get a rebuilt engine or no?

[rwdmayhem]

so I have my 95 chevy k1500 with a tbi 350. camshaft was bad and so were some lifters so I took it them out to replace and went to take the heads in for a valve job and he told me I should have the engine rebuilt. Claims my oil rings are seized because of some oil deposits on the bottom of the heads where they stick into the lifter valley. Seems to me that seized oil rings would make the engine smoke not have deposits in the lifter valley.Since the truck never smoked at all or burned oil and especially since the deposits are only between cylinders 4-6 and 3-5 in the center of the engine. Now isn't that where the coolant enters and exits the intake?

Am I correct in assuming this guy is a joke of an engine builder? Or should I add this to the 'stuff I have yet to learn about my engines'

[Wrenchbender Ret]

Those deposits come from the heat from the exhaust crossover cooks the oil in the valley.
It is very common on Chevy V-8 & other engines. It has nothing to do with the piston rings. Newer oils, especially synthetics gets away from it. Regular oil changes are important too.

[rwdmayhem]

alright so the engine shop was just trying to make a buck off me. I forgot about the EGR and crossovers in the intake.

the truck does have 178k on it so I probably should get fresh bearings atleast this is one shop I can cross off the list.

[Dead Parrot]

Since you have the heads off, you can measure the cylinder bores for wear and out of round.

If you are going to pull the pistons for new bearings, might as well hone and install new rings if the cylinders are in good shape.

[cadillac_al]

My truck has 178K too. The ridge at the top of my cylinders will rip you fingernail off. It still runs like a champ and doesn't smoke. I still take it on road trips. Fuel mileage hasn't changed, 11 mpg like clockwork. I say run it until the blue smoke starts blowing.

[mikie 1954]

In my experience , if you just do the heads you will be blowing blue smoke fairly fast. The added compression on old rings don't seem to last long.

[AcampoDave]

If your cam and lifters took a dump you should rebuild. The metal cam and lifter particles have been washed all thru the bearings. The bearing material is kinda soft and the particles simply imbed themselves in there grinding 'round and 'round.

[68c10airstream]

How about those gm new goodwrench replacement engines? From memory they where a decent deal, roller cam, etc, or bump it up a little with a little higher hp gm engine??

[61Chevy454]

Originally Posted by 68c10airstream

How about those gm new goodwrench replacement engines? From memory they where a decent deal, roller cam, etc, or bump it up a little with a little higher hp gm engine??

It's about $1250 for a GM GoodWrench 350 from Summit.