Son Of A B#%&*... I Blew My Engine!!!!

I

ISLANDER914

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So I am heading back from a week of camping towing my trailer, 200 miles from home and the engine goes. Started to hear a tapping but kept going to the next exit, and heading down the ramp something went. loud knocking and squealing. Oh well... So the mechanic tells me about 4k for parts and labor for a remanufatured engine from Jasper. Does anyone have ant input about jasper and also if I do replace the engine, are there any upgrades I can make to increase hp and torque being that I tow a 3,000 pound boat and trailer and 5,500 pound travel trailer. As is I don't remember ever going over 3500 RPM towing. usually its at 2800 to 3000 RPM depending on the incline of the road to hold 70 mph in drive(not overdrive). Anyway I love the truck and would hate to part with it and have a car payment. I am not trying to break the bank. Any ideas would great Thanks.
 
ISLANDER914 said:
So I am heading back from a week of camping towing my trailer, 200 miles from home and the engine goes. Started to hear a tapping but kept going to the next exit, and heading down the ramp something went. loud knocking and squealing. Oh well... So the mechanic tells me about 4k for parts and labor for a remanufatured engine from Jasper. Does anyone have ant input about jasper and also if I do replace the engine, are there any upgrades I can make to increase hp and torque being that I tow a 3,000 pound boat and trailer and 5,500 pound travel trailer. As is I don't remember ever going over 3500 RPM towing. usually its at 2800 to 3000 RPM depending on the incline of the road to hold 70 mph in drive(not overdrive). Anyway I love the truck and would hate to part with it and have a car payment. I am not trying to break the bank. Any ideas would great Thanks.
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What year was your Suburban again and engine size, 5.7 right?? As for upgrades, oil pump and cam made for towing for more torque and HP on your low and mid range. ;)
 
If I get the engine custom, is there a limit on hp and torque to watch out for when matching to the tranny. It has the 4L60e? will the 80 fit in a half ton? Jasper has a "stock" rebuild, a "class 1" which they say has a mild cam upgrade and a "stock performance" which they say starts at about 300hp. Just trying to get all the options before I make a choice. Thanks.
 
ISLANDER914 said:
If I get the engine custom, is there a limit on hp and torque to watch out for when matching to the tranny. It has the 4L60e? will the 80 fit in a half ton? Jasper has a "stock" rebuild, a "class 1" which they say has a mild cam upgrade and a "stock performance" which they say starts at about 300hp. Just trying to get all the options before I make a choice. Thanks.
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The 4L60 is rated at max 350 ft-lbs of engine torque, Plus the 4l60 has a max GVW of 8600lbs in the correct app with the right axle ratio. It should ever tow in OD and most people don't realize this until they have toasted theirs. It NEEDS an external ATF cooler (heaviest GVW available) of great size and most are not equipped from the factory with this. The 700r4 and 4L60e are, basically designed from their ancestor, the TH350.

Go with a "class 1" and replace the boost valve and swap out the servos to your transmission. This should keep your transmission happy with a new engine. ;) oh and almost forgot what putting back the accessory's. Make sure your have the upgraded distributor gear, the stock factory one was soft and the gears would wear down causing oil pump failure. :eek:
 
When you say GVW of 8600 lbs, does that mean I shouldn't be towing the 5500 lb travel trailer? The owners manual says I have the rear that is rated to tow up to 7200lbs. I have installed a tranny temp gage on the outlet of the transmission. Cruising at 65-70 in drive, towwing, when it's hot it runs 175 deg. It will increase to 180-185ish up hill. Normall driving it is 160 at the most. But this last trip I was in a lot of stop and go traffic while towing and noticed 205-215ish. Once out of trafic and moving it goes down. It has the external cooler mounted in front of all the other coolers. Am I "cooking" the tranny? I have read if you hit 300 don't expect more than 2000 miles more out of the tranny. Any way if the vehicle is not rated to tow my toys I will not fix the engine. But if it is how does this sound. The tranny changes like you mentioned, the "class I" engine with upgrade in distributer and oil pump, cold air intake, flowmaster direct fit cat and cat back exhaust, and Flowtech 91832FLT headers from Summit. You only live once and it's no fun "going out" leaving the money in the bank. Thanks again for all your time and input.
 
