DC Tom Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 I bet somebody could get that engine rebuilt for about $2500 and so if you sold it for $500, they've have a car for about 3k. I wouldn't do it but I'm sure it sounds appealing to somebody. If less. And you could probably get a remanufactured engine from a yard and have it put in for still less. The downside being: it would have to pass emissions inspection. No guarantee of that...and if it doesn't, the engine would need to be re-rebuilt, or the car junked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 If less. And you could probably get a remanufactured engine from a yard and have it put in for still less. The downside being: it would have to pass emissions inspection. No guarantee of that...and if it doesn't, the engine would need to be re-rebuilt, or the car junked. That is what my friend did with the 2003 Toyota Echo he bought... I not sure where he got the parts/engine... But he drives it to work everyday and it runs like a champ. It really is all about the time/labor and what kind of space/shop area you have. Oh, and of course the car being fixed isn't the only car you have as a daily driver! I sure most anybody that is semi-mechanically inclined could fix most anything for a small amount. I remember with my 1994 New Yorker, the front seals were leaking. The seals were only 10 bucks... And while everything is tore out to get in there, it makes perfect sense to throw in a new timing belt and water pump... A shop wanted 900 bucks... All Parts were around 100 bucks, if that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SDS Posted June 24, 2009 Author Share Posted June 24, 2009 Maybe way cheaper. SDS, what exactly is wrong with the motor? the car overheated. I pulled off to the side. Had it towed. Mechanic said he kept getting coolant in the oil. The coolant is overheating somewhere and spewing out my overflow hose. Says there is a lot of noise up top and suspects engine damage. He recommends not putting the money into fixing it since the engine may go at any time. I had my brother talk with him who is a car repair nut and he thinks the guy is being very honest (he's actually telling him NOT to give him work). My Kelley BB value is about $2k. $700 on trade-in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 the car overheated. I pulled off to the side. Had it towed. Mechanic said he kept getting coolant in the oil. The coolant is overheating somewhere and spewing out my overflow hose. Says there is a lot of noise up top and suspects engine damage. He recommends not putting the money into fixing it since the engine may go at any time. I had my brother talk with him who is a car repair nut and he thinks the guy is being very honest (he's actually telling him NOT to give him work). My Kelley BB value is about $2k. $700 on trade-in. Yikes! Still somebody I suspect may take it... Like UConn said, if you have time... Maybe give it 3 weeks or so and see who may want it. Overheating is not that good! Maybe you shut it down early enough... Who knows till they get in there?? The only time I seen something overheat real bad was with an old 25hp Johnson outboard... I would launch it (work) from within Erie harbor/Presque Isle (PA) and run around the point at Presque Isle to get some survey work done along the beaches (Lake Erie side)... Well anyway, I didn't know that the motor wasn't "pissing" (or pumping water through to cool the motor)... By the time I got around to almost where I needed to be the motor conked out! I was freaking, here I was on the Lake Erie side of Presque Isle with a small row boat and 25hp motor that just conked out... Amazingly my crew chief (he was pretty knowledgable... Used to be an Assistant Master on one of the Corps hopper dredges) cleaned the screen of any sand that was plugging the intake up (a lot of times we would beach the boat to get where we needed) and he tightened down all the bolts to the head/engine... THE THING RAN!! Got us to finish the job and back around to the boat ramp... Never gave a lick of a problem after! Too bad we can't drive 25hp Johnson outboards in vehicles! That thing was built like a tank. Good luck!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SDS Posted June 24, 2009 Author Share Posted June 24, 2009 actually, my idiot light came on and made a beep. I looked down, said "wtf is that?". And I saw my temp gauge racing to 260. I pulled off the road and had the car shut off in under 5 seconds. I'm sure I caught it early enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 actually, my idiot light came on and made a beep. I looked down, said "wtf is that?". And I saw my temp gauge racing to 260. I pulled off the road and had the car shut off in under 5 seconds. I'm sure I caught it early enough. Ah... American engineering! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim in Anchorage Posted June 24, 2009 Share Posted June 24, 2009 the car overheated. I pulled off to the side. Had it towed. Mechanic said he kept getting coolant in the oil. The coolant is overheating somewhere and spewing out my overflow hose. Says there is a lot of noise up top and suspects engine damage. He recommends not putting the money into fixing it since the engine may go at any time. I had my brother talk with him who is a car repair nut and he thinks the guy is being very honest (he's actually telling him NOT to give him work). My Kelley BB value is about $2k. $700 on trade-in. Head gasket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SDS Posted June 25, 2009 Author Share Posted June 25, 2009 Head gasket. yeah, but apparently there is a bunch of noise coming from there and the mechanic highly suspects some damage has been done. There may be many issues including a water pump. I dunno. It's a '99 Chevy Malibu. I've hated every yawn inducing mile we drove it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuckincincy Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 Head gasket. The failure likely began with the well-documented intake gasket problem with the 3.1 v-6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GM_60-Degree_V6_engine Sad, but fades compared to the Toyota oil sludge settlement. Toyota fought it for years, blaming owners. IIRC, the problem came about because Toyota engineers narrowed block and head cooling passages to raise transient combustion chamber temperatures in the interest of more complete fuel/air charge burn. That raised the overall cylinder head temperature over time, and they failed to account for the fact that there is always some motor oil pooling in the nooks and crannies in the top surfaces of a head. So it got fried and turned into clots, which eventually circulated. They made a fundamental mistake - you address head drainage/cooling when you raise head temps. That's pretty much Motor Design 101 stuff... http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2007...settlement.