Sucked H2O - Toy 4x4 HELP!!

[jimt_yz400]

Well........ It's not mine but it will be a pain in the ass to help this kid fix it. It's my sons's '94 4x4 pickup.
It was too wet for us to go riding so he took his truck out and was having a good time 4 wheeling at where se usually go riding (for the Bay area folks it was Carnegie). He went thru the creek at a point that seemed to be not-so-deep but the front end went down
(the left front, drivers side) and it stalled. He couldn't get it started so he walkt to the ranger station and called AAA and it's now in front of my house.
I pulled the plugs out, looked like someone poored a milkshake into the combustion chambers, the air filter and tried to turn it over with the starter. It did close to a revolution then stopped. I put a rachet on the crank pully and I can only turn in 3/4 of a turn, it stops in the same place.
Do you think that it is a bent rod or....... that's what I'm leaning toward.
It has 177,000 miles on it so we'll have to buy a rebulit ot do it ourselves or just sell it as is, if he doesn't want to put the time in it.
(I'm not doing it by myself!!).
Any ideas?

 

[gasgasman]

Yeah, sounds like a bent rod.
There are places that sell used Japenese motors fairly cheap. You might try that route.

 

[jimt_yz400]

Gas Man,
I've looked around and I did find a few places but they want $2000 for the re-manufactured engines (that means used right?). They say that they have
about 50k on them but.......who knows. Is that what you meant by cheap?

 

[Treestomper]

If it is a jap engine and it is not messed up to bad inside it may be cheaper to just get your engine rebuilt. I do not know why jap rebuilt engines cost so much but american engine you are better off buying one allready rebult and just drop it in. The only bad thing is you may have to replace some rods but if you would return it as a core if you bought a new engine they would not take it or make you pay for the new rod anyway.

 

[gasgasman]

jimt_yz400.
Here in Houston, you can get one with around 40k miles for $800. Complete ,ready to drop in.
These are used engines from Japan. I was told that in Japan there is a law that states, after a certain vehicle age the engine has to be replaced.:think
So they end up here for resale.

 

[jimt_yz400]

Well, I guess that I haven't looked well enough since I can't seem to find one of THOSE engines. I wonder how reliable they are and if anyone has had good luck with them.
Anyone?

 

[gasgasman]

Oh hell yeah. I know several people that have bought and installed these engines.
You may have to transfer a few sensors here and there. But, that's all.