Wow
Wow
The other day I took my car to get the front and rear trans seals replaced (it was leaking pretty bad) $500. Once it got on the lift I saw the engine was leaking oil out of the front seal and both valve covers were leaking onto the exhaust manifolds. The engine has never shown any loss of oil so they may be very slow leaks. I can't wait to see what this will run. How much do people charge to rebuild these engines? I can't see paying someone an arm and a leg to change a couple of seals on an engine that has 170,000+ on it especially for a car that is only worth 3k tops.
Re: Wow (J30Sos)
At a 170K+ miles it becomes more of a do-it yourself job, as parts alone are very costly. If you are going after leaky front engine seals (5), at the same time you might as well repace: - the timing belt and tensioner - two other timing belt pulleys and the AC idler pulley - all three accessory belts - thermostat - water pump - a few coolant hoses - coolant - and clean the radiator (coolant and transmission sides) - switch to synthetic oil
Injectors and emissions sensors don't last forever, and related things get pretty crudded up, so next pull the plenum and: - replace all six injectors with new (no reconditioned) ones, including top and bottom o-rings - this also allows you to inspect/carefully tighten valve cover gaskets,replacing them if necessary - replace the EGR, PCV valves (2) and numerous hardened/cracked vacuum hoses - possibly replace the knock sensor, with the EGR valve off - clean the inside of the plenum and throttle bodies - clean the MAF - clean the EGR tubes - replace the O2 sensors (2) - replace the fuel filter - spark plugs too - I'd like to pull and clean the oil pan someday too
By then you still haven't touched valve seals, rings, bearings, valves and head gaskets that would be part of a complete/real engine rebuild. It's more like both arms and both legs, but you'll probably have an engine that's good to go almost another 100K miles trouble-free.
Modified by GerryO at 9:50 PM 12/9/2008
Injectors and emissions sensors don't last forever, and related things get pretty crudded up, so next pull the plenum and: - replace all six injectors with new (no reconditioned) ones, including top and bottom o-rings - this also allows you to inspect/carefully tighten valve cover gaskets,replacing them if necessary - replace the EGR, PCV valves (2) and numerous hardened/cracked vacuum hoses - possibly replace the knock sensor, with the EGR valve off - clean the inside of the plenum and throttle bodies - clean the MAF - clean the EGR tubes - replace the O2 sensors (2) - replace the fuel filter - spark plugs too - I'd like to pull and clean the oil pan someday too
By then you still haven't touched valve seals, rings, bearings, valves and head gaskets that would be part of a complete/real engine rebuild. It's more like both arms and both legs, but you'll probably have an engine that's good to go almost another 100K miles trouble-free.
Modified by GerryO at 9:50 PM 12/9/2008
Re: Wow (GerryO)
Too bad you didn't live in California. Here's an advertisement for a J30 with new fuel injectors and new tires for $750, it has a bad transmission. If I had a place to store it I would buy it myself for a parts car.http://orangecounty.craigslist....html
Re: Wow (GerryO)
Thanks GerryO. Those are some things to consider in the future. I did get the car for free so I should expect to have to put some money into it. Right now I am in the middle of buying a house so those repairs will have to wait a little while.
Victor, Cali is a little far for me but it would be nice to have a parts car sitting around
Victor, Cali is a little far for me but it would be nice to have a parts car sitting around