Needed a new motor at 75k, wtf! The rant.
04-16-2014, 06:59 PM
#1
Needed a new motor at 75k, wtf! The rant.
Bought my car (98 GLE) last year in February. Had 53k on it at the time. Stupid me I never checked the value of the car, so I over payed for it (4300) but everything was clean, no rust no nothing. Months later I had a slight smoke issue I stumbled upon, rarely ever happened. Skipping to now, it got serious. Seemed like an oil leak inside the cylinders, or head gasket issue. Beats me.. I went to a shop my family goes to and they tell me I need a new engine because it's almost on it's way out. (My issue was excessive white smoke, very slight mix of blue when revved and loss of power.) So I'm running out of options.
I had no time to waste on getting it fixed. I have school and work. I don't have any spare time to go look for another used car, or go through the DMV crap if I got a new one. My father suggested I don't get a junk yard engine because I could run the risk of having issues later on, or just get a remanufactured engine with no problems. So little did I know I was going to spent so much on one. Whoever had the car before me must've f*cked something up. Alright, wasted time trying to get a cheap fix for this. My neighbor tried to help but ended up wasting my time, although I appreciated it. So I went to a local shop and it's gonna cost me $4000 for a new motor. Yeah, what the f*ck?! Whatever, brand new no issues, cool. Fine. Need my car asap. Some people I know are popping my bubble because they rub the whole "wow that's a lot of money, or you could've saved so much.) I don't want to hear it. You think 4k is a lot to charge? The family shop for generic repairs I go to was going to charge me 5k. Get the hell outta here!
The only question I have at the moment is: What would you pay if I were to sell the car with the new motor in. What's the value? There's no turning back right now.
I had no time to waste on getting it fixed. I have school and work. I don't have any spare time to go look for another used car, or go through the DMV crap if I got a new one. My father suggested I don't get a junk yard engine because I could run the risk of having issues later on, or just get a remanufactured engine with no problems. So little did I know I was going to spent so much on one. Whoever had the car before me must've f*cked something up. Alright, wasted time trying to get a cheap fix for this. My neighbor tried to help but ended up wasting my time, although I appreciated it. So I went to a local shop and it's gonna cost me $4000 for a new motor. Yeah, what the f*ck?! Whatever, brand new no issues, cool. Fine. Need my car asap. Some people I know are popping my bubble because they rub the whole "wow that's a lot of money, or you could've saved so much.) I don't want to hear it. You think 4k is a lot to charge? The family shop for generic repairs I go to was going to charge me 5k. Get the hell outta here!
The only question I have at the moment is: What would you pay if I were to sell the car with the new motor in. What's the value? There's no turning back right now.
04-16-2014, 07:26 PM
#2
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 1,560
well u never know what the owner did when he owned the car, sure it has 53k miles, but did he do any maintenance? he could of abused the car quite heavy
I bought my maxima 2years ago at 126k, and Nothing serious has happened. only thing i changed under the hood was buying a new battery cause the one they had was getting old. and I knew the owner had taken care of it since it was black leather seats.. no torn.. no rips.. no fade. exterior was pearl white and he took great care... only had small dent in lower driver quarter panel in the middle between the wheels and bumper, but not serious.. getting it repaired soon. but overall for the amount of years, I could tell he took well care of it.
hence some1 just posted that he got 300k miles on the original motor... so
I bought my maxima 2years ago at 126k, and Nothing serious has happened. only thing i changed under the hood was buying a new battery cause the one they had was getting old. and I knew the owner had taken care of it since it was black leather seats.. no torn.. no rips.. no fade. exterior was pearl white and he took great care... only had small dent in lower driver quarter panel in the middle between the wheels and bumper, but not serious.. getting it repaired soon. but overall for the amount of years, I could tell he took well care of it.
hence some1 just posted that he got 300k miles on the original motor... so
Last edited by JoshG; 04-16-2014 at 07:30 PM.
04-16-2014, 07:35 PM
#4
its still a 16 year old common car. youre not going to get any more than a few grand for it with a new engine, only 2 ways it can go is you sell it as-is to someone with a bad engine or you swap engines and get your money out of it by driving it for a few years.
04-16-2014, 07:40 PM
#5
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 1,560
^ thing is if he tries to sell it again with bad engine, odds are that people will not buy. 90% of used car buyers wont buy a car with a bad engine. the 10% are rare to come by, and are willing to fix it or just have money to blow.
