Engine jumped time, and the mech says it would be better to swap a new engine than to repair the valves, pistons, cam dressing...etc. He quoted me about $4K. I can get an engine off of JDM motors for less than $1.5K.

Has anyone had to swap motors? what was the total cost? what had to be changed along with the engine?

I'm contemplating selling it and getting another DSM. GSX if I can find one.

Anything will be helpful. I love my car, but I need a DD for work and whatnot that won't break the bank.

 

year? i'm assuming its a GST from ur name but that has been misleading as well. don't automatically assume that everything is crap until you acutaly pull the head off and analyze it for yourself. the shop could just be charging you 4k to replace 8 valves, 1 piston and a timing belt....
deciding what you want to do is dependant on your plans for the future. if you plan on in the future running 450+whp in the car than i'd just say rebuild the engine (only about 1000 for the bottom end and depending on how extreme u want to go on the head you can get it done for prolly 1500-2500). this will not only allow you to run your car 700+whp it will aslo dramatically increase the value of the car when you go to sell it.

 

Wow sounds to me like your getting robbed. There is no way you should need to spend more than $2k to fix this. How do they know the pistons are done. Usually what happens when you skip timing is the valves will hit the pistons and bend some of the valves. For the pistons to crack it would really have to be bad. So i bet they are fine. Basically what you need is your head sent to a machine shop and they will let you know how many need to be replaced. The head will then be rebuilt by them. (usually for between 500-600) then you just need the normal stuff to put a head back on (head gasket, studs, valve cover gasket set, water pump is a good idea, tensioner, timing belt stuff, ect) this should never be more than 2k.

 

The mech is saying that repairing the head will not be an issue. However, when the head is saeled back up the compression will be higher than the bottom end. He said that this would cause the engine to leak oil from the bottom. He's a pretty reputable guy I'm told by several local DSMers.

If the engine is swapped/ repaired, how much life can I expect to have out of the car? I can't afford to do this again, and I need the car for work. Keep in mind that this happened 4 days after I bought it. I'd prefer to fix it and not have a note to pay each month than to sell it for whatever I can get to buy another car with a note.

 

that's a very broad question. you could buy a used one for 800 bucks, and it could go ka-put on you in another 4 days...

as for the first part w/ the mech.'s description... i'm freakin lost!!!! he's saying that fixing the head will cause a higher compression? tha'ts b.s unless he's talking about shaving the head/block, which he wouldn't need to do unless you warped the head.
buy an engine rebuild kit and pay the guy to do it. OR try to find a reputable person/company to sell you a new motor... either way you are prolly looking right around the same price.

 

i put a new clutch in when i had to put in my new motor if your clutch is older that might be something to think about. its alot easier to do when its out of the engine bay. and like they said before depending on goals or what you want to use the gst for upgrading internals would be a smart thing to do if your looking for big hp numbers. fwd=no traction tho with big hp as we all know

 

OK, I called a Mitsu dealer today, and talked to the service supervisor. He told me that they would send the valvetrain to their machine shop to be repaired completely (if it needs to be), also they would replace the head gaskets, valve cover, clean/ inspect cylinders, button it up w/ all new gaskets to prevent any leakage, replace all the belts, install a new timing cover, and a few other small things for $2k max. All this and I get a 12 month/ 12k mile warranty on the engine/ valvetrain. I'll have it towed in tomorrow.

also, they would replace the old engine mounts for between 150-200 per mount.

 

wow yea you needed to get it out of that shop. What the F is he talking about

HAHAHAHA this is gotta be one of the dumbest statements ive ever heard from a mechanic. NVM one that is supposed to be reputable. What a retard. He either has no idea what hes doing or he was trying to take advantage of you. I would make sure you let everyone know not to go to this guy again

 

Yeah, He freaked me out when he said he could get the engine for $3K. then charge me $90 per hour for labor at 10.5 hrs. Worse than that was that he was getting the engine from a salvage yard. I can get one shipped from an ebay store for $1500 with 35-50k miles on it.

 

yea he was definetly just trying to screw you