes out of alignment. This typically will cost what two separately purchased alignments would run. If you keep your vehicles for a long time and buy this early in your relationship with your car, a lifetime alignment agreement can save you a lot of money.

The last specific thing that I’ll recommend for spring maintenance is a good transmission flush. Transmissions today run incredibly hot. Heat is an enemy to fluid and mechanical parts of all kinds. I personally recommend changing your transmission fluid once a year or every 25,000 miles, whichever comes first. Make sure that your mechanic either replaces or cleans your transmissions filter.

I’ll close by asking you to consider the cost of preventative maintenance over preparing catastrophic failures. Several years ago, AutoZone did a study in which they found that lack of preventative maintenance caused Americans to spend five times as much money on repairs as they would have spent following a good preventive maintenance program for their vehicles. Every spring, either look over my vehicle thoroughly myself or have a good mechanic look at over to see what needs to be done. This is how I drive 200,000 mile plus vehicles without worry. Damaged parts damage good parts, so a good preventative maintenance program allows you to drive with confidence and keep your repair costs low.

Good luck in your spring driving! We hope your season is trouble-free and enjoyable. As always, if you need an engine for your car or truck, please feel free to call us at 800-709-9233. We are here to help!

 

 

Popularity: 1% [?]

Demystifying Buying a Used Diesel Engine

We at Low Mileage Engines get a lot of calls from customers who desperately need replacement diesel engines. This is natural since our company offers some of the best values in the country on used diesel engines. I think we stand heads above our closest competitors both in warranty, availability of low mileage units, and delivery time. Many of our customers know exactly what they want before they ever call us, but we also have customers who request that we walk them through different diesel options. With those customers in mind, we present this article on what you need to know about buying a diesel engine.

The first thing that must be discussed space is the different levels of completion when buying a diesel engine – new or used. The “engine” itself is just the long block – the cylinder block and the cylinder head(s). However, some people need other components which can include injectors and injector pumps.

Used diesel engines are typically sold with a warranty that has similar coverage to that of gasoline engines engines. The long walk is warranteed (in the industry it is sometimes phrased that the internal lubricated parts of the long block are warranteed). In other words this would work for you if you had a bottom end go out on your diesel engine. If you had half your injectors fail and this in turn destroyed your engine, you would have to purchase a long block and new injectors.

Phrasing that is commonly used with diesel engines for a long block is “complete through the valve train.” Beyond this, companies get very murky in their definitions. Your best bet is to demand a list of parts included in more complete assemblies. I’ve seen phrases like “complete runner”, “stage I”, etc. thrown around from different remanufacturers all with very different meanings.

The three most expensive components in a diesel engine assembly are the long block, the injector pump, and the injectors themselves. Jasper engines, for example, lists a 2007 Ford 6.0L for $6466.00 while they list a “complete runner” at over $13,000.00. The difference in those two prices is essentially made up by the fuel injectors and the injector pump.

A set of injectors from Ford can run $3200.00. You need to know that most diesel engine remanufacturers required you to install a new set of injectors to validate the warranteed on their long block. Thus, you’re buying a $6466.00 long block that requires another $3200 expense in parts. There is nothing sneaky about this: bad injectors can damage a good engine. You just need to make sure that you’re getting something that you understand.

You should also understand that you will need to perform all the technical service bulletins that have been announced for your specific vehicle when you install your replacement diesel engine. For example, if you bought a Ford 6.0L engine from our company as a used engine or a remanufactured engine we would require you to install a new style EGR cooler since the old style EGR cooler is the main cause of failure in those engines. This is well documented in Ford technical service bulletins and a failure in instance when this is not performed is simply negligence on the half of the installer.

A remanufactured diesel engine is a great option which allows you to get a lot more life out of your truck. A low mileage used engine is sometimes an option with a lot more value. We sold hundreds of diesel engines including the Duramax 6.6L, Cummins 5.9L (both 24 valve and common rail), Ford Power Stroke 7.3L, Ford 6.0L and the new Ford 6.4L.