Ur in a tough situation here bud, Either swap engines... u might even get atleast 5+ years out of it. a decade maybe? thats good enough
Ur in a tough situation here bud, Either swap engines... u might even get atleast 5+ years out of it. a decade maybe? thats good enough
04-16-2014, 08:08 PM
#6
you can easily sell it for $300-$500. where a work a guy buys vehicles with blown engines and transmissions for under $500 and we swap in a new trans or whatever and he sells them again for $5000ish. he has no money to blow, he just flips them for crazy profit somehow. i do the same, buy something needing work for under $1000, put a few hundred in parts at it, keep it for myself and drive the ***** out of it for a few years
04-17-2014, 02:08 AM
#7
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Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Fuk 301 it's 410 Bal Md black/purple.
Posts: 1,860
It's definetly the head gasket and the oil seals and compression rings and seals that are gone. The engine is done. I am surprised with the problems that this car is having with the low miles it has on it,53k miles as your stating. The owner might of not have not taken the good care of the car. The worse case senerio that this car has rolled back odometers.
04-17-2014, 02:21 AM
#8
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Columbia SC
Posts: 2,284
someone may have pulled a fast one on you, I have seen that alot, people swap odometers with lower mileage ones to make a large profit, when in fact the car has alot more miles. Ive seen someone selling 99 SE with a black cluster, said it only had 80K miles for $4500, but I know better lol. Sorry this may have happened you.
04-17-2014, 02:24 AM
#9
04-17-2014, 11:46 AM
#10
The sad part is, the engine ran great! I never had issues all throughout the time I've had it. It idled very nice, no odd sounds or anything. I've even put regular 87 at fill up every time. This crap just literally bit me in the ***. You wouldn't even think it was going bad. A friend of mine told me that it could of had the miles rolled back on it without me knowing. Sly mothaf*cka! Tough times. I mean hell I know it's gonna last me a couple of years so I'll get my money's worth out of it. 3 year / 100k warranty on it, can't complain I guess.
04-17-2014, 01:59 PM
#11
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 1,560
Modifying the odometer is illegal, can get people in trouble for the person selling it due the fact they can make $ easy by just changing the odometer, but people still do it. so that car might have 200k+ in reality. u dont kno the real miles.
04-17-2014, 07:28 PM
#14
someone may have pulled a fast one on you, I have seen that alot, people swap odometers with lower mileage ones to make a large profit, when in fact the car has alot more miles. Ive seen someone selling 99 SE with a black cluster, said it only had 80K miles for $4500, but I know better lol. Sorry this may have happened you.
04-17-2014, 07:46 PM
#15
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Oshkosh WI
Posts: 327
My GXE had white faces when I got it. Along with an SE steering wheel.
I would drop a used engine in it, and sell it. Junkyards around here sell engines for $350. Might not be perfect, but if you are done with it, at least you might be able to get some money back. If you can find one that is in a wreck, chances are the engine will be ok, or at least keep the car moving.
No way I would spend close to 4k on an engine. No buyer pay 4k more just to have a reman engine. Where I am I can get a 5th gen with 150k on it for around 2500.
I would drop a used engine in it, and sell it. Junkyards around here sell engines for $350. Might not be perfect, but if you are done with it, at least you might be able to get some money back. If you can find one that is in a wreck, chances are the engine will be ok, or at least keep the car moving.
No way I would spend close to 4k on an engine. No buyer pay 4k more just to have a reman engine. Where I am I can get a 5th gen with 150k on it for around 2500.
04-17-2014, 08:44 PM
#16
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 1,560
i paid 3,000 for my 96 GLE white pearl 2yrs ago, i may paid a little over but heck 2years and it treats me well, could tell last owner took well of this thing. I don't regret paying a little extra.
happens... some sellers are legit, some are not. just how the game plays.
happens... some sellers are legit, some are not. just how the game plays.
04-18-2014, 02:42 AM
#17
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Columbia SC
Posts: 2,284
Yes it is illegal to roll odometers back, but people still do it because the low er the mileage, the more money u can make off the car. I saw an 03 Max I was looking at for a buddy of mine, was very clean, looks like it was a meridian edition gle with navigation fully loaded, 3.5 engine, very fast!! They wanted 8K to finiance, 6K cash. The odometer read 134K miles, needed valve cover gaskets. I said 8K is way to much for an 03. Pulled the carfax on the car, and there was a mileage discrepency, Dealer didnt tell us anything about it. The car in fact had over 180K miles on it. Have to be very careful out here, we walked away from that car.
