That'* a long time for an engine to just be sitting.

Well, I went to look at it. Hooooeeee! It was not just the front valve cover. That engine saw some heat. A lot of the sensors were broken. The coils looked like someone had put them in a furnace. The LIM gasket ends looked good-no evidence of melting. Alternator was cooked. UIM was covered with melted stuff (not the UIM itself). The motor turned readily and had excellent compression. The guy was willing to deal, but I thought of aluminum components under the timing cover, like the oil pump, possibly distorted, and the more I thought about it, I thought there may be internal damage to plastic components that we don't normally think about like the lifter guides. I'll talk to the guy tomorrow and maybe offer him $50. If the short block is good, that would be worth it. What a shame. 3800 miles.

yuck.. sounds nasty...

ya, i would not give more than 50...

Yeah, that sounds about right. To get that hot it had to be a fuel fire of some sort. All those plastic frame gaskets and O-rings are all suspect at that point. The cast iron and steel parts are about the only thing you could trust..so it'* just a bare block at worst or a working short block at best...or just a core to turn in on a remanufactured motor.

The sitting for 7 years would be the part I would worry about most. Flat apots Bearing, gaskets etc.

If the guy is not asking much for it, it probably isnt worth much in its current condition.