[Brazz]

Hello everyone. Just purchased an 2008 RTL with 140 miles. Had the worst experience...the truck needed a new engine after 150 miles and the dealer did nothing to help. After two weeks in the shop just put in a new engine, new tires and wheels. Is there anything else I should be considering with the transmission? I'm concerned about the new engine and old tranny with 140k combo. Thanks.

 

[speedlever]

How about a little history? What caused the old engine to die? the J35 engines are pretty well known for reliability.. but there have been a few issues pop-up, but not very often.

1) loose spark plug in the front row causes catastrophic engine damage when broken/melted parts fall into the cylinder
2) radiator/tranny fitting corrodes causing tranny fluid to mix with coolant and destroys the tranny

Did you get a new engine or install a used engine? Rebuilt?

 

[Carsmak]

Replace the Radiator...

Here are most of the related Radiator and Transmission threads if you haven't found them all.

Happy Reading & Good luck

Radiator Failure @ Cooler Lines

Best Radiator Replacement

Pictures of Corroded/Rusted Radiator Fittings

Radiator Fail on 2006

UOA on ATF

Anatomy of OEM Denso Radiator

Poll(Never Posted) on Radiator/Trans Cooler Solution

Recent Radiator/Transmission SMOD!!!

Radiator comparison: Denso/Spectra/OSC

YouTube Video of Leaking Spectra...

 

[Brazz]

Cause of the engine failure...#1. I had a new engine installed. There were limited used engine options available at the time and the cost for a new engine was almost the same.

 

[speedlever]

Cause of the engine failure...#1. I had a new engine installed. There were limited used engine options available at the time and the cost for a new engine was almost the same.

Ah, so you had the loose spark plug? Cylinder 5?

 

[Brazz]

I really like the truck. Hopefully I will have better luck with the engine and any issues moving forward. My concern is the transmission. It's fine now but with a new engine pushing an older transmission concerns me a little.

 

[Brazz]

And, yes. Spark plug. I don't know which one but I assume based on what I read #5.

 

[Carsmak]

Well maintained, I'd have no concerns. In my post above my only concern would be, how is the OEM radiator and are the fluids, changed in the correct interval. It's not like your new motor is putting out a different amount of HP/Torque than the transmission was designed for. Age of a mechanical device should be irrelevant, at least within reason.

How many miles on the RL, not the engine.

 

[Brazz]

147K on the truck. All very good points. Thank you.

 

[duckloads]

My '08 rtl also had an engine failure at 79k miles. I (thru my insurance co) put in a remanufactured ATK engine. We also could not find a replacement used engine. the ATK came with all new timing gear and water pump.

30k miles and one year later all is well. I just had an oil analysis done thru Blackstone Labs. in summertime I get 20-21 mpg at 72mph. Engine is in very good shape. I followed their brake-in procedures to the letter. Good thing. the 500 miles valve adjustment revealed all exhaust valves very tight at .005"

 

[Brazz]

Interesting. Help from your insurance company??? How???

 

[duckloads]

Interesting. Help from your insurance company??? How???

It was about a year ago. I was out of the country on business, and my wife called me at 2:00am from back home. She was merging back onto the interstate after a rest stop. The truck began to misfire, then overheat then quit.

she had it towed to the nearest Honda dealer. They told me that something had impacted the radiator causing the engine to overheat, and it would have to be replaced.

I called my insurance co. and stated impact damage according to the dealer. They couldn't find a suitable used engine, so They got the ATK reman unit.