FTO AUSTRALIA

Hi guys,

wondering on thoughts here. I have had some dramas with my car and found out today that my car has blowby. It has been leaking oil in many areas and when the mechanic did a leak down test found out that one cylinder in particular was losing efficiency and causing positive crank case pressure... without going into details, they will have to take the engine apart to fix it and look at rings, cranks, etc etc to firstly identify the cause of the blowby, but then whilst the engine is apart go right through it and replace any other worn areas.... may as well whilst its open as i dont want something else shitting itself later down the track..

Im trying to get a better idea of the total cost, but it wont be cheap. I am thinking at a minimum $2000 but more then likely a fair bit more...

What would everyone else do in this case? Sell the car (e.g. trade it in), keep driving as is until something HAS to be done, rebuild the engine and make it almost new, put a different engine in (e..g FTO or something else).

just wondering if anyone has any suggestions or thoughts...

Well i know one member in Vic pick up a second hand engine for around 1.5k, & it was excellent condition with low km, i don't know if his lucky or know someone, but at least your should give that a shot first, because the labour cost would be much cheaper on swaping engine then rebuilding one.

I would think that getting a seconds hand engine would be a lot cheaper then a rebuild.


What model is your car?

its a GPX

Dave,

does your engine struggle to idle sometimes?

If you are getting blowby as well as uneven / compression loss on any of the cylinders then it can be one of 3 possible issues:

a) cracked piston ring land (which i highly doubt)
b) cracked piston rings
c) stuffed head gasket

to fix any of these will involve cracking the block open and with the 6A12, it's a nightmare so you're looking at big bucks either way should you decide to fix it or not...

best to go with a spare motor from the wreckers or something... at least they come with warranty - if you're lucky it may run longer than your current motor in its current state...

Wow, sorry to hear that David...
I don't think you should sell...

Either re-build which will give you awsome power, or just get a halfcut then you can sell or use the other bits of it. Or just buy a 2nd hand engine that is in really good condition, with low km's..

I donno, I think your going to have to research and get quotes for both of these in order to make up your mind, but i def think don't trade it in. Unless you want a change.

i had simular issues with mine and i tlaked to a few fto specilist such as the fella that does ftos in wa and the importers aorund here. basicly, if one thing is even slightly wrong iwth the rebuild, and its damn hard to get it right, youll have to be without car and moeny while they fix it again and again/ you might never get the same power back unless your gonna spend hte big $ on a stronger internals for turbo modding.

it cost me nearly 4k to replace my whole engine (1.8 for engine 2k for swap, timign belt, new clutch bearing and some other little details)

for me
its been worth the whole engine

selling out?
you wont get much for the car because msot people will only be able to get a engien for arond 3k because htere to lazy to hunt for a good one

get it replaced IMHO, its a good resale thing as talking to memebers in the UK, GPX blow otus arnt uncommon around 100,000 :*(

Thanks guys for your feedback.

I guess the thing that is hard to guage, is how much its going to cost to rebuild as they dont know what is causing the "blowby" and wont know until the engine is out of the car.

Mikey - no it doesnt seem to have idle problems, but i do think i get a bit of power loss at times around 2- 3 thousand revs, which the mechanic said is a sign of mechanical failure.

I assume whatever they find if they open it up, that i will get a lot of parts changed over, as i dont want them TO EVER have to open up the engine again...

My concern is that if i get another motor, is that things could go wrong with that as well, it could have been wound back (as we never know if the kms are legitimate) have internal dramas etc, at least with a rebuid I should be getting close to the 'original power' again?

The mech is adamant that oil usage previous to me owning the car could have contributed to this, and keeps going on about the need to use 5w-30 in this type of car (wont go on, as i covered this in another post).

nyway it gives me some food for thought. My old man says just leave it until it has to be fixed, but somehow i know that it will start to annoy me knowing my car is driving like it should (or running like it should).

nyway. will keep everyone posted.

if u ask an engine specialist to rebuild your engine
they will not fix only a few things
they will fix everything
otherwise they will be in trouble due to warranty if your other parts blow up and they have to repair everything for u under warranty
anywayz it cost about 8-9k for a complete rebuild of the 6A12mivec

Dave,

i'm presuming you do not have an oil-catch can installed so have a look on the bottom of your bonnet (esp at the area close to the PCV valve on the rocker cover) Do you see any oil residue / deposits / stains? if so then the blowby is quite bad...