04-18-2014, 02:50 AM
#18
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Columbia SC
Posts: 2,284
Yes it is illegal to roll odometers back, but people still do it because the low er the mileage, the more money u can make off the car. I saw an 03 Max I was looking at for a buddy of mine, was very clean, looks like it was a meridian edition gle with navigation fully loaded, 3.5 engine, very fast!! They wanted 8K to finiance, 6K cash. The odometer read 134K miles, needed valve cover gaskets. I said 8K is way to much for an 03. Pulled the carfax on the car, and there was a mileage discrepency, Dealer didnt tell us anything about it. The car in fact had over 180K miles on it. Have to be very careful out here, we walked away from that car.
Good thing is though you can buy a 4th gen very cheap now days, sometimes for under $1500, you can also grab a motor from the pull a part if you have one in your area for about $200-$250 or go to carpart.com. 4K for a motor for a nearly 20 year old car is beyond insane!!! You can buy a much newer car for that price.
04-18-2014, 07:49 AM
#19
Tell me about it. 4k is way too much for what I wanted to drop, but I never wanted to sell the car yet. Besides I don't have the time to go and find a new car to grab. I have work and school, plus I'd have to go through the DMV crap if I did get a new one. I had to get it done asap. What else was there? 
I miss having a Honda, hate on it all you want lol, cheap as hell in my opinion.
I miss having a Honda, hate on it all you want lol, cheap as hell in my opinion.
04-18-2014, 05:11 PM
#22
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Central AR
Posts: 3,041
The dealer told me I needed a new engine after I bought one from a salvage yard for $500 (that included removal from the donor car and set in the back of my pickup) with ~75,000 miles on the odometer. I photographed the donor car and it looked like a train had tried to drive through the rear end. Yep it was a total loss. So I found one cylinder (#2) with 96 psi compression while the others were well within spec. After the replacement engine was installed, the engine was missing. Two different mechanics blamed the missing on low compression. Something about their diagnosis just didn't add up -- especially with cylinder #5. Here's what found after I had the car towed back home from the dealer where I could run my own tests.
1) Plugged up Cats - I removed the upstream O2 sensors to see if I had plugged up cats. Yes the cats were plugged up. So much so that it was making the engine almost impossible to start. Once I opened the O2 sensor holes, the car would right up just like a good running VQ30DE should. Next I went looking for misfires that had been occurring on Cylinder #5 and #2.
2) Missing on Cyl #5 and Cyl #2. After removing the injector rails, I found broken pentile caps on cylinders 2 and 5. "The Wizard" recently posted some pictures of broken pentile caps that look almost exactly like mine. I think The Wizard was having a white smoke issue from too much fuel like mine. In my case, I believe the excessive flooding from the broken pentile caps contributed to the plugged up cat problem. It certainly didn't help. As the saying goes, one problem usually leads to another.
After taking the engine apart and examining the timing chain, the guides, the 3 injectors that came with, the cam lobes and other wear items, I concluded the engine really only has about 75,000 miles. Whoever owned the engine it must have kept the oil changed as it about the cleanest engine internals that I have seen on any disassembled engine to date. EXCEPT for a high amount of carbon deposits I saw on the pistons with a borescope. I believe the donor car was owned/driven infrequently (possibly by a Grandma) on short trips for many years that contributed to all of the carbon build up.
I had a low compression case like this on my I30 with a couple of low cylinders when I first got it back in 2010. After properly caring for the car, the compression issues leveled out and the lowest cylinder measurement on the I30 at 260,000 miles is now 165 psi.
If I was around Islip or Babylon (former NY/NJ resident here), I would drop by, pull the upstream O2 sensors, get you to start the car to see if it makes a difference. I would run a try to find any cylinders that are misfiring with an OBDII reader. If not I would try to run a "poor man's" power balance test by unplugging the coils one by one to isolate any rough idle issues to a specific cylinder. If we were lucky enough to find a misfire on cylinders 2,4 or 6 (the ones on the front of the engine, I would pull the injector rail and examine the injectors and o-rings to determine if the issue was injector related. I think I could rule out those issues in about an hour with a 22mm open end wrench for the O2 sensors, and a few tools like hex head socket for the coil covers, 8mm, 10mm and 12mm for the other stuff.
I hope you can get a 2nd opinion by someone that is seriously familiar with the VQ30DE and knows to rule out some of the issues that can occur with a car that has been "under driven" in addition to knowing how to look for wear signs that indicate the engine has more miles than the odometer reads.