If you find yourself wondering which diesel engine option is best for you (or if you need a replacement Diesel engine), please give our sales staff a phone call at 800-709-9233.

We also welcome comments and questions on this post.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Buick Rendezvous Engines

The Buick Rendezvous was originally introduced not as a replacement for a specific vehicle but as a new type of vehicle for General Motors: a crossover. This is its claim to fame. Powertrain wise, Buick Rendezvous engines are pretty straight forward with only a few variations throughout the model life.

The Rendezvous made the scene in late 2001 as a 2002 model year vehicle and was originally sold with a 3.4L engine that had two versions: a Federal emissions version and a California emissions version. Both are based on the LA1 design.  The LA1 is a bored out version of the 3100 series engines,and was first used by General Motors in 1996. The LA1 is a solid engine that is weakened by a peripheral issue that affects many General Motors engines: the leaky intake manifold gasket.

There is still a good supply of 3.4L used engines available for the Buick Rendezvous. Buyers should focus on finding a truly low mileage unit with a good warranty. The General Motors long life coolant is an enemy of this engine. Since the long life coolant uses an organic antioxidant agent that deteriorates over time, it can literally attack the engine if not changed often enough. Mileage is a good indicator of the wear not only on the engine but on the coolant. Anyone with significant experience installing 3.4L used engines will also tell you that you should replace the intake manifold gasket on these engines 100% of the time. If this is not done you can destroy an otherwise good engine with the eventual mixing of oil and antifreeze.

In 2004 a new addition was made to the Buick rendezvous engine lineup. The 3.6L LY7 engine is known as the GM “high feature” engine. This engine was used in many high dollar vehicles including the Cadillac CTS. The 3.6 L engine has a low failure rate, and and Low Mileage Engines has a good supply of these used engines. The computer, intake, and exhaust systems are different between the Rendezvous and Cadillac CTS. There are other differences as well but suffice it to say that these lead to a small horsepower difference between the engines. The CTS gets approximately 255 hp while the senior Rendezvous gets 242 hp.

In 2005 the 3.4L LY7 was replaced with the 3.5L LX9 engine. The LX9 is based on the same family of engines that the 3.4L LY7 was based on – the 60° V6 family. The 3.5L engine obviously has a larger bore said sister 3.4L. Since the 3.4 L was “maxed out” one of many changes made to allow the 3.5L displacement was offsetting of the bore holes by 1.5 mm.

In 2007 the high feature 3.6L engine was dropped, leaving only the 3.5L engine. Of course, General Motors discontinued the Buick Rendezvous for the 2008 model year.

If you need an engine for your Buick Rendezvous Low Mileage Engines has excellent availability. We focus on the low mileage engines that it makes sense to install, and offer a standard one year unlimited mile part warranty.

Please call us today at 800-709-9233 for a fast free quote.

Popularity: 5% [?]

German JDM Engines? Hardly.

Recently, several people have contacted us looking for JDM engines for German vehicles. This disturbs me for a few reasons that I’ll share. First, I’ll go into detail about JDM engines and why legitimate JDM engines (actual engines imported from Japan) can be of tremendous value to you, our reader. You’ll see why people hear about JDM’s and get excited about them – and are thus susceptible to shysters who lie to them and engines they claim to be JDM’s which are not actual JDM engines.

The reason people get so excited about JDM engines is that by and large they typically have much less wear on them than their US counterparts. Many years ago, Japan passed laws called “Shaken” laws, which affect vehicle warranties and inspections. After 3-5 years, it becomes prohibitively expensive to keep vehicles that would be sought after in the US due to heavy taxes and inspection fees. Japanese drivers pay private companies to dispose of their vehicles. For several years, these vehicles were recycled completely for their metal only.