In case you're not aware, blowby commonly occurs when the crank pressure forces oil vapour to sip past the piston / cylinder walls due to an improper seal (ie: stuffed ring lands / piston rings / head gaskets).

personally, unless you're going for a turbo conversion (what a great excuse hey? ) I don't think it's worth rebuilding the current motor... it can cost you at least $5k (even more if you want forgies) to rebuild / blueprint the internals but having spent all that money, you won't benefit from marginal gains anyway...

take the time to find a import wrecker and slip in the replacement 6A12 (or even just use the block). At least you still get a warranty if something goes wrong...

ok thanks Mikey,

No I dont have an oil catch can, but genesis said they when they took off the covers, there was a 'fair' bit of oil residue inside the cover. They also ran the car with teh covers off and noticed sweats at the crank, cam seals, and sump etc..

they replaced one seal when the replaced the clutch but the guy at promech said all that did was increase the pressure at the front seals, and now the rear is leaking again.

yeh ive finally got my head around what blowby is haha, now just have to decide what to do about it. I will contact a few wreckers and get quotes, and then try and get a "worst case scenario" from my mechanic. My old man wants me to just drive it until the engine is dead, makes sense to save the $$ but I know that I will get frsutrated knowing my car isnt running like ti should be.

was going to add... if i get a wreckers engine im assuming its going to cost between 2000-3000 just for the engine and then it has to be fitted... so wont it be a similar cost to the partial rebuild?

the labour cost for fitting the motor shouldn't be more than $1K because there are no fabrications required - everything should slip on and bolt up perfectly to current mounts etc...

You can find good MIVEC motors typically around the 2.5K mark at the very most (unless you 're looking for a half-cut which is near the 3K+ mark)

Assuming that the pistons are the only thing that's stuffed, you could prob spend $1.5K on a custom set of forged pistons fitted onto the stock rods in your current block, and maybe about another $2k+ in misc parts (seals / gaskets / rings etc) & labour for putting it all together...

...and looking at the bright side, with those pistons you can then add NOS!

so lets say $3.5k for an engine transplant.
How much more would Euro be looking at to drop something different in?

maybe like an EVO3 engine (4G63) which comes standard with forged internals.

Euro: my condolences... Ive had to make this decision in another car and it cost me a lot. Ended up selling with a blown motor.

thanks mrftoo - I think the problem with an evo 3 engine is the customisation into making the engine fit, even with a galant engine, custom work needs to be done and then you have to look at upgrades of brakes etc etc, i think the cost of that might get closer to 10k...

Mikey - Im assuming I wont need a half cut? just a motor.. how would i knoe that the internals of this engine are good? etc?

Im still waiting on a ball park figure from my mech - just to see worse case / best case scenario. Although I think he is good, I got a feeling his fees wont be cheap!

Just make sure you get an engine with a warranty.

That way if anything happens, the supplier has to pay for it.

to fit an evo3 motor, you'll need custom mounts and a gearbox to suit because the engine sits on the passenger side, not the driver's side. Although it is a sensible conversion, Evo-3 motors are quite old now so you cannot be so sure about its condition and for the costs involved in such fabrication (and parts) alone, you are better off rebuilding the 6A12 altogether if you're on a tight budget...

Dave, you will only need the motor (perhaps even just the block but the wreckers mostly likely wouldn't let you buy it separately) Most of them comes with a warranty so if something goes wrong at least you have something to fall back on...

Either way, you will have no choice but to crack the block open and find out the extent of the damage... you should pray and hope it's only the piston rings or the gasket that's stuffed - these things are cheaper to replace than pistons but the labour costs will make up a large part of the repair bill...

worst case scenario, if it's the ring lands on the piston that got busted (which I doubt), well.... WELCOME TO THE CAR MODIFICATION WORLD...

what about something like an EVO4 onwards motor?

I think you can buy a short block from Kempy’s in NZ for $750 NZ. But im not sure how much it would cost to get hear.

Grant I have contemplated an evo-4+ transplant for my car in the past but the last time i checked, the price on these motors are in the 4.5K mark, and that's without the ECU, looms, turbo and intercooler!

for 6.5K you might be able to pick up a bare-as-bones evo-7 motor (if you can find one) but by the time you get it hooked up and running, you've already spent more than $10K altogether...

there is in fact an evo-4 conversion kit from Japan, but that'll set u back 25G's from your retirement kitty...

jez Mikey - sure know how to shatter someones dreams