Salvage Yard Engine

Ok, so my 1100d2 just went kaput, 160k on the odometer and I don't blame her. That bike has taken me all over gods green earth, I'm used to it and frankly I don't want something else. My bike is my only transportation. I'm looking into a used engine from a salvage yard that I've had good luck with before. Never bought a used engine though. After my initial inquiry I found out that I can get a "good condition" replacement for $900. I'll be calling back tomorrow to find out exactly what "good condition" means, they had just locked up for the night so I wasn't gonna be the ass that made 'em go back inside. I'll find out, mileage, reason the bike was salvaged(if they wrote it down), and make sure its been plugged up since it was pulled. Are there any other questions I should ask, and is $900 even a fair price for a decent used engine?

If possible,open up the oil fill cap & take a sniff, if it smells burned, I'd pass on that engine. Doing a compression check might be hard to do, but if the engine has a kick start lever, it might be possible.

Kinda depends if the engine is seized or not, if it is seized, some ATF down the sparkplug holes might get it loose.

Oh that engine better not be seized. I'd just rebuild my current engine myself if I had all the proper tools or access to a machine shop. I do however have plenty of tools to swap in a decent used engine in an afternoon, so I'd be buying on the premise that I can slap that baby in, check valve lash and be down the road. I'll be saving the one in the bike now to someday build up a 1260 kit I've had my eye on for a while. Supposedly, they do a compression check when they tear down the bike and write down the numbers, mileage, etc. Good tips, thanks you.

It kinda depends on how your "New" engine was cared for, did the valve clearances get checked and adjusted, did the previous owner change the oil as required(for me, it's every 3000 miles), or did he just keep adding oil.

Was the engine over reved? Use the cheapest gas available? Wrong sparkplug heat range? Black sparkplugs may have coated the cylinders with carbon, but if running lean, there's the chance of overheating, possible burning valves & melting pistons.

Might want to get some kind of warranty in writing, even 30 days just to make sure it is a running capable engine. Junk yard engines don't usually drop in without some work....

ok, all good tips, but is 900 bucks a decent price for a good used engine if everything checks out?

Your home is not in your signiture so I don't know where you live and can't give any advice on what a engine would cost.

Gotcha, I'm in the Kansas City area.

If it has a starter, tell them you'de like to spin the motor over. Pull the plugs, if you dont have a comp gauge, put your thumb over the hole and press as hard as you can and spin it. If it wont pop your thumb off the sparkplug hole, it has weak comp, listen for bad noises as well. Put Batt hot wire on started main terminal and ground the Batt neg lead on the engine.
Go from there. 900 seems a bit high, since I can find a GSXR1000 engine with lower miles for the same price.

slaughridge wrote: ok, all good tips, but is 900 bucks a decent price for a good used engine if everything checks out?

That would be too risky for me to buy a giant question mark, but i would if the guy would let me do some tests and give me some kind of warranty in case of gross damage that makes it unusable.

I would get a junk yard engine to run for a month (with a possible warranty mentioned above) then property rebuild the original engine so you are not without a bike during the rebuild.

Just my $0.02

I would buy the bike below and use it while I did a rebuild of the original engine. When rebuild is done you can sell the other bike for more than you paid! Ed

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