Used Engine Guides
Every engine has its own known problems, its own VIN codes, and its own rules about what swaps with what. These guides cover what actually matters before you buy — written from what we see across 250+ supplier yards.
Can't find yours? Text your VIN to +1 (361) 470-5276 and we'll tell you exactly what you have.
5.4L Triton V8
2V vs 3V explained, spark plug ejection and breakage by year, cam phaser rattle, firing order and cylinder layout — plus an honest used vs remanufactured comparison.
Fits: F-150 · F-250 / F-350 · Expedition · Navigator · Excursion · E-Series vans
Read the 5.4L Triton guide →3.5L EcoBoost V6
Gen 1 vs gen 2 differences, timing chain stretch, the wet-weather intercooler shudder, and intake valve carbon buildup.
Fits: F-150 · Expedition · Navigator · Explorer Sport / ST · Flex · Taurus SHO · Transit
Read the 3.5 EcoBoost guide →5.0L Coyote V8
Why a 2017 and a 2018 Coyote are different engines, which tick is normal and which means stop driving, and the Gen 3 oil consumption TSBs in full.
Fits: Mustang GT · F-150 · Boss 302 · Bullitt · Mach 1 · Dark Horse
Read the 5.0 Coyote guide →6.0L Power Stroke Diesel
The head gasket is almost never the original fault. The failure chain starts at the engine oil cooler and works outward — plus the 15-degree scan-tool test that catches it early, and what "bulletproofed" actually has to include.
Fits: F-250 · F-350 · F-450 · F-550 · Excursion · E-Series vans
Read the 6.0 Power Stroke guide →5.3L Vortec V8
AFM lifter failure explained in full — symptoms in order, which years are affected, and your options when it fails. Includes all ten VIN codes and the three generations.
Fits: Silverado 1500 · Sierra 1500 · Tahoe · Suburban · Yukon · Avalanche · Escalade
Read the 5.3L Vortec guide →LS Engine Family
Three generations, six displacements and more than twenty RPO codes. We stock five different 5.3L and five different 6.0L engines that are not the same part — the codes we list with their VIN digits, Gen III vs Gen IV, and the ten-second AFM check.
Fits: Silverado · Sierra · Tahoe · Yukon · Suburban · Escalade · Express · Savana · Corvette · Camaro
Read the LS family guide →5.7L HEMI V8
The HEMI tick has three separate causes — one is cheap to fix, two are not. How to tell them apart, plus MDS lifter failure and the original vs Eagle head comparison.
Fits: Ram 1500 / 2500 · Charger · Challenger · 300C · Durango · Grand Cherokee
Read the 5.7 HEMI guide →3.6L Pentastar V6
The left cylinder head failure explained by build date rather than model year, the Pentastar tick, the codes that give it away, and what changed in the 2016 upgrade.
Fits: Grand Cherokee · Wrangler · Charger · Challenger · Durango · 300 · Pacifica · Ram 1500
Read the 3.6 Pentastar guide →2.4L World Engine & Tigershark
Three different 2.4 litre engines, and the same VIN character sits on two of them. How to tell a World Engine from a Tigershark, the 2017 Compass that was sold as two different cars, and the oil cooler split on Compass and Patriot.
Fits: Cherokee · Compass · Patriot · Renegade · Dart · 200 · Journey · Avenger · ProMaster City
Read the 2.4L guide →1.5L Turbo
Which Civic, CR-V and Accord years were affected by oil dilution, what Honda did about it, and the L15B7 vs L15BE difference that catches most buyers out.
Fits: Civic · Civic Si · CR-V · Accord
Read the Honda 1.5 turbo guide →K24 2.4L
The VTC actuator cold-start rattle that sounds worse than it is, and the 2013 switch to direct injection that makes two same-size engines completely incompatible.
Fits: Accord · CR-V · Element · Civic Si · Crosstour · Acura TSX / ILX / TLX
Read the K24 2.4L guide →2GR-FE 3.5L V6
The VVT-i oil line recall explained, the rear timing cover leak that looks like a rear main seal, and which Lexus models share the exact same block.
Fits: Camry · Avalon · Highlander · Sienna · RAV4 V6 · Lexus RX 350 / ES 350
Read the 2GR-FE 3.5L guide →2AR-FE 2.5L
Why some 2AR-FE units burn oil and others never do, the water pump weep point, and the 2AR-FE vs 2AR-FXE hybrid difference that trips up buyers.
