I have a 1995 Dodge Ram Van 2500. I just got a new paint job done on it and found out that the noise that I thought was in the exhaust is really in the engine. The engine failed a compression test, it needs a new radiator, and front suspension work. Estimate for a new engine is 9-10K. Should I just sell it for parts or is there another option?

 

Swapping engines in the van is a labor-intensive exercise.... even so, 9 grand seems more than a little bit excessive..... Should be able to pick up a reman engine for a couple K, and then whatever labor is....

 

1st year for the 2500s

 

You should get a couple more estimates. I would think $4500-$5000 would be on the high spectrum.

 

I paid that for a 5.9/46RE swap with new driveshaft 8 years ago...so yea...it gonna be more.

 

The first thing I'd do is find out WHY it failed a compression test. Is it a burnt valve? Blown head gasket? How many miles on the engine? Last summer, I did a major tune up on my '96 with the 5.9. The most aggravating part of that was working on the back of the engine. On your van, the inner dog house comes off so it's the front that's a bear.

Before you scrap your van, Find out what the problem is. A burnt valve or blown head gasket will require the heads removed, but it can be done in the van. I didn't pull the heads off my engine but everything else on top was pulled and I put a new water pump, timing chain and even harmonic balancer on while I had it down. Oil consumption had gone from a quart every 500-600 miles to one every 50-75 miles due to a blown plenum. Now I use less than a quart in 3000 miles and the engine purrs smoothly down the road.

The radiator comes out if the engine is worked on so you can just replace it with a new one. Front end work, the next van might need that too. Personally, if I have to replace one of these older style engines, a decent used one can be freshened up and swapped in. Then again, that's me doing my own work and a lot of people can't do that.

 

and the most awesome thing is that you can do that job sitting down