1) Plugged up Cats - I removed the upstream O2 sensors to see if I had plugged up cats. Yes the cats were plugged up. So much so that it was making the engine almost impossible to start. Once I opened the O2 sensor holes, the car would right up just like a good running VQ30DE should. Next I went looking for misfires that had been occurring on Cylinder #5 and #2.
2) Missing on Cyl #5 and Cyl #2. After removing the injector rails, I found broken pentile caps on cylinders 2 and 5. "The Wizard" recently posted some pictures of broken pentile caps that look almost exactly like mine. I think The Wizard was having a white smoke issue from too much fuel like mine. In my case, I believe the excessive flooding from the broken pentile caps contributed to the plugged up cat problem. It certainly didn't help. As the saying goes, one problem usually leads to another.
After taking the engine apart and examining the timing chain, the guides, the 3 injectors that came with, the cam lobes and other wear items, I concluded the engine really only has about 75,000 miles. Whoever owned the engine it must have kept the oil changed as it about the cleanest engine internals that I have seen on any disassembled engine to date. EXCEPT for a high amount of carbon deposits I saw on the pistons with a borescope. I believe the donor car was owned/driven infrequently (possibly by a Grandma) on short trips for many years that contributed to all of the carbon build up.
I had a low compression case like this on my I30 with a couple of low cylinders when I first got it back in 2010. After properly caring for the car, the compression issues leveled out and the lowest cylinder measurement on the I30 at 260,000 miles is now 165 psi.
If I was around Islip or Babylon (former NY/NJ resident here), I would drop by, pull the upstream O2 sensors, get you to start the car to see if it makes a difference. I would run a try to find any cylinders that are misfiring with an OBDII reader. If not I would try to run a "poor man's" power balance test by unplugging the coils one by one to isolate any rough idle issues to a specific cylinder. If we were lucky enough to find a misfire on cylinders 2,4 or 6 (the ones on the front of the engine, I would pull the injector rail and examine the injectors and o-rings to determine if the issue was injector related. I think I could rule out those issues in about an hour with a 22mm open end wrench for the O2 sensors, and a few tools like hex head socket for the coil covers, 8mm, 10mm and 12mm for the other stuff.
I hope you can get a 2nd opinion by someone that is seriously familiar with the VQ30DE and knows to rule out some of the issues that can occur with a car that has been "under driven" in addition to knowing how to look for wear signs that indicate the engine has more miles than the odometer reads.
Last edited by CS_AR; 04-18-2014 at 05:14 PM.
04-20-2014, 08:58 AM
#23
The dealer told me I needed a new engine after I bought one from a salvage yard for $500 (that included removal from the donor car and set in the back of my pickup) with ~75,000 miles on the odometer. I photographed the donor car and it looked like a train had tried to drive through the rear end. Yep it was a total loss. So I found one cylinder (#2) with 96 psi compression while the others were well within spec. After the replacement engine was installed, the engine was missing. Two different mechanics blamed the missing on low compression. Something about their diagnosis just didn't add up -- especially with cylinder #5. Here's what found after I had the car towed back home from the dealer where I could run my own tests.
1) Plugged up Cats - I removed the upstream O2 sensors to see if I had plugged up cats. Yes the cats were plugged up. So much so that it was making the engine almost impossible to start. Once I opened the O2 sensor holes, the car would right up just like a good running VQ30DE should. Next I went looking for misfires that had been occurring on Cylinder #5 and #2.
2) Missing on Cyl #5 and Cyl #2. After removing the injector rails, I found broken pentile caps on cylinders 2 and 5. "The Wizard" recently posted some pictures of broken pentile caps that look almost exactly like mine. I think The Wizard was having a white smoke issue from too much fuel like mine. In my case, I believe the excessive flooding from the broken pentile caps contributed to the plugged up cat problem. It certainly didn't help. As the saying goes, one problem usually leads to another.
After taking the engine apart and examining the timing chain, the guides, the 3 injectors that came with, the cam lobes and other wear items, I concluded the engine really only has about 75,000 miles. Whoever owned the engine it must have kept the oil changed as it about the cleanest engine internals that I have seen on any disassembled engine to date. EXCEPT for a high amount of carbon deposits I saw on the pistons with a borescope. I believe the donor car was owned/driven infrequently (possibly by a Grandma) on short trips for many years that contributed to all of the carbon build up.
I had a low compression case like this on my I30 with a couple of low cylinders when I first got it back in 2010. After properly caring for the car, the compression issues leveled out and the lowest cylinder measurement on the I30 at 260,000 miles is now 165 psi.