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 IIRC, the problem came about because Toyota engineers narrowed block and head cooling passages to raise transient combustion chamber temperatures in the interest of more complete fuel/air charge burn. That raised the overall cylinder head temperature over time, and they failed to account for the fact that there is always some motor oil pooling in the nooks and crannies in the top surfaces of a head. So it got fried and turned into clots, which eventually circulated. They made a fundamental mistake - you address head drainage/cooling when you raise head temps. That's pretty much Motor Design 101 stuff... http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2007...settlement.html Shhhhh... John Adams never bought into it, purely a figmant of my imagination about sludging Toyotas. I remember this sludge problem for about 10 years. One oil change place I used to visit (for the last couple of years I do the oil in my Jeep myself since that oil change place dumped Castrol and took on Citgo as its main sponser... My wife's Chrysler gets oil changes at the dealer gratis for the life of the vehicle) had even a sign posted about Toyotas sludging going back to around the early 2000's! Funny how the American car industry went belly up when they would do everything for the consumer... The Japs wouldn't cut the consumer any slack even a mile out of warranty. Just goes to show you what image control can do. Deny, deny, deny, don't pay. Nice guys finish last I suppose. One thing that will come about if America gets out of the auto industry is that the dirty little secret that basically NOW no matter where a vehicle is made, they still can fall prey to issues. Some companies just hide it better, have the past to rely on (even know the early Jap cars were notorious rust buckets they still ran better and garnered more accolades) or "shock" people even said they have a "better business model." Well, Toyota does have a better business model, it has been this long and nobody knows about it except the poor saps that bought these lemons. Probably the reason my friend got such a good deal on a 2003 Echo with a bad motor? I wonder how many people just scraped a vehicle? 7.5 million current and previous Toyota and Lexus owners. Also Cincy: Isn't that Malibu engine related to the Toyota engine? Part of the collaboration between Toyota and Chevy? Haven't they shared some engineering in the past? Or was that earlier in the late 1980's? Remember they coined the term: Toylet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 SDS, when you check the oil, the oil isn't all frothy white is it? If it is, like Jim said... It could be a head gasket or "gasp" a cracked block. That would mean that coolant is mixing with the oil. I had a 1987 Suzuki that had this problem (head gasket) one year after I bought new. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkyMannn Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 Head gasket. Yep! Once you mixed water with oil, the engine is done, no matter how soon you turned it off. Plus over-heating could have cracked or warped the head. V6? Then you need to do both heads too. Maybe you can get a junkyard engine, find someone to do the job then. You could be in for more than the car is worth though Figure you fully depreciated the car, take the $100-$200 junkyard money and go outr for a nice dinner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
X. Benedict Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 there are enough signs of engine damage that it doesn't make sense to fix a 1999 Chevy Malibu with $136k miles on it. The car is good shape, save for the engine. Sheet metal, doors, seats, etc... Where does one take a car that isn't really drivable anymore? hang onto it for you Clunker deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Movinon Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 Call Purple Heart Cars and donate it. They take cars running or not and give you a receipt for tax deduction purposes. Our 2000 Mazda just sheit the bed, called them and two days later it was gone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkyMannn Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 The failure likely began with the well-documented intake gasket problem with the 3.1 v-6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GM_60-Degree_V6_engine My son is a tech at a GM dealer. Probably does 3-5 of these per week Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SDS Posted June 25, 2009 Author Share Posted June 25, 2009 My son is a tech at a GM dealer. Probably does 3-5 of these per week I had that replaced probably 3 years ago or so... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marv's Neighbor Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 If it's a GM, take it to the WHITEHOUSE. Barry says he will honor your Warrenty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UConn James Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 That is what my friend did with the 2003 Toyota Echo he bought... I not sure where he got the parts/engine... But he drives it to work everyday and it runs like a champ. It really is all about the time/labor and what kind of space/shop area you have. Oh, and of course the car being fixed isn't the only car you have as a daily driver! I sure most anybody that is semi-mechanically inclined could fix most anything for a small amount. I remember with my 1994 New Yorker, the front seals were leaking. The seals were only 10 bucks... And while everything is tore out to get in there, it makes perfect sense to throw in a new timing belt and water pump... A shop wanted 900 bucks... All Parts were around 100 bucks, if that. You also have to consider what kind of wife you have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsWatch Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 I read up on some of that information, check the factsheet again, you may be able to qualify. I am kicking myself since we just donated our 1999 Sable to a freind who needed a car to get to work I thought I read that it had to be 1984 or older, the official information had no age limit. Incorrect: Your vehicle must be less than 25 years old on the trade-in date 1984 is the cutoff with the usual oddity of car dates - is a 1984 model released in 1983 but 1st bought in 1985 a 1983, 1984 or 1985 car? And me if it was a true 'friend' it would not make a difference to me. Now a so-so 'freind' probably not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SDS Posted June 26, 2009 Author Share Posted June 26, 2009 I decided to go with Purple Heart Cars. Thanks for the suggestion.... Going to go clean her out and take the tags today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts