Well,my 03 5.7 is getting tired. Its started going through some fluids in the last 6 months. in a 3k oil change Its burned 2 quarts of oil. The valvestem seals or guides are shot and when its hot it'll smoke for a few secs on every take off and start. Rings are still good. Still has its power. Im debating on buying a crate engine,or having heads rebuilt. I topped off the coolant about 5k ago and checked on it while i was topping the oil off. it held almost half a gallon. Seems a bit much in my opinion. Oils clean. No leaks of anything noticable. trucks bottom is clean.

Transmission :
truck has 197k miles on it. trans is shifting fine,but sometimes a lil slow on a downshift and i can feel some light shudder on shifts. As well as a clunk when in drive and not overdrive. Mounts are good.


I bought this truck with 60ish k on it. ive never had any issues other then a tank of bad gas which killed the cat,and injectors. Other then that and minor suspension and general maintenance its treated me well. Id love to have the engine and trans replaced with rebuilt units,but thinking of putting another $7k in this truck makes me wanna think more about it. Opinions are what im asking for i guess.

 

If you have $7k in the bank... then I'd trade that truck in for around $5,000-$6,800 and buy a new (or newER) truck.... but that's just me.

Seeing as you will likely need to spend more than $7,000 to get the engine and trans rebuilt...

 

If you like the truck and it is in decent shape, I would keep it and overhaul/replace the engine and service the trans. Might be something simple like a solenoid pack sticking.
I would say you can replace the engine and overhaul the trans for less than 7K. This way you are not buying someone else's headache. I plan on keeping mine forever.