If I was around Islip or Babylon (former NY/NJ resident here), I would drop by, pull the upstream O2 sensors, get you to start the car to see if it makes a difference. I would run a try to find any cylinders that are misfiring with an OBDII reader. If not I would try to run a "poor man's" power balance test by unplugging the coils one by one to isolate any rough idle issues to a specific cylinder. If we were lucky enough to find a misfire on cylinders 2,4 or 6 (the ones on the front of the engine, I would pull the injector rail and examine the injectors and o-rings to determine if the issue was injector related. I think I could rule out those issues in about an hour with a 22mm open end wrench for the O2 sensors, and a few tools like hex head socket for the coil covers, 8mm, 10mm and 12mm for the other stuff.
I hope you can get a 2nd opinion by someone that is seriously familiar with the VQ30DE and knows to rule out some of the issues that can occur with a car that has been "under driven" in addition to knowing how to look for wear signs that indicate the engine has more miles than the odometer reads.
1) Plugged up Cats - I removed the upstream O2 sensors to see if I had plugged up cats. Yes the cats were plugged up. So much so that it was making the engine almost impossible to start. Once I opened the O2 sensor holes, the car would right up just like a good running VQ30DE should. Next I went looking for misfires that had been occurring on Cylinder #5 and #2.
2) Missing on Cyl #5 and Cyl #2. After removing the injector rails, I found broken pentile caps on cylinders 2 and 5. "The Wizard" recently posted some pictures of broken pentile caps that look almost exactly like mine. I think The Wizard was having a white smoke issue from too much fuel like mine. In my case, I believe the excessive flooding from the broken pentile caps contributed to the plugged up cat problem. It certainly didn't help. As the saying goes, one problem usually leads to another.
After taking the engine apart and examining the timing chain, the guides, the 3 injectors that came with, the cam lobes and other wear items, I concluded the engine really only has about 75,000 miles. Whoever owned the engine it must have kept the oil changed as it about the cleanest engine internals that I have seen on any disassembled engine to date. EXCEPT for a high amount of carbon deposits I saw on the pistons with a borescope. I believe the donor car was owned/driven infrequently (possibly by a Grandma) on short trips for many years that contributed to all of the carbon build up.
I had a low compression case like this on my I30 with a couple of low cylinders when I first got it back in 2010. After properly caring for the car, the compression issues leveled out and the lowest cylinder measurement on the I30 at 260,000 miles is now 165 psi.
If I was around Islip or Babylon (former NY/NJ resident here), I would drop by, pull the upstream O2 sensors, get you to start the car to see if it makes a difference. I would run a try to find any cylinders that are misfiring with an OBDII reader. If not I would try to run a "poor man's" power balance test by unplugging the coils one by one to isolate any rough idle issues to a specific cylinder. If we were lucky enough to find a misfire on cylinders 2,4 or 6 (the ones on the front of the engine, I would pull the injector rail and examine the injectors and o-rings to determine if the issue was injector related. I think I could rule out those issues in about an hour with a 22mm open end wrench for the O2 sensors, and a few tools like hex head socket for the coil covers, 8mm, 10mm and 12mm for the other stuff.
I hope you can get a 2nd opinion by someone that is seriously familiar with the VQ30DE and knows to rule out some of the issues that can occur with a car that has been "under driven" in addition to knowing how to look for wear signs that indicate the engine has more miles than the odometer reads.
If you still lived here and came by I would have really appreciate that before I went out to get the swap done. I don't have much mechanical experience at all so I'd be so stumped. The only thing off the top of my mind to check is the cylinders, coil packs and gaskets. Sounds like you know what the hell you're doing! I have those tools as well. I don't even know if I have a compression gauge, but I wish I had a closeby friend who knows the ins and outs of a jap engine.
04-20-2014, 10:08 AM
#24
autozone rents out compression testers for free (you get your money back when you drop the tools off).
Find a reputable shop to do a compression check for you, if you're not feeling up to par.
Are you losing oil and/or coolant? $4k is way too much to spend on a car of this age, unless you're talking performance modifications lol
Find a reputable shop to do a compression check for you, if you're not feeling up to par.
Are you losing oil and/or coolant? $4k is way too much to spend on a car of this age, unless you're talking performance modifications lol
04-20-2014, 10:54 AM
#25
I never knew that. I was losing oil, but no leaks. Engine naturally just eats it in a month when I get an oil change. One of the shops told me it was 2 quarts low. I'm not surprised because my dipstick sucks at times so I can't really read it. 4k really is too much but maybe in a few months I'll sell it and hopefully get more out of it then what I originally paid for. Either way I lose some cash.
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