So, 30+ years ago Japanese business men realized that when they crushed these vehicles, they crushed money. Japanese auto makers were expanding into international markets and selling vehicles with identical drive trains in each of these markets. Laws made it very difficult to import used vehicles into the US, but parts vehicles were another matter entirely. Even with high tariffs, the market was profitable enough for several companies to enjoy modest success exporting Japanese Domestic Market engines (JDM) into the United States for resale.

In the 1980′s, the US and Japan signed special treaties which lowered the tariff on JDM’s to a point that allowed much greater profit in the industry. The late 90′s and early 00′s were the golden age of JDM’s, with good availability and fantastic pricing. To this day, JDM’s represent the best deal available on engine replacement for many vehicle models.

There have been some setbacks in the industry that have lead to lower profit and availability.

The first setback is the increase in the number of vehicles that are exported from Japan to non-US countries as drivers. China absorbs a tremendous amount of these complete non-parts vehicles and New Zealand has been called the Island Subarus go to when they want to die in peace. Many go to South Africa. Many consumer groups oppose the import of complete vehicles as drivers claiming there both safety and environmental impacts not accounted for. They are concerned that the older vehicles are not as safe as newer vehicles and that keeping older vehicles on the road increases the amount of pollution released into the environment. Manufacturing new vehicles releases much more pollution than continuing to use older, existing vehicles!  I guess newer vehicles are just prettier.

The second setback has been loss in profitability in the last decade. Exchange rates and regulatory environments have changed, and many of my sources in the JDM world claim they prefer to export to South Africa, Israel, New Zealand, and Australia over the US and Canada. This has served to raise the price of JDM’s in the US and lower the overall availability.

The third setback has been the manufacturers themselves. Japanese auto makers are well aware of JDM imports into the US, and have actually taken steps to limit this as a repair option by by selling different displacement engines and using different fuel delivery systems on otherwise identical engines. A prime example of this is the 2AZF engine manufactured by Toyota. When it came out in the US and Japan, the US version used fuel injection, while the Japanese versions used direct injection. Only in the last several years have the US versions begun to use direct injection. Thus, there is a year range of Camry engines with no JDM available. There is a similar situation with Nissan Altima 2.5L QR25DE engines. Interestingly enough, these engines are also among the pricier engines from wrecked US market vehicles vehicles.

I wrote this blog because of “German JDM’s” and now that I’ve done a broad overview of JDM’s, I’m ready to come back to that. German JDM’s are rare. It is possible to get them, but highly unlikely. Where a Toyota or Nissan are a throwaway car in Japan, imported cars are not. When I look at JDM options in Japan, the German engines we see are much higher mile than their Japanese counterparts and thus don’t test out as well. German vehicles retain their value in Japan unlike Japanese vehicles, and are thus driven longer. JDM suppliers simply don’t represent a good, consistent source of German engines.

If you find yourself in need of any type of recent model German or Japanese engine, please contact us at 800-709-9233, or fill out our request form so we can contact you back.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shyster

Popularity: 6% [?]

Problems with the Ford 6.0L Power Stroke Engine

Navistar International has manufactured the Power Stroke diesel engine series for Ford since 1994. The one exception to this is the 6.7L Power Stroke diesel engine, which Ford will manufacture in-house using Ford software beginning in 2011. The long relationship between Ford and Navistar, which dates back much farther than 1994, has been fruitful. The Power stroke diesel engine series, in particular, has earned a strong reputation for both power and durability.

This dependability has made the Navistar-Ford engine series an extremely popular choice both as a new and as a used engine in a wide variety of trucks and other types of vehicles. Nevertheless, there has been an exception to the rule, the 6.0L engine introduced in 2003 as a replacement for the 7.3L. Not only was this diesel engine unable to live up to those lofty Power Stroke standards, it earned one of the worst reputations of all time among all engines in the diesel industry.

