I skipped to the chase. Someone may have already mentioned it, but get the timing chain checked before going further.
So I guess replacing the engine is inevitable then.
I agree that the engine would’ve been making alot of noise right before it expired.
However there are plenty of times where 4WD low is needed, rock crawling, descending a steep hill whilst off road, extracting ones self from a snow drift, or pulling out another stuck vehicle.
I feel 100% certain that your engine is not “blown”, you have not described the circumstances that would lead to a “blown” engine or described the symptons of a “blown” engine.
This is either a case of incompetence on the mechanics part (but honest incompetence), an outright attempt to decieve you, or a communication error.
You state getting a second opinion would be “too much of a problem” you need to re-evaluate this conclusion.
You found out expensively, that 4wd low, is not good for getting unstuck from snow, It’s a power range when there’s a lot of drag on the drive train. That’s mud not snow. There is too little drag and the wheels spin almost freely, out of control. High gears with less power to induce your own drag and limit spin to a slow tread clearing rate when stuck.
When you get it fixed, remember this lesson. Next time just leave in D high for your wife and little more than “idle” out.
That’s why as said, people unwittingly destroy motors doing this…wrong use for low range.
BTW, the 4.3 is an excellent but not a very high revving engine, and hopefully is prone to other problems which may be “fixable” before everything else goes.
The trasmission in that truck will shift out of 1st if you rev it high enough even if you have “L” or “1st” selected. Coupled w/ the rev limiter you would have had to abuse it pretty hard to blow the engine unless there was some other problem with it.
Maybe it overheated and you burned the rings out of it?
I wish I knew the answer.
When I switch the key to ignition, it is fairly quiet. the battery light goes on. so what does the situation look like now? burned rings? snapped timing chain? I’d appreciate any inputs.
I would invest in towing the truck to another mechanic for a second opinion. Pistons don’t " overshoot their mark and get stuck." A compression check, on a COLD engine, isn’t that meaningful, either. If the tow, and second opinion, cost $200 - $300, it still might save you several thousands, if it turns out that the assumptions of a trashed engine prove false.
I don’t think your wife over revved the engine by just holding the gas pedal down—even half way. She likely modulated the gas pedal in the effort to dislodge the truck.
I think I will do that. By the way, what do you mean by “modulating” the gas pedal?
Sounds like you need to find out if the engine is seized, has low compression, or what is going on. If the starter won’t crank the engine, how did the shop determine that there was no compression? If the engine had no compression, the starter would turn it over faster than normal and it would sound funny. If it’s not seized but has no compression, it may be that revving it caused the timing chain or belt to jump or break. Of course if it is seized, you’re pretty much screwed.
Dagosa is correct that a “super low” gear is exactly what you DON’T want in a snow situation.
If the OP had left the transmission in 4WD High and"D", rather than 4WD Low and 1st gear, he would have accomplished two things:
Less wheel-spin/more traction
Less chance of over-revving the engine
The best scenario would be if the transmission allowed starting up in 2nd gear.
I know that Honda, Subaru, and many Fords allow 2nd gear starts, but I am not sure if GM transmissions have this feature.
In slippery winter conditions, you want to be in the highest gear possible, not the lowest gear.
The best news is I can think of…it’s a very common GM engine and I would think it may be able to be replace with used, rebuild etc. as inexpensively as any 6 cyl motor made. That doesn’t mean cheaply.
I think what hellokit meant by modulating it is that she sped the engine up and slowed it down instead of just holding it down and letting it scream.
Tow it elsewhere and don’t tell them anything except it will not start and let them assess.
The problem is too much information taints diagnosis.
Once they deliver diagnosis ask the questions and use feedback here to form logical questions. Remember the mechanic actually has the eyes on the vehicle and see details you may have left out to us.
Thanks everyone, especially those who recommend a 2nd opinion and those who bet that my engine was still good. I got my car towed to a used car dealership (they offered to buy it), but one of their mechanics took a quick look at it and said “hmm, it just might need a new starter”, and he boosted the battery with 250amp and then the car was up and running again!!
I went back to the other shop and showed the owner (in a very friendly manner). He said “we did the diagnosis based on the information you gave us” (so thanks for the advice, Andrew J!), and I said “well, I don’t know much about cars, and that’s why I brought it to YOUR shop hoping you would figure it out”…
Its puzzling why his mechanics insisted that it needed a new engine.
This makes me remember a “miss-diagnosis” I made on a motocycle I had. One day I kicked the kick start lever and it just breezed through, no resistance at all. Me being a up and comming VW mechanic I got out my compression gague (mandantory for a VW mechanic) sure enough no compression, well it turns out the kick start was disengaged from the crankshaft and it wasn’t moving the piston up and down, problem was with the kick start (like yours was with the starter) not the engine.
It took me twenty years, but I finally learned, when it started to snow hard, just stay at home. NOTHING is that important to go out driving around. It can wait for a better day. Let the crazies wreck their vehicles…
You are trying to push a two ton vehicle out of a ditch while your exasperated wife revs the engine in 4-low…You are lucky you were not killed…Think about it…
It’s great that the 2nd place just attached a jumper to the truck and it STARTED right up! But, why did they offer to buy the truck before they did any troubleshooting? Did you, or someone else, tell them, “The engine is trashed”?
When one sees a mecchanic for a second opinion, one doesn’t bias the mechanic’s thinking with the assumptions of the first “mechanic”. To do so is self-defeating.
What!?-Kevin