Fits: Camry · RAV4 · Highlander · Venza · Scion tC
Read the 2AR-FE 2.5L guide →2AZ-FE 2.4L
The stripped head bolt thread failure that writes off otherwise good blocks, how to check for it before you buy, and the piston redesign that fixed oil consumption.
Fits: Camry · RAV4 · Highlander · Solara · Scion tC / xB
Read the 2AZ-FE 2.4L guide →QR25DE 2.5L
The pre-catalytic converter that disintegrates and feeds ceramic grit back into the cylinders — why the first symptom is oil consumption, and why replacing the engine alone repeats the failure.
Fits: Altima · Rogue · Sentra SE-R · Frontier · X-Trail · Suzuki Equator
Read the QR25DE guide →VQ35DE 3.5L V6
The same catalyst failure as the QR25DE, and the DE versus HR distinction — raised deck, longer rods, dual intake — that catches almost every first-time buyer.
Fits: Maxima · Murano · Altima V6 · Quest · 350Z · G35 · FX35 · QX60
Read the VQ35DE guide →Skyactiv-G 2.0 & 2.5
The cracked cylinder head that gets misdiagnosed as oil consumption, the two Mazda warranty extensions still running, and why the 2.5 and 2.5T never interchange.
Fits: Mazda3 · Mazda6 · CX-5 · CX-30 · CX-50 · CX-9 · MX-5
Read the Skyactiv-G guide →2.5L Boxer — EJ25 & FB25
Two completely different 2.5 engines in the same cars. Which one you have, the EJ25 head gasket truth, FB25 oil consumption by engine number, and the US vs Canada market trap.
Fits: Outback · Forester · Legacy · Impreza · Crosstrek · Baja · WRX
Read the Subaru 2.5 guide →Theta II 2.4L
The rod bearing failure, the recalls in order, and the one thing to check before you buy anything — your car may still be covered by the settlement warranty.
Fits: Sonata · Santa Fe · Tucson · Azera · Kia Optima · Sorento · Sportage
Read the Theta II guide →2.0T TSI / TFSI
The plastic timing chain tensioner that ends engines, oil consumption by generation, and why the engine ID code — not the model year — is the only thing that decides fitment.
Fits: Golf GTI · Jetta · Passat · Tiguan · Audi A3 / A4 / A5 / Q5 / TT
Read the 2.0T guide →N20 & N26 2.0T
The plastic timing chain guides that let the chain skip teeth, and the N26 SULEV twin that means a 328i of the same year can take two different engines.
Fits: 328i · 428i · 228i · 320i · X1 · X3 · Z4 · 520i
Read the N20 & N26 guide →Inline Six — M54, N52, N54, N55 & B58
Five engines share the name, and two of them sit in the same body shell in the same year. Which one you have, what each family breaks, and the xDrive and build-date splits that cost the most.
Fits: 328i / 335i · 528i / 535i · 135i · X3 · X5 · X6 · Z4
Read the inline six guide →M272 V6 & M273 V8
The balance shaft gear failure, the exact engine serial numbers that separate a good engine from a bad one, and the code trap that has owners paying for repairs they never needed.
Fits: C-Class · E-Class · S-Class · ML · GLK · SLK · CLS · CLK
Read the M272 & M273 guide →Used, Rebuilt or Remanufactured?
None of the three words is regulated — a seller can call a cleaned-up salvage engine "remanufactured" and nobody stops them. What each should mean, the four questions that expose a repainter, and when reman is genuinely worth the extra.
Read this if: you are comparing quotes and the words do not seem to mean the same thing twice
Read the comparison guide →Xtronic CVT
Whether a juddering Nissan CVT can be repaired or has to be replaced, and how to tell which case you are in before anyone quotes you a unit. The fluid mistake that kills them, the failure ladder in the order you notice it, and why the VIN matters more here than on an engine.
Fits: Rogue · Altima · Murano · Juke · Versa · Pathfinder · Sentra · Qashqai / Rogue Sport · NV200 · Cube · Maxima · QX60 · QX50
Read the CVT guide →7.3L Power Stroke
Three unrelated engines are called "7.3L" in a Ford, and one of them is petrol. How the 8th VIN character separates Power Stroke from IDI from the 2020 Godzilla V8, the early-versus-late 1999 injector split, and why HEUI injection makes oil condition part of the fuel system.
