2005 Dakota SLT. 78,000 miles. BEAUTIFUL condition. I really take care of this truck.
Last night, my engine blew* (according to my mechanic).

Now I need to decide either to put in a rebuilt engine, or sell it as-is to a mechanic who can replace then engine.

My local Dodge dealer quoted me about $6,000 for a remanufactured engine installed. My local non-Dodge garage quoted me the same price.
Both would have a 3 year 100,000 mile warranty. For me, that'd be only 3 years because put very few miles on it.

Advice? Replace or sell as-is? I'd sure like to get the opinions of this group.

*Weird happening - battery light came on in the dash, then the heat warning went on. By the time that I pulled over, I had already lost my power steering, because the engine was no longer running. No steam, other than that of the radiator fluid splashed on the engine.

 

Sounds like the serpentine belt went? Which may have been the result of the water pump seizing? Alternator quit, fan/water pump quit, p/s pump quit.

Did the mechanic look at it our diagnose by phone? You may not be as badly off as you think, if it was a telephone diagnosis.

 

I'd find out what exactly is wrong first. Have you checked it yourself? Hows the oil level? Hows the coolant level?

 

Does it roll over?

 

4.7? dumb question; I imagine slts are always v8s?

 

What do they say is blown on the engine? Thrown a rod? Spun bearings? What?

With an engine that works, your truck is probably worth a premium price. Without an engine that works, it's a project, a non runner, not worth much--at least $6 grand off the top KBB price, probably more.

I take it, you can't do the work yourself. So you're at the mercy of whoever works on it. If it were me, I would attempt to find a decent used replacement engine. If the replacement engine was high miles, I'd probably do a refresh on it.

OR, buy a remanufactured engine myself. Rockauto lists one (4.7 longblock) for about $2600, minus 5%, plus shipping and core. Even if they source one for like $4 grand, they're gonna charge $2000 to install an engine? I'd want to see a breakdown of the quotes, myself, but $6 grand looks like an awful high price.

I think you need to do some more homework, and shopping.

 

Nah SLT is just the model... like Laramie, ST... and the SLT. It could be V8 or V6

And I agree with this.

 

The Dodge dealer says that the water pump went first then the engine overheated. The engine WILL run but it sounds very bad, like stuff is banging around inside the block.
The dealer said that they could start tearing it apart but it'd likely end up still needing to be replaced which would end up costing me more money. Yes, I know that they'd like me to buy a new engine.
I can't do this myself so I'm at the mercy of a mechanic. Our fleet mechanic at my work is also checking on pricing for me. It's likely that he will end up doing the work for me. I trust him 100%.

 

So you kept driving it with a bad water pump and overheating? Why didnt you shut it off when it started to overheat?

 

I did, but it happened so fast that the damage was already done. It was unusually fast. I tried getting off the highway on to a side road asap.

I didn't know that the water pump was bad until it was too late.