Newer to the forum but been reading advice on here and the “other” forum for a little long time. Swapping engines in a 2003 Trailblazer EXT. Long story of how I got to this engine swap so here it goes..........
About 3 years ago our 2003 Envoy’s transmission went out after my son got water in the transmission. He first turned his F-250 into a submarine and the backed my Envoy down into the flooded creek to recover his truck before it got swept downstream. I guess the water flowing in the doors was not a good enough indication that he was in a little too deep. At some point during this “rescue mission” the transmission injested a significant amount of water. When I got home 2 days later maybe I should of questioned the freshly shampooed carpets and air fresheners. About a month later while doing routine maintenance I noticed the strawberry milkshake present in the transmission and then got the rest of the story! So I drained the transmission and modified the pan at work with service ports and connected a small oil vacuum dehydrator that we build to it and dried it out. The damage was already done but I got 6 more months out of it before it failed. I parked it and actually though about parting it out until one Saturday morning I find a 2003 Envoy on a Facebook swap and shop for $300. It had been rolled but had still ran and drove.
As it turns out the remanufacted transmission in it only had about 3000 miles on it. The engine had about 105,000 on it. So I swapped the transmission into my Envoy.
I pulled the rest of the rolled Envoy apart, pack ratted away as many good parts as I could in my shop, including the engine. I filled it with scrap from around the farm and pull it across the scale and get $260 of my $300 back. So net I am $40 into a new transmission.
About 6 months later I again am on Facebook and find a 2003 Trailblazer EXT for $500 with a rod knock. Life happens and this project gets shoved to the back of my farm shop and basically forgotten about until 2 weeks ago when my daughter wrapped the Envoy around a tree. So now the Trailblazer engine swap got shuffled to the top of the list again.
More on this swap to come...........
About 3 years ago our 2003 Envoy’s transmission went out after my son got water in the transmission. He first turned his F-250 into a submarine and the backed my Envoy down into the flooded creek to recover his truck before it got swept downstream. I guess the water flowing in the doors was not a good enough indication that he was in a little too deep. At some point during this “rescue mission” the transmission injested a significant amount of water. When I got home 2 days later maybe I should of questioned the freshly shampooed carpets and air fresheners. About a month later while doing routine maintenance I noticed the strawberry milkshake present in the transmission and then got the rest of the story! So I drained the transmission and modified the pan at work with service ports and connected a small oil vacuum dehydrator that we build to it and dried it out. The damage was already done but I got 6 more months out of it before it failed. I parked it and actually though about parting it out until one Saturday morning I find a 2003 Envoy on a Facebook swap and shop for $300. It had been rolled but had still ran and drove.
As it turns out the remanufacted transmission in it only had about 3000 miles on it. The engine had about 105,000 on it. So I swapped the transmission into my Envoy.
I pulled the rest of the rolled Envoy apart, pack ratted away as many good parts as I could in my shop, including the engine. I filled it with scrap from around the farm and pull it across the scale and get $260 of my $300 back. So net I am $40 into a new transmission.
About 6 months later I again am on Facebook and find a 2003 Trailblazer EXT for $500 with a rod knock. Life happens and this project gets shoved to the back of my farm shop and basically forgotten about until 2 weeks ago when my daughter wrapped the Envoy around a tree. So now the Trailblazer engine swap got shuffled to the top of the list again.
More on this swap to come...........