hari_jay

Hi I recently bought a used Automatic 1989 Nissan Maxima SE ( 3000 , V6). The only things I found strange about the car was that the temperature guage would work intermittently and that when I start the car about 1 out of 20 times it would hesitate to get into drive .
It was a great car for the past 8 months ( it now has 110k miles on it) and I have been on quite a few long trips in the past .

Recently when I was on a 350 mile drive from houston to laredo Texas, the car was doing great at 75mph on the freeway and everything was fine till the hose that connects the engine to the radiator engine blew off ( It was a 115 degrees outside and the hose as I realised later looked all worn out and consequently gave way ).

In what followed the engine overheated and the motor got severely damaged by the time I could get my car off the freeway safely. I was told by a laredo mechanic that the motor needs replacement. I been quoted $1200 parts and labor by a laredo mechanic for a full motor replacement .
The mechanic says he can find me a late 1990's motor with few (????) miles on it.

As is quite obvious I am quite new to cars in general and to problems with my maxima.

What should I keep in mind going into this major ( for a poor grad student) repair. Is it worth it . I suppose the transmission is still alright ( no major problems until now).
Is the price quoted reasonable.

AznWontonboy

if u have money, get a used 4th gen. better yet, 5 speed 5th gen.

ionicmax

iTrader: (30)

Jay:

That price seems to be 200-400 dlls high! you can easily find a cheap maxima engine for your car. In fact your engine was one of the most reliable engines the maxes ever had. I go to the junk yard all the time and I see plenty of these engines, the reason of this is that they usually never give out. Since you are close to the Mexican border, there should be many cheap junk yards around your area, and I would expect you to pay around 500 to 800 dlls for a good engine with warrantee.

Try to find your engine at http://www.car-part.com/, or go hunting at the local junk yards! try to find one and ask around how much the labor would be.

Good luck! and if the Max looks good (interior and paint) then it's worth getting it fixed, considering it only has 110K and it's an SE.

Matt93SE

iTrader: (44)

I agree with the price on the engine, but that 1200 quote is also for install and removal/disposal of the old engine. that's not a pretty penny there, and there's easily 10 hours of labor involved.. that's $500 right there. and that's barring any troubles getting things fired back up once the engine is in.

Jeff92se

iTrader: (82)

There is a difference between finding an engine cheap and finding an engine THAT'S WORTH BUYING for cheap. I see engines all the time. But I would only even consider 1/2 of them and then only consider BUYING maybe 1/2 of those. VG30s are good but they are still engines that need to be maintained and are just as vunerable to neglect as any other engine.

ionicmax

iTrader: (30)

I agree that he has to find an engine that is worth buying. I have had experience with swapping engines on my cars, because I drive about 500 to 700 miles a week, and I have had to buy replacement engines for my cars. I bought a 92 Nissan Maxima engine installed at the junk yard for 850 bucks, I also bought an engine for my 91 240sx, that I wanted to return to stock form, for 750 installed (both engines with about 30K miles on them and with a warranty). Installed in San Diego Ca.

And by the way, VE engines are cheap because there are allot of them at the junk yards, thought you might want to know.

One other thing Jay, be sure to keep all of the accessories that come off your old engine (sensors, Throttle bodies, etc.) these parts are worth some $$$ and if you ever need a replacement, you'll have one handy. I've also done that with my other cars.