need some advice on engine probs :( (long)

[evilhomer]

everything was fine one day, then the next i smelled fuel, had rough, uneven idle, loss of power and steam came from behind the stereo. drove directly to the shop.

i initially thought i had rubbed a hole in the coolant bottle with my new 18s, but that's not it. turns out injector #4 needs to be replaced and a new harness. the last thing the previous owner did before i got the car was replace #6. that was only a few months ago, seems like i should do them all.

never found a good Z shop around here. been bouncing around between my usual place (5+ years of service on my old honda, but don't seem to know this car very well) and some other places locally. tried to find a good place from local Z club, but haven't been able to.

besides the injectors i have an oil leak @the rear cam plugs. 2 places cleaned the engine, dyed the oil and checked it out and said it was very small and i should drive the car for awhile before deciding to fix it. i've already spent a ton of this car. anyway, i smell burning oil frequently. the car literally stinks, so i think the leak is worse than they thought. i'd like to get it fixed.

shop quoted me:5 hours labor (intake off + gasket) + 1 new injector + new harness = $903to do all the injectors: $909 (total now: $1812)7 more hours labor + parts to fix the cam plug leak: $851 (new total: $2663)

i don't know **** about cars really, but i read this forum religiously and try to learn. i also call one shop to compare what another told me, but i'm not sure what to do here.

saw this thread: zerothread/209460

says the intake doesn't have to be remove to do the injectors, but i don't see my shop going with the dremel and that wouldn't help me with the oil leak anyway. also, showed much cheaper (reconditioned) injectors. my shop says they don't install parts you bring, but i could fight with them about that. looks like i could save a lot.

so my questions are:- should i skip fixing that cam plug leak? if i don't do it now, it would cost me 12 hours labor to do it later, than than the 7 now.- anybody know a better shop near me?- how much does a new NA engine swap really cost? (i'd keep NA for... mostly $$ reasons) i see them for sale for like $1500.- is that even something i should look at? i've already fixed a cam seal leak a main seal leak for pretty big dollars. car has 138k on it.

appreciate any advice. thanks guys.

[evildky]

these are not cheap cars to own, even if you can do your own labor parts are not cheap! I say if youre gonna pull the manifold you may as well attack taht oil leak while your at it, any chance the oil leak is the cam cover? kinda hard to see back there and the cam cover is an easy job once the intake is off, I'd deffinitely shop around and find a shop that will use quality aftermarket replacement parts and save you a bunch of money on the parts and likely labor as well, een is you swapped in a fresher motor the true condition of components is unknown, and the timing belt is unknown should be addressed as well as the associated idlers and such

[gpelite]

Well the injector thing has always been a Z problem, if you do replace, replace them all for good measure. You could do it yourself but its a lot to do.

A NA swap complete with a JDM engine should run 1000-2000, it may be something to consider if you do not want to get rid of your Z entirely and want it for a long time. A fresh slate is nice especially if you are about to spend that same amount of cash just to fix ur crappy high mileage one. You can get a JDM importer with a garauntee and compression tested engine ready to go, so you can know the condition. Something to consider

As far as those cam seals, haven't messed with them on my Z so I couldn't tell you

[evilhomer]

i don't really know if it could be at the cam cover. i can hope, but they won't know until they get that far, right?

$1000-$2000 for the swap, in addition to the $1500 for the engine? cost of living is very high in DC area, so I'd guess it would be more toward the $2000.

[gpelite]

Well its an NA motor, a straight swap almost any engine shop or place that has experience under the hood will do it for you because there is no improvising

I said 1000-2000 total for it swapped in, depending on the base price of your engine. A straight swap of my mercedes engine a year ago cost me 700 labor. I don't know DC area stuff, but I can offer you this word of advice, shop around and call a lot of places. You can get quotes from almost all of these places if they do it on the regular. I went to a salvage company for my swap because they could do it in a day or two and had lots of experience pulling and replacing engines and the price wasn't bad either.

Good luck

[evilhomer]

i'll have to call around and see what the numbers add up to. thanks.

any recommendations for where to buy?

[SilverTwin]

My suggestion would be to contact YugoBernie, he is a very knowledgable and respected Z owner in your area that does specialty Z work on the side. If he is too busy or too far for you he can likely put you in contact with someone that can do the work for much more reasonable pricing than you have been quoted. You can contact him via email at [email protected] this helps,Tim

[evilhomer]

i'll hit him up. thanks.

[DustinZ]

shop quoted me:5 hours labor (intake off + gasket) + 1 new injector + new harness = $903to do all the injectors: $909 (total now: $1812)7 more hours labor + parts to fix the cam plug leak: $851 (new total: $2663)

The rate on removing and replacing the injector is 5 to 6 hours. Harness is about $400 from nissan if yours really needs replacing (doubt it). Injectors you can get from Venom, Deutchworks, etc.. cheap (400 a set for 555s so stockers should not be bad). Also the cam rear valve cover seals are accessable with intake off. You can pull the valve covers and the VTC solenoids with the intake off in 1 to 2 hours. They are adding extra time that they should not add. It should cost maybe $100 to 150 more to change valve cover gaskets and put rtv on the vtc solenoids. Email me at [email protected] if you have any questions.

DustinZ

[gpelite]

Precisely why I say its too much, I basically had the same service you are trying to get when I first got my Z and I can't figure out their rates either

[evilhomer]

Been talking to YugoBernie. He's pretty busy w/home projects and the holidays. Doesn't look like he can take this on right now.

DustinZ (or anybody) could you write up a little guide I could give to my shop about what to do once the intake is off, to work on that oil leak? 1-2 hours you quoted, versus 7 from my shop is just out there...

They're telling me I can't keep leaving my car there, so I have to do something.

Thanks.

[evilhomer]

*bump*

[phanatikz32]

dont think you should pay 1500 for a new NA engine, the turbo motors run about that much, so NA i would think would be cheaper, you might pay about 1000 or less for the NA engine, and im not sure if you are planning on swaping the engine yourself but based on what people have told me a shop will prob. do it for around 1000.

why not just swap for the turbo dude? its only about 500 bucks more expensive?

[evilhomer]

here's why

zerothread/185465