2002 3500 Chevy Express Engine Failure

[jerem0621]

Yesterday while diving my FIL's 3500 express with a 350 V8 we experienced an apparent bottom end failure. I have never experienced this before so I may be wrong. Oil was good, recent service, always ran smooth, no engine noises etc.

This van had 125k miles on it and has always been a strong runner, always maintained on a regular basis.

We were using it to go on vacation and were about 125-150 miles from home. We sent the van home on a wrecker and rented another van to continue on the trip. I am sitting here on vacation and all I can think about is how this could have let go.

Here is the scenario

I was driving down the interstate at about 60-65 miles per hr. I noticed a slight tick coming from the drivers side. I assumed it may be valve rattle or a doughnut gasket on the exhaust manifold may have let go. However over the next half mile to mile the tick became louder. I got off the interstate and pulled into a quick lube just in time for the motor to fail compleatly. Thankfully it failed at a business that was very accommodating

Shout out to Kennessaw, Ga Casterol quick lube for letting my wife, our friends and the four children hang out while we made arrangements with the tow company and the Van rental.

I will deal with the Van for my FIL when I get home. Probably going to tear it down and rebuild it. I am just curious what could cause such a catostrauphic failure on a relatively low mileage 350 Chevy? Before the motor failed we could hear a loud 'clang clang clang clang' from the lower end.

Thanks

Jeremiah

[colliehauler]

I had the motor fail on my 97 Blazer at 148,000 miles. I bought a new 4.3 for it. Same thing went to pass a car and it started with a ticking sound that turned into a knock.

[Carrera_man]

A few weeks ago a friend of mine blew their motor in a Dodge SUV. She was just going shopping, rod came through the block. This motor had slightly over 100K and maintained properly.
As for the Ford E 250 and 350. I had four of them, never a problem had a problem with them eating tires. That twin I beam suspension handles like******though, look at one going down a bumpy road and see it go into positive camber like an old VW. I believe this is the last year for the E series as it's being replaced with the new Transit series.

[Cummins12V98]

GM crate is the way to go. They DO back them up. I changed out my 86 6.2L diesel with a 6.5 long block. They replaced it 3 times under warranty because the blocks cracked. This one is a good one with over 100K now.

[Tachdriver]

Vulcaneer wrote:
I find it amazing that this is the first lower end problem I have heard of in years. And this one is highly unusual. It used to be that after 100,000 miles it was common to have these problems. Now any lower end problem is very strange. It seems that if a lower end doesn't fail in the first 10,000 miles it will never fail. So to have one fail after 120K is weird.

Please report back with autopsy report. It does sound like a rod bearing went bad, though.

I agree...the crate Vortec is the way to go. You cannot rebuild heads, for the price of a crate motor. When I bought one to go into my sons 85 SS Montecarlo, it came with a 100K warranty. Unbelievable. That car it took me a day of disconnecting junk, just to get a good look at the engine. I think we counted up 62 connections of various hoses and wires. Ah...the good ole days.

This is what happened to me. My tranny 2nd gear went out and I let it sit all the while I had coolant sitting in the oil from the intake gasket leak. Since I did no oil changes and let it sit for three years I had this rod knock that got progressively worse. I didn't know about it until I spend $4000 on a Jasper trans and intake gasket fix. Talk about an expensive older truck but it now runs great.

[jerem0621]

GMT830 wrote:
Hard to believe you find the E series nice to drive after the far superior GM frontend design. The Ford twin beam is a handling disaster and eats tires for lunch.

Not sure I agree with that. I have been driving both the twin I beam front end ad the GM car front end design for many many years. (From Rangers, to half tons, to my 1 ton dually) I have never had the tire eating issues you describe or the poor handling issues with the durable Twin-I beam and I do prefer it to the GM front end design. And yes this 2013 Ford out handles the 02 Express. Just because a design is old doesn't mean that it's bad. From my experience the twin I beam is just fine if left stock. When they are modified (lowered) without the appropriate drop I beams that's when the issues start.

However, the GM design is fine and works fine as well. YMMV

Thanks!

Jeremiah

[Vulcaneer]

I find it amazing that this is the first lower end problem I have heard of in years. And this one is highly unusual. It used to be that after 100,000 miles it was common to have these problems. Now any lower end problem is very strange. It seems that if a lower end doesn't fail in the first 10,000 miles it will never fail. So to have one fail after 120K is weird.

Please report back with autopsy report. It does sound like a rod bearing went bad, though.

I agree...the crate Vortec is the way to go. You cannot rebuild heads, for the price of a crate motor. When I bought one to go into my sons 85 SS Montecarlo, it came with a 100K warranty. Unbelievable. That car it took me a day of disconnecting junk, just to get a good look at the engine. I think we counted up 62 connections of various hoses and wires. Ah...the good ole days.

[Jarlaxle]

$1443 for a rebuilt engine from Rock Auto.

[GMT830]

Hard to believe you find the E series nice to drive after the far superior GM frontend design. The Ford twin beam is a handling disaster and eats tires for lunch.

[jerem0621]

I am just thankful that the motor held together long enough to get us to a safe location. Thanks for all the tips and suggestions. This rental Van have has me seriously considering a 2010-2012 E-series 12 passenger van as my next TV. It's been a real pleasure to drive, very manuverable, about 2700 ish lbs of payload, E rated tires, Tons of power. Excellent visibility (awesome actually), and I am knocking down 14.7 mpg mixed driving! I could see this working well as my DD.

This thing has a 5.4, is a 2013, and I could swear it has more power than my old 99 V10 ( I know it has more HP and slightly less tq)

The tow rating has me puzzled though. Its rated for around 7400 lbs... The F250 with the same (or less) payload, motor, tires, and axle ratio is rated for nearly 10,000 lbs... (Had to go back a few years to find a 5.4 powered F250)

Thanks

[Turtle_n_Peeps]

Who knows? Could be lots of things?

These are just off the line engines and nothing special. Even multi million dollar race teams have engine failures. Even Hendrick's got ahold of a bunch of bad valve springs. And they are specialized racing engines with the sky is the limit on parts.

Some engines have parts that are just a bit weaker than other engines. These are the ones that are going go blow up first.

[GeoBoy]

Could be that the pressure relief stuck open an lost oil pressure.

[Tachdriver]

I just replaced my 5.7L in a 1996 C1500, just went to the Dealer parts counter and they had a crate engine, brand new and in the crate, not reman. Just give them your VIN number. While I was at it I replaced the O2 sensors, engine mounts, etc....just to keep the install operating with new sensors.

Went well took me 5 full weekends. Engine runs strong and has good power.

Hope you can swing it.

The cost was about $2000

[K3WE]

VintageRacer wrote:
...I sometimes think the miracle is that these things run for 11 years and 125K miles and don't break, not the opposite.

Brian

Excellent point. Motors do amazing things, and that we now expect them to make 250K or more miles, we've forgotten that 125K was about all they were good for not too many years ago.

[GMT830]

jerem0621 wrote:

GMT830 wrote:
My 96 Tahoe has 250k on the clock. Did the intake gaskets about 65k ago. She'd still be running strong if my son were a better driver and didn't pull out in front of people.....

Lena has 188k on the clock. No hesitation to head from Maine to Niagra this summer

Thats the way we were with this van. It has performed exceptionally over the years. I guess we will know more when the post-mortem is done.

That Goodrich 350 looks like an awesome deal. Says its a direct replacement for vehicles through 1985. I wonder what it would take to get it to work with the 2002 Chevy Express

They make a crate Vortec 350 too. The Vortec has different heads, different intake angle, roller lifters, etc. Just need to keep digging or call a dealer.