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how to spot a good engine?

bmx6454

bmx6454

New member
my friend was telling me that he saw a few gtps at the junkyard last time he was there, and i really want a supercharged engine. and an entire swap seems so much easier than a top swap. there are a few low mileage l67's at the junk yard around me, but how can i tell if the engine is good? like i know that obviously the cars are there for a reason, but by good, i mean not blown. like just minor things. are there any good tests? like i know to crank it by hand and see if it turns, or try too see what did go wrong mabye, but i cant compression test it there or anything..
 


You can do a compression test, but that won't tell you everything.

The only way to know for sure is to break it down completely and find out.
 
The reality is ... you likely aren't doing much of these tests in a true salvage yard where you pull your own parts.

Here's how I spot a good motor. I call this the NorthStar test. Look at the car, was it in a major accident and the body is destroyed... that should be a good engine.

Now you are wondering why it's the N* test right? If you wander over to the Caddy section, you'll see something interesting. Hardly any of the cars with N* motors have any body or interior damage. The entire car will look pristine. Hence...the car has a NorthStar motor. The motor is crap and not cost effective to replace, and the car got scrapped.
 
One way to spot a low mileage motor is to pull the plugs. Look for a stock plug. Check the gap on the plug. If its low mileage it should be close to the stock range. Higher will normally have the plugs changed or the stock gap will be really wide.


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Every yard should guarantee the engines they sell, to not leak or burn oil, have good compression across all cylinders, and to have no major defects.

Best bet in eyeballing an engine is how clean it is. If it's got lots of rust, gunk all over it, and just looks abused, I pass them up. Pull the plugs, and check the wear on them, and look for consistent, correct gap.
Spin the supercharger and see if it spins freely, and check for wobble (bad coupler) Look all over, cause looking is cheap. With the plugs pulled, try to turn the crank by hand, you should be able to.

Other than that, ask the yard about their warranty/exchange program.
 
at the yard by me, sometimes the car is written on saying "Runs" it helps. but like said if the body looks good then most likely its the engine that is bad. if it was a major accident then the engine was running up until the accident for sure... never know if something broke after impact... if it was a bad one. this is the car i got some parts out of. the engine was there when i first saw it and some a few parts. about a week later the engine was gone. it was a police car and you can only guess why it was there...

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at the yard by me, no testing equipment, the cars have no fluid of any kind. state law requires it drained. there are no batterys for cranking either.
 


the yards by me have the engines pulled, harness and pcm included with vin # year make model of car it came out of and the miles. and a price tag.

no such thing as a u pick it here anymore. all parts are pulled for you if not on a shelf already.
 
scottydoggs said:
the yards by me have the engines pulled, harness and pcm included with vin # year make model of car it came out of and the miles. and a price tag.

no such thing as a u pick it here anymore. all parts are pulled for you if not on a shelf already.
Click to expand...

Why make $300 letting stuff sit around waiting for someone to pull it....When you can make $1,000 by pulling it and putting a price on it.
 
Some of the places like LKQ, and John's U pull-it are cheap as dirt. Seriously, 300 for an engine. Now, the other places, like A1 Autos, or AAA Salvage, are compression tested, and steam-cleaned...But cost between 600-1200.
 


Yeah, fairly recently they had a GTX in there, poor thing was stripped clean pretty much, only thing left was the trunk (no spoiler) and 1 door badge (who the hell just takes one?) and a few doors. Engine and trans were gone, as was the entire interior..

I was a sad panda...

And yeah, I agree the extra money is the 'peace of mind' warranty
 
Nixon said:
Why make $300 letting stuff sit around waiting for someone to pull it....When you can make $1,000 by pulling it and putting a price on it.
Click to expand...


the problem i saw and was part of, was the destruction of other parts to get what you needed off the car. they all just faded away here, epa also shut a few down, ground contamination.

id rather get a pulled engine that is known to run for a few bucks more with any warranty then just take a shot in the dark with some random un run able car in the yard.

even in the last you pull the parts off yard around here, they pulled the running engines and stock piled them.
 
im going to harrys on the 28th, and they have 1$ parts that day. so an engine is gona be only 100$. me and my buds are pulling a few that day lol. but, besides hand cranking, and obvious visible signs, what r some things i could look for? i was thinking mabye just pull the valve covers, lim, and ect., and just look around for signs of bad damage?
 
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