Crankshaft Replacement

I believe they are recommending a long block for their own protection. We do this from time to time as well. Reason being, you can't clean every single oil passage out during a rebuild, unless you do a complete out of chassis full job/tear down. So the shop has to put faith in that the oil passages are fully clean. Right now, with the damage you said they found, they no longer have any guarantee there isn't metal in the engine somewhere. So if they do the rebuild and something goes wrong because of left over metal, they are on the hook for the cost to fix it again which really isn't fair and not really their fault in the first place.

 

What kind of oil are you using?

 

I'm not familiar with those particular engines, but in a situation like that where there can be metal in the engine somewhere everything completely has to come apart.

There's a lot of labor involved when you start doing complete and total disassembly, along with checking the block and the crank, cleaning magnafluxing etcetera etcetera.

In that kind of a case with that many miles on it they are directing you correctly to put a new engine in.

Along the same lines, I've rebuilt several of the engines in our cars. At one point we had one car that spun a bearing on the crankshaft.

I was going to tear the engine apart and rebuild it and a friend of mine that has a shop sat me down and talked to me about it and advised me to just buy a new engine.

He was absolutely correct in the time and energy and money and everything else that it saved.

 

Plus if you do get the new engine, you can then tear the bad one down, and do a proper cleanout
of all the oil galleys with a take your time rebuilding it for a spare to have on hand, just in case.
(You could also have the option to sell it when it's done?)
Some engines have them drilled thru in places, and capped w/threaded plug
to do a 90 deg. turn, this is where the poop particles would lay, and pop out into your nice fresh in-frame.
Long wire brush, like a rifle cleaner, and an hour in the hot parts cleaner tank brings out this crap.
Option "C" -
I had a similar choice once, and opted for a brand new "short block" right from Caterpillar.
Most "rebuilds" have undersize journals somewhere, rods or mains - this choice was all brand new stuff.
As they get this apart, have them take a micrometer on several different cross sections of the rod journals,
to see if they have worn egg shaped, from the tremendous pressure exerted on a crank from the rods.
I would see the result and decide from there, I believe best bet would be short block. IMHO.
You still have to do the head, but total will be far less with a similar result.
It's a sticky decision, I was there, but I am happy with the result I got with a short block. (Still works.)

 

If me, I would go with the long block... Check the liner heights if possible. Like HeavyD said, metal in the oil galleys, bad Ju Ju. Something pops out 6 months down the road... Eliminate the potential for a real case of ugly. I just went through my second in frame in two years, don't be a victim.

 

Tear it down and see, just make sure to really flush the motor out. If you have those adjustable scissor gears, you can install a normal gear in its place in most cases, that is what I did with the one on my injector cam. That new scissor gear was around $800 where the solid gear was around $275. It works just fine.

And watch these guys too, I was raped the first time around by the dealership that botched my first in frame. I did the second one myself down at Rawze's house. And by GOD make sure they machine the block! Loc-Tite 609 on the cam and exhaust gears! And lots of Ultra Slick on the new bearings and clutches! Also on the piston wrist pins. From the looks of my motor they used nothing and just dry started. The bearings were shot, 150,000 miles on them.

Before starting this new motor, no matter which way you go, pop out a port at the oil filter and pump oil into the block until it halfway fills the top of the head. Any good shop will have this pump and no where to hook it up. Do not start your new motor without doing this!

Good luck.