Fits: F-250 · F-350 · F-450 · F-550 Super Duty · Excursion · E-350 · E-450 · E-550 van
Read the 7.3L guide →3.6L High Feature V6
Nine different engines wear "3.6L" across five GM brands, and one of them is twin-turbocharged. The 8th VIN character maps one-to-one onto the variant, so you can identify yours exactly — plus the timing chain years, the codes that give it away, and which later code to replace it with.
Fits: CTS · ATS · SRX · XTS · CT6 · Camaro · Traverse · Equinox · Colorado · LaCrosse · Enclave · Acadia · Terrain · Canyon · G6 · G8
Read the 3.6L guide →2.4L Ecotec
Six versions wear “2.4L Ecotec”, and two of them are hybrid engines that will not drop into a conventional car — 58 of the 199 we list. The 8th VIN character separates them, and the engine’s two famous faults turn out to feed each other in a way that changes what you should look for.
Fits: Regal · LaCrosse · Verano · Allure · Malibu · Equinox · HHR · Cobalt · Captiva Sport · Orlando · Terrain · G6 · G5 · Solstice
Read the 2.4L Ecotec guide →6.0L V8
The largest engine family we carry, and the one where ordering on displacement alone goes wrong most often — 217 of the 533 we list are CNG, LPG or two-mode hybrid rather than petrol. The 8th VIN character sorts the ten versions, and shows which are the durable iron-block ones.
Fits: Silverado · Sierra · Express · Savana · Suburban · Tahoe · Yukon · Escalade · Avalanche · Corvette · SSR
Read the 6.0L V8 guide →J35 3.5L V6
The V6 Honda put in almost everything from 1999 to 2020. Two things catch buyers out: the 6th VIN digit is reused across models, so it does not identify the engine on its own, and VCM wear depends on how the car was driven rather than how far.
Fits: Accord · Odyssey · Pilot · Ridgeline · Crosstour · Passport
Read the J35 guide →4.3L Vortec V6
The longest-running engine we carry, and three generations share the name. 68% of them come from the central-port-injection era whose “spider” is the fault to budget for — and the 2014-and-later EcoTec3 is a different engine entirely, from $3,334 against $770.
Fits: S10 · Sonoma · Astro · Safari · Blazer · Jimmy · Silverado · Sierra · Express · Savana
Read the 4.3L guide →5.7L V8 (350)
Nine different engines share this displacement, and the prices prove it: $780 to $16,530. 293 of the 345 are the ordinary iron small block; the rest are LT1, LT4, L98, LS1 and LS6. The 8th VIN character is the only identifier you get.
Fits: Vans · C/K · Tahoe · Suburban · Corvette · Camaro · Caprice · Impala SS
Read the 5.7L guide →4.6L Modular V8
Most guides talk about 2V, 3V and 4V heads. The thing that actually catches people out is that Ford built this engine at two plants — Romeo and Windsor — and heads, valve covers and crank-flange parts do not freely interchange between them.
Fits: F-150 · Expedition · E-Series · Crown Victoria · Grand Marquis · Town Car · Mustang · Explorer
Read the 4.6L guide →What every guide covers
Buying a used engine from us
Every unit we list is listed as tested and ready to install, and VIN-matched to your vehicle before dispatch. Shipping is free to any address in all 50 states — residential included, where most suppliers charge $150 or more.
Full terms: warranty policy · shipping policy · returns · buying FAQs
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25,000+ engines and transmissions across every major make.
Can't find your engine?
Send us your VIN and we'll confirm exactly what fits — engine code, transmission type and what's in stock right now.
Call +1 (361) 470-5276 Text your VINBuying guides
Three questions come up before almost every order, and each is answered with figures measured from our live listings rather than estimates.
- How much does a used engine cost? — real price bands by engine size, measured across 17,303 engines and 14,814 transmissions, plus how used compares with rebuilt and remanufactured.
- How many miles is too many? — the real mileage distribution of what is available, by vehicle year, and why the engine family matters more than the odometer.
- Will it fit my car? — reading the engine code out of your VIN, the four details that decide fitment, and the swaps that catch people out.