Much of that reputation was underserved. Nevertheless, it was so prevalent that just two years after Ford had introduced the 6.0L, they were already preparing to replace it with the all-new 6.4L Power Stroke. By the 2007 model year, that transition was nearly complete. Ford did, however, continue to use the ’07 engine in the full-size vans of the E-series through the 2009 calendar year. When the last E-series van sold, Ford officially retired the 6.0L diesel engine, but of course, they will continue to support it for years to come.

The debacle with this engine has created some opportunity for the consumer who would buy the 6.0L as a used engine. There are many aggressive deals available, and the engine is not nearly as bad as the reputation suggests it is. In fact, the 6.0L met all emission standards and it survived stringent testing during both the research and development stages. In other words, the engine should not be problematic in its stock form, which means that most issues arise in application and modification.

The statistics support this. According to the experts at Diesel Tech, this engine rarely experiences major failure when operating at stock power levels. Therefore, there’s tremendous value here for the consumer who is aware of the common issues and the steps needed to counter them. Let’s examine the most frequent issues, which should help you decide if this used engine makes sense for your situation.

The most common problems that this engine series succumbs to, and the ones you’re most likely to experience from a used engine, occur with the EGR. In one common case, the EGR cooler simply fails because of blockage that occurs due to its restrictive rectangular design, which is inappropriate for the application. In the other common case, the EGR valve sticks due to carbon buildup, which occurs during engine idle because of low combustion efficiency at those speeds.

It is important to note that these common problems with the EGR system play a strong role in the head gasket failure for which this engine is so infamous. Therefore, it is vital when purchasing this used engine to ensure that it already has an upgraded EGR cooler installed, or that you factor in the additional expense of one, and include this upgrade during the installation of the engine or even install it yourself after the fact. EGR upgrade kits are not difficult to install, but the process is time-consuming and requires a professional set of tools.

Another factor that plays a role in head gasket failure on all 2003-07 engines are the head bolts that Ford used. These are not generally an issue with the engine in stock form, but many owners will simply have them upgraded if they ever need to replace the head gasket. However, upgrading the head studs is much more of a necessity for a modified engine because the factory bolts displace load unevenly, and problems will manifest quickly at anything above stock power output. Therefore, this is an important consideration due to the expense of the upgrade if you’re dealing with a modified engine or plan to modify it yourself.

Turbo failure is another common problem, and in the 2003-05 models, this occurs because of the restrictive oil drain tube that Ford used. The good news here is that this is a relatively inexpensive upgrade. Ford attempted to rectify this problem for the 2006 model, but they actually worsened it because the new system lacked an internal turbo groove. Ford corrected this problem properly for the 2007 model, and the 2007 version is the most reliable turbo system ever made for this engine. When buying a 2006 engine, it is best to seek one that already has the 2007 turbo unit in place because that upgrade is inevitable.

In addition, when Ford launched this engine, it included an improperly calibrated ICP sensor. All engines from 2004 on have the correct ICP sensor. For owners of a 2003 model, it’s important to recognize the issue because many inexperienced owners will spot oil beneath the truck and assume the worst. However, if the oil is leaking beneath the turbo, a bad ICP sensor is generally the culprit, and replacing it will correct the issue. This is an inexpensive part, and a simple installation, and you should expect this part upgraded as part of the installation process, if not already installed.

The bottom line is that this engine, despite its dreadful reputation, can be quite durable and a fantastic value. When buying used, there are a couple of keys to a successful purchase. First, buy through a respectable dealer. You should have free, thorough access to the engine history as well as a minimum one-year warranty with the option to upgrade to two. Second, choose your mechanic carefully. Especially with an engine like this one, it is vital that the mechanic adheres to and makes the adjustments according to all of the technical service bulletins during the install.

Popularity: 9% [?]

