92 caravan 3.0 v6 w/52k - blown motor

What happened to you is quite unusual. Say what you want to about the 3.0L, the bottom ends are supposedly very strong. Rare manufacturing defect may have been a cause, but that's pure speculation.

The white smoke was probably coolant, but that's not necessarily an indication of a blown head gasket.

So a van with only 52K miles on it doesn't justify getting a junkyard motor?

--Geoff

That was an error. Why did you tell him that? I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you've probably got this van's blood (or coolant...) on your hands. Banging noises and exhaust smoke, and you told him to keep driving?!

Not enough info to comment. Could be improper maintenance, could be operator error, could be plain old bad luck.

Yep. Hit

and find a nice, juicy, low-miles 3.0 to replace the toasted one.

Sounds like interesting math. A van with 52K on it? What kind of van are we going to buy with the (let's be generous and say) $1000 you'd spend installing a good used engine?

DS

I wasn't bashing the 3.0. Just that most of the posts I've found regarding problems with it were with head gaskets. The book value of the van is about $1500 with a running engine. I figure about $3000 for a "good" motor and to have it put it in. We don't have a need for a van, never did, but the previous priest thought so. We need a truck for trash removal, moving furniture, etc. So now would be a good time to get rid of it and get a truck. Thanks for your reply.

I told him to try to limp it in because a vehicle with a blown head gasket is driveable unless it's dumping coolant all over the ground. And I said, the coolant level wasn't affected whatsoever by the whole ordeal, not that I knew that then though.

I stated the vehicle was maintained. how/what operator error would you mean that would cause such extensive damage, especially to a block? He let the engine warm up for about 10 minutes, just long enough for the temp guage to start moving and then he drove away. Like I said in the initial post, it was never horsed on either. I lean toward the plain old bad luck (dodge).

$1000 for the motor, to have shipped and installed? that's interesting math. The KBB value is listed at about $1500 with a running motor. I just can't see dumping that much or more into it. Yes it only has 52k and it was maintained. The next oil change wasn't due for another 1k. We just had it changed a 2-3 months ago. Maybe we can block it up and use it as a toolshed. :o) We're not buying another van. Personally I'd like to see it towed away so we can get something useful like a truck (Toyota preferably) for the things we need it for. It seems the boss feels the same as we're shopping next week for a new one. My post was asking for insights on possible causes to such a failure. Thanks for your response.

Continuing to drive the vehicle upon its giving signs of severe mechanical distress.

Shipped? You live, perhaps, on an island?

The KBB value? Who cares? You said it is a church van. Its value is not measured in print on a website or in a book, it's measured in whether it does its job as a church van, and my question stands: What kind of vehicle are you going to buy with the $1000 you'd spend installing a good used engine?

DS

yeah, shipped as in transferred, moved, freighted, carried, relocated across land by way of road or rail. not across the atlantic nor the pacific on a 'ship'.

I suppose KBB, Edmund's and NADA are just printed to waste paper? Nevermind. Anyways, here's a good truck that would be a better use of $1000.

Irrelevant. The question was, "what are you going to find for the price of installing a used engine that is comparable?"

You're joking right?

182K miles, tie rods shot, no tailgate, that stupid lift kit, wheel spacers, 36" mudder tires. You're going to spend more money just keeping this thing in universal joints for a year than it's going to cost to do a bone yard engine in the Caravan.

I thought you said that the church needed a truck for hauling trash and grounds maintanance, this thing is better suited to someone having a mid-life crisis who has yet to advance to the stage of making intelligent decisions.

No it isn't - a number of people have thought that in the past then ended up destroying their engines.

If your lucky when a head gasket goes the leak will be small enough that it won't matter. If your unlucky then the leak is really large and if your running at speed you can suck a cylinder full of uncompressible water and break the side of the engine out.

The problem is there's no way to know how bad the failure is. It's like a sudden drop in oil pressure, if your quick and you shut down the engine you can save it. Unfortunately most people aren't quick and a mile down the road the engine seizes and that's the end of it.

It wouldn't be worth it to you. But for $200 someone out there with a garage and some time and a need for a van can get yours and then go buy a 3.0 with a bad top end out of a wrecking yard for $300 and mix and match parts to get a running engine out of it. Or another way is if someone has a van that they just smashed up and that has a good engine in it, they can buy yours.

Ted

You must live in a very isolated location not to have used-parts sources that are local to you.

My goodness. First telling someone to keep driving a vehicle that gave ample indication of serious mechanical trouble, causing the catastrophic failure of the engine. Then your idiotic notion that there are no local used 3.0s in good condition. Then your moronic bleating about the Kelly Blue Book. And now, of all the trucks on god's green earth, *THIS*?!

I cannot believe how incredibly stupid you are. I mean rock-hard stupid. Dehydrated-rock-hard stupid. Stupid so stupid that it goes way beyond the stupid we know into a whole different dimension of stupid. You are trans-stupid stupid. Meta-stupid. Stupid collapsed on itself so far that even the neutrons have collapsed. Stupid gotten so dense that no intellect can escape. Singularity stupid. Blazing hot mid-day sun on Mercury stupid. You emit more stupid in one second than our entire galaxy emits in a year. Quasar stupid. Your writing has to be a troll. Nothing in our universe can really be this stupid. Perhaps this is some primordial fragment from the original big bang of stupid. Some pure essence of a stupid so uncontaminated by anything else as to be beyond the laws of physics that we know. I'm sorry. I can't go on. This is an epiphany of stupid for me. After this, you may not hear from me again for a while. I don't have enough strength left to deride your ignorant questions and half baked comments about unimportant trivia, or any of the rest of this drivel. Duh.

*owned*

DS

You need to create a web page somewhere for the express purpose of preserving that, and you need to slap a copyright on it. It deserves a place in the Retorts Hall of Fame.

Seriously.

--Geoff

Thanks, Geoff, but it's not mine. I shamelessly lifted it from somebody else years ago. Do a groups.google.com advanced search on the exact phrase "Stupid gotten so dense that no intellect can escape", and you'll see it's in wide use. I'd like to track down the author and thank him or her, though.

DS

Thank you Ted. Your first description sounds like that may have been what happened. Someone else suggested too that the oil port in the crank got plugged and the rod bearing seized or came apart. I can't find any sign of lost coolant. We'll probably end up just turning it in to the dealer when we get our new truck.

We're not. We're getting rid of it and getting a truck because that is what we need and now is a good opportunity to just that.

Yes I was. I thought most people would figure it out that I was replying with sarcasm and DJS gullibly ate it up.

Thanks for your reply.