What to Look for in a Salvage Yard Engine or Trans

[EricTheCarGuy]

I took some time and thought about some of the things that I look for in a salvage yard engine or transmission. I hope these tips are helpful if you’re looking to put either one or both of these in your vehicle.

If you have any tips or suggestions, feel free to post them.

Topic

[Matt]

After you pick one, do you go with pulling it yourself, or have them do it? We have some yards the engine is removed before the car is parked in the yard if it appears to be good, or some yards that won’t pull them at all. I have a coworker that went to the later, spent a couple days working on getting the motor out with minimal tools, only to find a different deal on a motor. I said to him that it must have sucked, since he almost had it out. He said he didn’t mind, but that seems like a lot of wasted time to me. On the former, kind of sucks because you don’t get to do a lot of what you showed. Pretty much a visual is all that is given. Heard of a guy from our Upper Peninsula buying an engine sight unseen, had my brother in law pic it up while in town. That sounded crazier.

[James P Grosso]

Check glove compartment for service records too.
If the engine is too clean, someone likely have had it apart for a reason.

[EricTheCarGuy]

[quote=”Flintiron” post=167577]After you pick one, do you go with pulling it yourself, or have them do it? We have some yards the engine is removed before the car is parked in the yard if it appears to be good, or some yards that won’t pull them at all. I have a coworker that went to the later, spent a couple days working on getting the motor out with minimal tools, only to find a different deal on a motor. I said to him that it must have sucked, since he almost had it out. He said he didn’t mind, but that seems like a lot of wasted time to me. On the former, kind of sucks because you don’t get to do a lot of what you showed. Pretty much a visual is all that is given. Heard of a guy from our Upper Peninsula buying an engine sight unseen, had my brother in law pic it up while in town. That sounded crazier.[/quote]

You pull all the parts yourself, including engines, at Pull-a-Part.

[EricTheCarGuy]

[quote=”451Mopar” post=167609]Check glove compartment for service records too.
If the engine is too clean, someone likely have had it apart for a reason.[/quote]

Great tip.

[Author]

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