mech shops?

Any recommendations for good service shops in the Seattle area (or within an hour or so)? I may have a spun bearing which could potentially require engine replacement.. Something one of the dealers (can't remember which) quoted me $7500-8500 for. That's half the value of the truck

Let's see what superwagon says.

What engine and truck do you have? Are you looking to rebuild yours? I would think that dealer price would be a brand new engine. I am sure that a remanufactured long block or rebuilding yours could be done for much less. Let us know what you have and what you are wanting done.

Well, step #1 is to definitely diagnose what's wrong, so someplace to take it for that to start with. I mayyybe might be able to pull the oil and look for bearing material, and if I can borrow a scope I could look for impact evidence inside the cylinder, but for the most part I live in an apartment and only have motorcycle-oriented tools (no car-sized work area, no big jack stands, only 6" ratchet extenders, etc).

If it does turn out to be a spun bearing (or other basically-requires-engine-replacement damage), I'll have to look pretty hard and long at how badly I want to keep it. The dealer quote of $8500 is obviously on the super-high end of things, but even $5k is easily a third of the value of the truck. To make things worse it's my daily driver, so it's not even like I could find a place and do the work myself.. I am lucky in that I live downtown and don't absolutely require a vehicle every single day, but not having it has already gotten in the way a few times.

As a comparison data point - we paid our mechanic to put in a crate 350 from a chevy dealer for our 99 Suburban about 10 years ago and overall spent a bit over $4000.  Motor may or may not have been new, but it came with a 3 year 100,000 mile warranty from GM.

If have to go with a new or reman motor I would put a Jasper engine in. On their reman engines they "build in" any engine updates from over the years. You would think I work for them I praise their product so much. If you have a spun bearing the engine would be seized and not running. If you are still driving then something else is likely wrong but still may need an engine replacement.

A spun main or rod bearing doesn't necessarily mean that the engine is seized.
What exactly is the engine doing? What lead up to this diagnosis? Low oil or oil pressure, how many miles? Is this a 5.3? A cracked flex plate can sound like internal engine issues sometimes.

Finally got around to calling Eastside Truck & Auto after getting a recommendation to them. I started describing the problem to Gary who answered the phone and he immediately began describing for me the rest of my symptoms - he attributes them to severe piston slap in the 5.3. I don't actually know which engine I have but the accuracy of his description was eery.

Around 100k mi, topped up on oil, no idiot lights (it does tell me to change the oil but that's just because I did it myself and didn't get the counter reset). One day the engine ran perfectly, drove 300mi on it, sounded fine arriving at destination. Started it up later that night and heard a faint knock/rattle; opened up hood to see if the belt or fan was hitting something lightly. Saw nothing, became concerned, went home. Started it up later that morning to move it ~200yd and it was a *loud* knock/slap (sounded like a piston slapping the head to me, which is why I thought spun bearing/rod knock) that only got worse with RPM. Drove slow and shut the motor off immediately upon parking, haven't started it since. Checked oil wondering if I'd run it dry, but it's all there. Haven't pulled the oil to look for bearing material but don't think that's likely anymore.

Have you been mysteriously loosing any coolant past couple months?

No, no coolant problems. Thinking a worn pump or blown HG somehow?

There were some defective heads on some of the earlier 5.1s by Castech..

Where there any suggestions for a good mech in this area in the end? I pm'd super wagon but not sure if it made it. I'd like some recommendations for dropping a tank! ;o)