After about 20 days of trying to talk myself out of it... I decided to pull a 5.3 out of an 07 9-7x from a local you-pull-it.
The mileage was not listed on the vehicle. However on the oil change sticker on the window said, next oil change at 4,110 miles and the oil change sticker was almost 2 years old. I find it very hard to believe that an 07 only had 4k miles on it 2 years ago.
I ran a history report and found that in 2014 it had 94k miles on it for the sale of the vehicle. Hopefully, it has less than 200k on it now.
Anyway, I plan on doing a complete rebuild of the engine and putting that into my 06 9-7x (unless I can find a cheap newer 9-7x to put that 5.3 into). I was doing a search to find the reluctor count on my 4.2 and I just cannot seem to find it anywhere. I know that the 07 5.3 has the 58x relcutor and I assume mine has the 24x reluctor. If the reluctor is different than mine, do I just need to be careful on the ECM I use for the 5.3? I have a tech 2, so I assume I could reprogram any 07-09 5.3 ECM to work?
I did find this great chart for GM reluctors! They just don't list the 4.2 version for gmt360.
All I grabbed from the 07 5.3 was the engine (with all accessories) and the wiring harness. I'll grab the TCM and ECM (and probably the entire vehicle wiring harness) from an 07+ 5.3 at the junkyard later on. Someone had already grabbed the transmission before me. I assumed they planned on grabbing the engine as well as they cut the exhaust and some of the wiring harnesses near the engine. Maybe they saw something that looked like the engine wouldn't run and decided not to take it or they didn't have enough money for both pieces... I don't know. I didn't care though, as I plan to completely rebuild it.
There was no big oil leak and the coolant looked very clear with the red coloring like it had just come out of the coolant bottle.
This was me and my dad's first engine pull from a junkyard and there was a slight learning curve. It took us about 6 hours to pull the engine. For anyone else who has not pulled one from a junkyard but thinks that they might want to... Here are the key points to take away from my first go...
1. Bring about 3 fully charged batteries with whatever brand reciprocating saw you own
a. We ran out of juice. We needed one more battery and we could have gotten it out a day earlier.
2. Cut the exhaust pipe above the flange near the engine
3. Remove the exhaust manifold heat shield
4. Cut the sway bar links and the very bottom of the front shocks
a. Cutting the shock at the bottom so you don't have to try to remove it from the yoke. There is no pressure at the bottom of the shock.
5. Leave at least one engine mount bracket bolt in place on each side
a. The engine has two cross members underneath it, so It won't fall if you forget to leave a bolt in place on each side
6. When you are trying to lift the engine out make sure you lock your hook near the front of the engine, to lift it up on an angle.
a. You need to use some brute force and shake the engine forward and backward, to get the engine mounts loose from the frame.
Steps that are not necessary but, would make the fight of getting the engine out very easy. Especially if you are pulling the transmission out while still attached to the engine.
1. Remove or cut out the front bumper
2. Once you have the engine weight on the hoist/come along, cut out the cross member
Anyway, that engine pull was actually a lot of fun and I plan on doing it again. Hopefully, this inspires someone else to get a little dirty and pull a used engine.
The mileage was not listed on the vehicle. However on the oil change sticker on the window said, next oil change at 4,110 miles and the oil change sticker was almost 2 years old. I find it very hard to believe that an 07 only had 4k miles on it 2 years ago.
I ran a history report and found that in 2014 it had 94k miles on it for the sale of the vehicle. Hopefully, it has less than 200k on it now.
Anyway, I plan on doing a complete rebuild of the engine and putting that into my 06 9-7x (unless I can find a cheap newer 9-7x to put that 5.3 into). I was doing a search to find the reluctor count on my 4.2 and I just cannot seem to find it anywhere. I know that the 07 5.3 has the 58x relcutor and I assume mine has the 24x reluctor. If the reluctor is different than mine, do I just need to be careful on the ECM I use for the 5.3? I have a tech 2, so I assume I could reprogram any 07-09 5.3 ECM to work?
I did find this great chart for GM reluctors! They just don't list the 4.2 version for gmt360.
All I grabbed from the 07 5.3 was the engine (with all accessories) and the wiring harness. I'll grab the TCM and ECM (and probably the entire vehicle wiring harness) from an 07+ 5.3 at the junkyard later on. Someone had already grabbed the transmission before me. I assumed they planned on grabbing the engine as well as they cut the exhaust and some of the wiring harnesses near the engine. Maybe they saw something that looked like the engine wouldn't run and decided not to take it or they didn't have enough money for both pieces... I don't know. I didn't care though, as I plan to completely rebuild it.
There was no big oil leak and the coolant looked very clear with the red coloring like it had just come out of the coolant bottle.
This was me and my dad's first engine pull from a junkyard and there was a slight learning curve. It took us about 6 hours to pull the engine. For anyone else who has not pulled one from a junkyard but thinks that they might want to... Here are the key points to take away from my first go...
1. Bring about 3 fully charged batteries with whatever brand reciprocating saw you own
a. We ran out of juice. We needed one more battery and we could have gotten it out a day earlier.
2. Cut the exhaust pipe above the flange near the engine
3. Remove the exhaust manifold heat shield
4. Cut the sway bar links and the very bottom of the front shocks
a. Cutting the shock at the bottom so you don't have to try to remove it from the yoke. There is no pressure at the bottom of the shock.
5. Leave at least one engine mount bracket bolt in place on each side
a. The engine has two cross members underneath it, so It won't fall if you forget to leave a bolt in place on each side
6. When you are trying to lift the engine out make sure you lock your hook near the front of the engine, to lift it up on an angle.
a. You need to use some brute force and shake the engine forward and backward, to get the engine mounts loose from the frame.
Steps that are not necessary but, would make the fight of getting the engine out very easy. Especially if you are pulling the transmission out while still attached to the engine.
1. Remove or cut out the front bumper
2. Once you have the engine weight on the hoist/come along, cut out the cross member
Anyway, that engine pull was actually a lot of fun and I plan on doing it again. Hopefully, this inspires someone else to get a little dirty and pull a used engine.