The thing about that is buying or selling a car that has a remanufactured engine without knowing it doesn’t necessarily hurt anyone if the engine is in good condition. I don’t care one iota whether the engine is original, used, or rebuilt if it is in good condition, and that is what a pre-purchase inspection by a qualified mechanic who has no conflict of interest can tell you. Whether or not that engine is the one that came in the car from the factory is 100% irrelevant to how that car is likely to perform in the future if the engine was competently rebuilt and competently installed. In fact, if the engine happened to come from the factory with a flaw, it might have been corrected during the rebuilding process, although I admit that this scenario - of having a known defect that can be corrected in the rebuilding process - is unlikely.
That would be a nightmare to enforce.
And as @MikeInNH alluded to, I would personally not be comfortable with the government passing laws designed solely to foster someone’s private business. I’m annoyed enough that governments keep doing that for corn farmers with ethanol requirements.
If we’re going to insist on embracing nearly unfettered capitalism, then that means hands off of everything, including the government putting its thumb on the scale for businesses.
Yeah, for the same reason that I don’t have to send you notification when I do something to my car. It’s none of your business. And it’s none of CarFax’s business either. That they can get anything and sell the information is great for them, but there’s no reasonable argument for a law that requires us to send them data.
Carfax is sometimes useful in that if there is a problem that they know about, they will tell you about it after you pay them. A clean carfax is meaningless because all you know is that the car either has a clean history or has something that wasn’t reported, but a non-clean carfax that says the car has a salvage title is quite useful.
That said, as many of us have already told you many times, there’s no particular reason that an engine swap should cause you to make any purchasing decisions differently. You should, as with any used car purchase, have a pre-purchase inspection performed by an independent, competent mechanic of your choice (not the seller’s). Beyond that, a remanufactured is no more or less likely to have been neglected or damaged than the original engine. In fact, since there was obviously something wrong with the original engine that required a transplant, a remanufactuered engine is in that case desirable, because the alternative is that you get the busted engine (which also would not be reported to Carfax) and then have to replace it yourself.
Car fax can show things that might make you want to steer clear of a particular vehicle (accident history, numerous repairs, etc), but it’s not all inclusive and is just another tool.
I agree with Whitey that just because the engine was replaced doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad vehicle. (Obviously, I don’t agree with some of his off topic comments, as I’ll openly admit I flagged it). I wouldn’t be thrilled to learn that the engine had been replaced after the fact. But if done correctly, it could wind up being a bonus.
Ah…the magic of marketing.
Sometimes the “regulars” on this board can be testy.
Partly it comes from people coming here, asking a question, and expecting a certain answer, then being argumentative when they don’t get it.
Edit: I’m NOT saying you’re one of those people!
I see a bad car fax as valid cause to reject a prospective buy, but a clean one can be ignored.
I certainly would not pay for one.
There’s plenty of other hurdles to jump.
I know it’s water under the bridge, but that truck you bought isn’t quite “legal”
Those engines built for Class 4 and above trucks aren’t legal to use in OBD2 vehicles, such as a Ford F-250
Hi,
Carfax is not a bad tool to use when looking for a car. If someone had all of their work done at their dealer, You should see pretty much everything. I keep track of my cars’ maintenance on the free" My carfax" site. What ever a shop may not add to my car’s history. I could put in. The only bad thing about it is when you sell the car everything you (The owner) put in to the car’s history disappears. I’m not sure why they do that. It kind of robs the next person of the history of the car they buy. Good luck with your car.
If the engine works well on any 14 year vehicle be 
Drive on. Car fax is not perfect but better then nothing.
@common_sense_answer Thank you, sir. You are too kind. 
Regarding your comment about the sales staff wondering what happened, when I went to pay I had to deal with a manager who by then made only a token last effort to sell me an extended warranty, a fancy overpriced overhyped wax job, to get me to finance a car loan, etc. He seemed quite world weary with me but he did remain courteous. 
P.S. I love the “purr” comment but then I am a crazy cat lady. 
You’re welcome and as I commented, you earned it!
I’ve heard that 1 
is okay, 2 , okay…, but 3 is crazy cat lady territory. 
CSA
Probably to prevent someone from putting erroneous work that they did (or didn’t) do that can’t really be verified. They probably don’t consider DIY work a reliable source of information. Of course we’ve had regulars on here look up their own cars via VIN on Car Fax and have it pull up erroneous information, such as the car being reported as stolen so…
That’s why, when I buy parts for a DIY repair, I save every receipt and put them in my cars’ records. In my oldest car, a 1979 Toyota Celica, I have a huge file with receipts for every part I bought for a DIY repair, and receipts for work I couldn’t do myself.
Heck, a couple of years ago, I had an exhaust pipe leak right in front of my Celica’s muffler. Around 1985 or so, I had a Toyota dealer install a muffler with a lifetime warranty. New OEM mufflers are certianly not available anymore, but Toyota Customer Service made arrangements for a local dealer to weld the exhaust pipe, and Toyota Customer Experience Ctr in Torrance CA reimbursed the dealer.
I wish more people did that. I would be happy to buy a used car from you with a past history like that 
I actually think it is since it gives the perception of being valid when it’s NOT.
It narrows the field of prospective cars to purchase, but one can put that item on their check-list for finding a car to buy. I’ve done it.
In fact, some actual “one owner” vehicles are advertised with a complete history as a selling feature. I’ve seen some sweet appearing Mercedes Benz vehicles recently that had it included (“records of all service/maintenance performed as recommended at _______ Mercedes of _______”).
CSA
Swapping out a used short block is legal as far as I know. The ECU was flashed, and original emissions and turbo reused. The blocks are the same in 2011, just the fueling and emissions are de-tuned for the chassis-cabs
Speaking of lifetime warranties, in the latest issue of Hemmings Classic Cars, there is an article about a guy and his '67 Galaxie 500. After he bought it, he had Montgomery-Ward install an aftermarket air conditioner–with a lifetime warranty–for the grand sum of $326.
Obviously, they weren’t counting on someone keeping a car for more than a few years, but over the next 32 years, he got several free refrigerant recharges, a couple of free idler pulley replacements, and four replacement compressors!
Jokingly, he wonders if he was responsible for Wards going out of business.
Most of the “lifetime” deals are set up in a way that favors the seller. Cheap components that fail regularly and the inflated labor to R&R isn’t covered. Good way to ensure repeat customers. We put in this “$200” muffler we bought for $20 and charge $100 in labor each time it is replaced. Such a deal!
It’s great to hear of people who actually made out on a lifetime deal…
I’ve usually had one or two cats at a time. But after my parents passed I had both theirs and mine, a total of four cats for some years. Now I have two fairly young cats.
To keep this slightly car related, when transporting any of the cats to the vet I secure the pet carrier by running the seat belt through the carrier handle. In the event of a hard stop or accident the carrier doesn’t go flying off the car seat. Safer for the cat in the carrier and safer for me as a driver.
I did pretty well on a lifetime warranty on Monroe struts. Only having to pay for the labor cut the price of replacement in half.
This is a good example of a service plan fraudulently represented as a warranty. A warranty means that if it breaks, whoever issued the warranty repairs or replaces it. I don’t pay anything for the repair. A service plan means that if it breaks, I pay an agreed-upon amount per repair - i.e., the $100 in labor.
Sometimes service plans can be OK if you’re getting it for expensive equipment. But it should not be legal for them to be represented as warranties. Of course, passing such a law would infuriate just about every dealership out there with their extended “warranty” scams.