Blown motor 1997 C3500 5.7 at 68k miles

[Kblack24]

Bought this truck with 62k on the dash last year. Drove the truck from California back to Texas 24 hours straight no issue running strong. Put 6k on it in the last year or so including the trip. Today the motor blew which sucks didn’t plan on touching it for many years.

Any recommendations on what motor I should replace this one with. I would like to get a bit more power than the stock motor. Brand names and links would be helpful any other info is welcome as well.

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Thanks,

 

[Sean Buick 76]

Ouch that’s not good! I think it it were me I would price out a crate replacement from GM.

Stock is always the best for reliability, yours is unfortunate but very odd for the mileage. The oil and coolant must have mixed based on the milkshake mess on the ground.

If it were mine and I were going to use it as a daily driver I would swap in a 6.0 LS.

 

[HotWheelsBurban]

Wow .... that's awful low mileage for that to happen!
Other than that, your truck looks good, just like mine except for the color (Rawhide is gold, or "Rawhide Metallic"). Mine has 138K on the original engine.

 

[Kblack24]

Ouch that’s not good! I think it it were me I would price out a crate replacement from GM.

Stock is always the best for reliability, yours is unfortunate but very odd for the mileage. The oil and coolant must have mixed based on the milkshake mess on the ground.

If it were mine and I were going to use it as a daily driver I would swap in a 6.0 LS.

Why the 6.0LS over the 5.7 or 7.4?

 

[Sean Buick 76]

Why the 6.0LS over the 5.7 or 7.4?

-Better fuel injection system
-Easier to work on (10mm bolts)
-Easier to find parts for as junkyards are full of them as many 4.8-6.0 parts interchange
-Better gaskets, less leaks
-Stronger cross bolted main block

For a daily driver there are a lot of advantages. For a hobby truck or a toy or just to keep it stock then of course the 5.7 and 7.4 have thier perks as well. I’m doing a turbo SBC just to do something different. Machine shop costs are climbing like crazy, so it’s getting pricy to do a complete blueprinted build on an old iron block. The LS are more likely to get away with running bone stock for high miles or doing a re ring rebuild without Any machine work in my experience.

In the end build it how you want it! If you are happy with the performance of a stock 5.7 then just swap in a new one. If you want a big block go that way.

 

[L31MaxExpress]

Wow .... that's awful low mileage for that to happen!
Other than that, your truck looks good, just like mine except for the color (Rawhide is gold, or "Rawhide Metallic"). Mine has 138K on the original engine.

57K on my 97 when it blew up in 2004 due to bad intake gaskets and hydraulic lock.

 

[L31MaxExpress]

I love my 383 though. Far more torque for truck things than a 6.0L. For having 7,000 lbs of Express conversion van wrapped around it, it still runs strong. I have had an 8,000 lbs tandem axle enclosed trailer behind it and it has no problem running 75 mph even up some fairly steep grades.

I have helped supspt454 with some datalog reviews and tuning on his 383 setup. It would run very well in a truck like that with alot more grunt than the factory 350 or even a stock Vortec 454. IIRC he went with a Smeeding performance 383 short block and Etec170 heads forget the actual cam but it is something like 212/218 @ 0.050 from memory.

 

[1998_K1500_Sub]

Today the motor blew

“Motor blew”…. what does that mean?

I see oil.

You circled something in a picture, it looks like the engine block near the pan rail.

This happened w/o warning or was there some telltale noise / behavior?

Be specific please, we love details here.

 

[CumminsFever]

If the stock engine was getting you by for whatever you do with the truck, but you'd like a bit more "go", I'd recommend the 383. In my opinion it would be the simplest install, as it would be bolt-in. Put good exhaust on it so it can breathe, and tune it.
Notice what l31maxexpress says, the 383 has his van doing things at a rate equal to or greater than a big block equipped vehicle.
It sucks that this happened at such a low mileage, but you have such a nice truck, it's worth doing a good engine for it.

 

[someotherguy]

57K on my 97 when it blew up in 2004 due to bad intake gaskets and hydraulic lock.

Exactly what I was thinking may have happened here - low miles on a Vortec small block doesn't mean much to me, other than "it hasn't had the absolutely horrible original intake gaskets replaced yet - but needs them before they let go"

Richard