what year 5.3l engines will work without alot of messing around?

[kenman1717]

Right now i am running an '02 Silverado 4x4 with the 5.3. I'm a licensed auto tech in Canada, have rebuilt and replaced a lot of these engines, but it was never up to me to try to source the correct one before. Of all the reading and others i have talked to i'm getting that i need an 02-04 5.3. i have talked to some that say the reluctor for the crank is different after '05. i have read that active fuel management started in '05. but i also read that any 99-06 5.3 would work if i just swapped my intake and throttle body, and maybe a reprogram. i plan on going through any engine i get anyway and swapping over anything thats good that i don't need to buy. i know that most replacement parts were the same for 4.8, 5.3 and 6.0 engines from 99-06/07 but not all. i don't want to do a full rebuild, if i wanted that i would just rebuild what i have. i had an '06 silverado with a low km 5.3 that purred, no knocking at all that i was going to use, but was steered away by differences in the engine, so i sold the truck. but we just had a bad cold spell -40c, rear main puked, oil pan gasket went, cooler lines went, and it started knocking even worse than it did. i'm trying to decide what to do here. i could buy another used truck fro $2-3 thousand, but the body would be rotted, and it would have 300 000km. A new crate engine would probably be more than $3000. A reman engine would probably still be $2000, and a used one would likely be $1500 or so but would most likely have minimum 250k on it or more most likely. anyone have any knowledge to share?

[Blue Bowtie]

These might be of interest:

http://www.superchevy.com/how-to/eng...your-ls-crank/

http://www.engineprofessional.com/ar...Q415_56-62.pdf

[j cAT]

because your in Canada rust belt area 2002 truck with over 200K miles on it , then the body and frames will be an expensive problem. why do the engine work ?
your a licensed auto mechanic and are owning an old , very old GM truck ?
buy a new truck keep it 4-5 yrs then buy a another one.

weird that your rear main blew out ... not normal . put a block heater on your new truck .

[kenman1717]

Originally Posted by j cAT

because your in Canada rust belt area 2002 truck with over 200K miles on it , then the body and frames will be an expensive problem. why do the engine work ?
your a licensed auto mechanic and are owning an old , very old GM truck ?
buy a new truck keep it 4-5 yrs then buy a another one.

weird that your rear main blew out ... not normal . put a block heater on your new truck .

wow, i wasn't notified of your response, thought this site did that automatically.

actually where i live in canada its really common for people to have older trucks, alot are restoration projects, some not. from the 70s all the way into the mid 2000s. and a vehicle with even 300k is not rare around here, especially on stuff thats 2010-2015. and while yes there are alot of body and frame rust problems, not all are, especially if the previous owner washed them and parked inside. 4-5 yr old trucks are expensive can be anywhere above 10 grand to 20. where as good condition stuff from like 2000 - 2010 can be anywhere from 1000-5000. rear main blowing out is not uncommon here, pcv freeze up is a real thing, Gm even has bulletins on it. my block heater isn't working at the moment and they are a pain, not in the sense they are hard to change, but you get a coolant shower or at the very least soaked down to one arm pit.

besides the body and frame are in great shape, one little hole on the pass side cab corner, body shop said they'd fix for $800, rockers are solid. previous owner did the trans 35k ago.

replaced the pcv valve and put the updated gm oil cap that is vented on as per the bulletin and the leak has really slowed down, still trying to decide what i'm doing with it. have another issue that i might start another post for, not related to this at all.