fto engine died. Whats the best option?

[mitsufto]

Hey guys,

Well my fto motor decided to died on me last week and its come down to a blown head gasket, the engine only had 135,000kms on it. Just wondering what the best option would be for me. I was thinking of getting a fto half cut and transplanting a replacement mivec motor in, or should i rebuild?

Also does anyone know a reputable place to purchase a motor from?

thanks for anyhelp,

scotty

[I8A4RE]

Well first need to know how dead is it? Did it overheat?

1) If it is just the head gasket then you could get away with fixing it for $800-$1300 (that's a reasonable cost), I am sure there will be mechanics who charge a lot more.

2) Donor engine depending on the cost of the engine (I have seen as low as $400, I have one for sale for $600 and I have seen half cuts upto 2k). Then expect another $500-800 labour. Swapping out a motor actually is very easy all you need is a bit of a spanner thumb and take lots of pics/details.

3) Complete rebuild of the engine. Cost in the thousands probably round 3.5k at a guess. I think this would be totally un-necceassary.

[mitsufto]

thanks for the quick reply.

There is water in the oil with white goo under the oil cap and also the the radiator coolant is really dirty oily green colour.

I thought i might of got a bad batch of fuel cause the car suddenly started running really ruff and lost all power. I got it home as i lived 100 meters down the road. check the oil and coolant and had mechanic check it out. I am pretty upset about it. I'm not the type to flog my car, but who knows the history of the car.

I am thinking a donor engine might be my best option. Are they avalibe will low k's and good condtion?

cheers,

scotty

[brad_gpx]

yep you can get them with low kms
i recently got one with 50,000kms on it

[mitsufto]

where would be a good place to purchase another motor that i can trust as i live in tassie i have no chance of looking at the motor?

Cheers,

scotty

[I8A4RE]

Ok, well it sounds like you definitly have a blown head gasket. Now what to do? Lets ignore no.3 and concentrate on 1 and 2

1) Repair Head gasket
Pro's :
You know exactly what you getting
You should be able to get a lots more km's of worry free training.

Con's:
Can be more expensive.
Can find more and more things wrong and get very expensive.
You have to really trust the mechanic or least have a warranty

2) Replace the motor with second hand
Pros:
Can be much cheaper and possibly on the road faster.

Cons:
You dont know the history of the motor and not being abe to compression test it you could be in the exactly same position months down the track.
Freight costs could make it a more expensive project than fixing it the head gaasket.

Personally, unless you can find a motor for extremely cheap, i would just get the head gasket done.
If you found an engine for $800 then at least $200 for freight, then your already upto 1k wthout even thinking about labour. I would expect a workshop then to charge 8-12hrs labour @ $80 (approx) $640-960. So there is an approx cost to do an engine swap. If you were here I do it for some beer lol.

Because we have two heads (v6) if it is only your front bank that has blown then it could actually work out not too expensive. If it is both, I highly doubt it, then it would start to get up round 1k-1.6K mark

Hope that helps

[crimson236]

You could try www.findapart.com.au. I think they offer 2nd hand engines with up to 3 month warranties. Would be quite ex though including freight.

[mitsufto]

Been checking out the net and seems like i will have to call a few import places to see what they have to offer and the prices on engines. At the same time over the next couple of days i am getting a mechanic to check out the motor to see wether its worth replacing the head gasket or go the replacement motor.

Just wish i had enough coin to wack in a larger turbo motor

If anyone comes accross a low mileage motor pm me please.

thanks for all your help,
scotty