Prior/original owner didn't believe in anti freeze so I had a rusted out block and then blew a head gasket on my 2000 1500 5.2 with 217K. I bought a wrecking yard engine with 180k and min of 150psi on all cylinders. While it was on the engine stand, I replaced the timing chain, rod bearings and oil pump.

I just got everything installed and fired it up and it blew white smoke like crazy for about 5 minutes. It was so bad that I called the wrecking yard to give them the heads up that I might have got a bad engine. The smoke finally cleared up so I took it for a test drive. The throttle pedal seemed to "bottom out" really quick and I wasn't able to rev up beyond about 2500 rpm. This is an auto trans (less than 2000 miles on rebuilt trans) so I have the TV cable, throttle cable and speed sensor cable. Could one of those be out of adjustment (I used the same throttle plate assembly and cables from my original engine) or is there something else to check for?

Also, when I put it in reverse, the engine stalls as soon as I give it some gas. Seems to work fine in fwd but stalls in reverse. Any ideas?

Finally, my 2000 has the purge valve on the passenger fender where the wrecking yard engine had it on the rear drivers side of the block. Anyone know what years the 5.2's had the purge valve there? I'm trying to ID the year so I can sell the harness to someone with accurate info as the harness on my 2000 is different in many aspects.

 

96-97 on the valve. Stealing in reserve that could be the torque converter
Edit: just saw your other thread which intake did you use?

 

I used the old intake that was on the wrecking yard motor. I couldn't believe the difference in the wiring harnesses between the different years. The end that went to the main fuse panel on the drivers side fender was different along with the CPS, TPS, all injectors, temp/oil senders etc. I ended up just using the original harness and swapping over all the sensors/injectors/throttle plate etc from the old motor.

Regarding my lack of travel on the throttle pedal, could I have installed the TPS wrong and its limiting rotation of the throttle plate which would then limit my actual foot feed?

 

turns out I had the throttle cable "over" the black plastic cam thingy on the lever instead of "under", throttle now works just fine. I still do have the reverse issue. Engine immediately dies when put into reverse when cold but after being warmed up a bit it will roll a few feet before dying. Any ideas?

 

The intakes are different. You need to use the intake off the original motor.

 

What did you do with the crank sensor while swapping engines around? If you left it attached to the block, chances are real good it got crunched at install..... or at the very least, bent......

What year was the donor engine?

 

He doesn't know but I believe it's a 96-97