Blown engine

[JJ927]

Driving home from Texas my Vortec 8100 decided to **** out on me 450 miles from home. I left it at a Chevy dealer to look at and rented a car to make it home. Chevy just called to tell me the engine is shot, $10-20k to fix. That's big $$ for a '04 Georgie Boy Landau 3525TS.

What options do I have? Will a dealer take a 16 year old class A with a blown engine as a trade? I can't exactly sell it myself either because it's 450 miles away. Having it towed home would cost as much as fixing it.

[ArchHoagland]

"towed 5 miles up the road ($416!) to a mom & pop truck repair location."

Your insurance should cover all that.

AAA covered all my towing from one shop to another shop.

[John_Joey]

Check Nada it appears your rig is worth 20k. I wouldn’t put in more then half that to get it back on the road. So used is the way to go IMO.
NADA click

[carringb]

"Blown" can mean a lot of different things to different people. I'm glad you got the rig away from the dealer. In my experience, some dealers automatically defer to worst-case, because it avoids any problems from bad diagnostics. My local Ford dealer "diagnosed" my last van as needing a new motor because of some intermittent black exhaust, when it really turned out to be a broken wire going to the oxygen sensor.

[JJ927]

Thank you all for the responses. I don't know specifically what's wrong with the engine yet. All the Chevy dealer could tell me was it was "blown". They didn't have lift or capabilities to look into it any further - their garage isn't set up for motorhome work. Yesterday it was towed 5 miles up the road ($416!) to a mom & pop truck repair location.

I have more confidence in them than the dealer, and as many of you suggested, I did NOT like the idea of dealer markup prices. I only went there because there was oil and smoke pouring out of the engine when I got off the highway in an unfamiliar area on a Saturday afternoon. My choices were limited and I had to keep to a schedule. Preliminary google searches didn't turn up too much, but I had to find a place to park it.

[wa8yxm]

By the way. The reason my 2005 has a 2004 engine.
About 3 years ago the original engine went BOOM. We found out it was murdered (road kill) not a problem with the engine but an external issue.
So the only compatable USED in the area was a 2004. It fit, It works purrs like the OEM. 7,000 engine and labor plus a about 1500 worth of shop supplies that most shops would not need (Lou got a ton of firewood after I left 🙂 )

We parked the rig up about 2 1/2 feet on a pile of lumber.. Dropped the engine out. Lifted the "new" one in and drove off the wood pile..

[crawford]

For that year look for a used one there are a lot in junk yards I wood never spend that much on that year.....

[doxiemom11]

Do some searches on google for motorhome salvage. I ran across a company that have every make, model of motorhome. They had all been totalled, but some were because of hail damage or other things that would not affect the motor. They sell any usable parts off the motorhome, mechanical or house.

[Alan_Hepburn]

Lwiddis wrote:
Thirty-five grand would have made a fairly good downpayment on a new coach.

...and then there's the monthly payments that go along with that down payment.

[Chum_lee]

You don't state what actually "blew up" on your existing engine. (you may not know at this point) However, I agree that you can get a factory rebuilt GM quality "crate motor" at a considerable discount from GM without necessarily going through the local GM dealer at retail price. You have to decide if you want to take the chance of having an "indy" technician/mechanic install it because if they don't buy the engine (from GM and add their own markup) they will be working for you by the hour. (no materials guarantee, just labor) Good luck to you.

Chum lee

[RLS7201]

BurbMan wrote:
How many miles on your 8.1? I had 183k on my Suburban and the motor was still strong when I sold it. If you opt for a replacement engine vs a the dealer rebuild, watch what you are buying. The 8.1 is not the same as the 454, and 8.1's were built for several applications, so be sure to get one that was built for an RV application, not built for racing.

Don't think GM built any 8.1 (496) for racing. But there were a ton of 502 big blocks built for racing.

Richard

[JJ927]

BurbMan wrote:
How many miles on your 8.1? I had 183k on my Suburban and the motor was still strong when I sold it. If you opt for a replacement engine vs a the dealer rebuild, watch what you are buying. The 8.1 is not the same as the 454, and 8.1's were built for several applications, so be sure to get one that was built for an RV application, not built for racing.

Only 52K, but it sat in Florida for years without running, so the who knows what condition the inside of the engine is in.

[BurbMan]

How many miles on your 8.1? I had 183k on my Suburban and the motor was still strong when I sold it. If you opt for a replacement engine vs a the dealer rebuild, watch what you are buying. The 8.1 is not the same as the 454, and 8.1's were built for several applications, so be sure to get one that was built for an RV application, not built for racing.

[midnightsadie]

x2 don,t let the dealer do it, they just rip you off . find a mom,pop shop for half that money and a better job.

[rgatijnet1]

Just make sure that you find out what caused the problem. A bad MAF has been known to make the engine run lean and burn a piston. There could also be an issue with the ECM or O2 sensors.
Basically you want to make sure that if you get a new long block that you do not use any bad components from your old engine when you bolt on all of the accessories.