A Guide to Maintaining Your Cooling System

There is one thing I recommend to each customer who purchases a used engine from us: that they thoroughly inspect the cooling system on their vehicle and replace anything in that system that isn’t functioning perfectly. An engine in a vehicle with a failed or failing cooling system has about as much chance of surviving as a fish dropped in the sand in the middle of a desert. Don’t believe me? More than 50% of engine failures are caused because of a malfunctioning cooling system. Not high miles, not no oil – just getting too hot.

Your engine puts out a tremendous amount of heat by design. Part of this is so it can burn up pollutants and meet the requirements the EPA has put on the automakers, ans so you can pass your vehicle inspection, and part of this is because of the thermal dynamics of power transfer: most of the energy an engine produces is lost to heat.

Most people nod their heads when I preach on this, but if you’re not a gear head or a mechanic, you may not know what to you need to do. That’s what this specific blog is about. Read on, learn, and do.

The most neglected fluid in a vehicle is the coolant. It is nasty stuff – corrosive and poisonous. I once forgot to clean off a screwdriver that had come in contact with coolant, and a few hours later, it was pitted and rusty. Brand new coolant contains an “organic corrosion inhibitor” that is supposed to keep it from eating the insides of your radiator, hoses, and engine cooling channels for up to five years or 150,000 miles (if you have “long life coolant). I don’t think they know what five years means, because the corrosion inhibitors don’t seem to do their job well for that long. When the inhibitor goes past the point of doing its job, it starts to eat everything it comes in contact with. GM and Chevy owners have been plagued with gaskets getting eaten through. 3.1L, 3.4L, 3.8L, 4.3L, 5.3L and 5.7L engines are well known by mechanics for leaky intake manifolds which allow coolant and oil to mix, destroying the engine. This is not the fault of the engine or gasket. This is a maintenance issue – the fault of the owner! I do a complete machine flush of my coolant every two years, and my engines and cooling system love me for it. You should do the same thing every 12-24 months as well. In my experience, this will eliminate over half of all cooling system problems. Not only will it keep your coolant from terrorizing your car, it will clean sediment out of your radiator and keep it doing its job more efficiently.

The second most common cause of cooling system failure is low fluid. This is easy to deal with – check your fluid once a week. It is easy. On most vehicles, you just pop the hood and glance at the coolant reservoir to make sure there is liquid between to hash marks on a bottle.

The third most common cause of cooling system failure is a non-functional water pump. This can be caused by the pump locking up, the belt that drives the pump failing, or degradation of the gasket sealing the pump against the engine. Fix this problem by following the replacement guidelines of your vehicle manufacturer for these parts. You’ll lessen the chance that you’ll need to call me for a used engine.

Fifth is a faulty thermostat. Go ahead and replace these every two years. The part is $15-30. An engine is $1200-$5000, depending on what you have.

The last common cause of cooling system failure is electrolysis. Electrolysis is caused by a an electrical current being added into the cooling system. This only happens when your vehicle has a fault in the electrical system. You’ll know when it happens because the radiator it destroys looks like someone dumped acid all over it. You should have your mechanic check the current in your electrical system when he does your annual vehicle inspection. It only takes about ten minutes, and it can alert you to many other problems.

Your radiator, even when properly maintained, will eventually lose its ability to cool because mineral deposits will coat it inside, reducing its ability to release heat – the mineral deposits act like an insulator. If you want to be sure your radiator is working, you should check for two things.

  1. Flow. Your mechanic should check to make sure enough coolant can flow through the radiator.
  2. Temperature. Your mechanic should use an infrared thermometer to check the top hose and bottom hose. The top hose should be around 20 degrees hotter than the bottom hose.

If you have enough flow, but not enough temperature reduction, you’ll blow up your engine. If you have enough temperature reduction, but not enough flow, you’ll blow up your engine.

I hope this article will be of great help to you as you strive to maintain your cooling system. A small expense on the front end can have big payoff for you down the road – the continued low cost operation of your existing vehicle.

If you need an engine, please call us at 901-266-9996. We’d love to be of help to you.

Popularity: 5% [?]