ISLANDER914 said:
When you say GVW of 8600 lbs, does that mean I shouldn't be towing the 5500 lb travel trailer? The owners manual says I have the rear that is rated to tow up to 7200lbs. I have installed a tranny temp gage on the outlet of the transmission. Cruising at 65-70 in drive, towwing, when it's hot it runs 175 deg. It will increase to 180-185ish up hill. Normall driving it is 160 at the most. But this last trip I was in a lot of stop and go traffic while towing and noticed 205-215ish. Once out of trafic and moving it goes down. It has the external cooler mounted in front of all the other coolers. Am I "cooking" the tranny? I have read if you hit 300 don't expect more than 2000 miles more out of the tranny. Any way if the vehicle is not rated to tow my toys I will not fix the engine. But if it is how does this sound. The tranny changes like you mentioned, the "class I" engine with upgrade in distributer and oil pump, cold air intake, flowmaster direct fit cat and cat back exhaust, and Flowtech 91832FLT headers from Summit. You only live once and it's no fun "going out" leaving the money in the bank. Thanks again for all your time and input.
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At 5500lbs travel trailer your below the max rating of the 4L60e so your good to tow, you may want to replace your transmission cooler with the largest cooler you can fit in front of your radiator. Any heat to a automatic transmission is bad and the colder the better it is for your transmission, the other think you also may want to do is to replace your transmission fluid with synthetic.

The synthetic fluid will not break down like the conventional transmission oil, it does cost more at the first conversion since you need to drain all the transmission fluid to replace it with the synthetic. But when you service the transmission, all you have to do is to replace the small amount lost when the pan is dropped to change the filter.

As for the engine mods, sounds good. But make sure you use stainless headers, most after market headers are thiner then the stock exhaust manifold. Once your engine is back installed and i take it your going to have the MPI fuel system upgrade to your fuel system since your engine is apart, have your PCM tuned for the mods you have done. Remember it's the PCM that controls the most part of the performance of your engine and transmission. http://www.pcmforless.com/

Good luck and keep us posted;)
 
350 blowing up what?

how many miles? they must of went down on quality build i ran a 95 van 2500 series no tranny cooler pulled a 35 foot trailer 2200 miles ran it way down on oil had two quarts in the motor lost power and was knocking really loud pull off exit was five miles and it was knocking and smoking had to the floor went to gas station put 3 quarts of oil in it purred like a kitten went on my way 400 mile to home ran great those 350 are tough the van had 256000 miles only went through one trans at 154000 miles
 
185K miles, this is the second tranny and engine. Not literally "blown up", it is driveable, but with the wife a 4 and 2 year old I had to stop. I limped home one other time on a bad fuel filter and pump from 160 miles out. Not fun didn'tget home till 4 in the morning. Was hell on the kid. If I was still single and no kids... I would still be driving it the way its.
 
Well its back on the road... the exhaust took a little getting used to but I think we'll keep it. Towed the boat a few times and it felt a little more responsive with the load. Towing the camper later this month. Overall happy with the finished renewed suburban. Thanks again Molsen.
 
ISLANDER914 said:
Well its back on the road... the exhaust took a little getting used to but I think we'll keep it. Towed the boat a few times and it felt a little more responsive with the load. Towing the camper later this month. Overall happy with the finished renewed suburban. Thanks again Molsen.
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Glad you got your Suburban back on it's feet and running again. For the first few oil changes, it would be a good thing to have the shop do an oil analysis to keep an eye on the normal wear during your break in period.

Most shops do it here in the town i live in and just cost an extra $6.00 and 15 min to get a reading. It's a great way to see if there is any contamination in the oil from fluid mixing and the amount of different metals that is used in the different bearings used in the engine.

As for the different exhaust noise, just do what i do and turn up the stereo. :D Oh and don't forget about replacing your boost valve (0.500") and servo to corvette servos in your transmission to freshen it up, since you have all the extra HP and tq from a fresh engine. ;)
 
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