Okay a little back history is needed before we get into the current issue at hand.

3 months ago I purchased a full size 3.5 liter xls 4x4 Montero. The timing belt was making a slapping nose due to a bad tensioner. I had the Timing belt, water pump, oil pump, tension and tensioner pully replaced. a month or so later it started over heating. It only did it on warm starts where the suv had been driven recently and it only did it for the first 5 minutes or so. Then the thermostate would open back up.

Well I decided to do the work myself this time and replaced the thermostate again. The issue stoped for about 3 days then it was back. I delt with it hoping the problem would make itself more appearent. I tried multiple attempts to bleed air out of the system parking on hills etc. It seemed okay as far as air. So I drove with the issue.


Driving down the road the other day and I notice that the temps are risng even though the thermostate has opened. I let it get about 3/4 of the way up the gauge and turned off the A/C. The temps came back to normall for about 3 minutes then they skyrocketed.

As we were pulling over the motor started to knock and the tranny automaticly downshifted and sent the revs to near red line.

We were pulled over within 60 seconds of the temps going through the roof. The radiator puked its guts out on the highway and we waited for a tow home.

Once we got the car home I opened the radiator and added water wating to see where it would come out, to my suprise it never leaked out? I checked the oil and it was a quart low, I added oil to the motor but it took forever for the oil to reach the pan. I then attempted to start the car. It sounds like it has no compression. The motor is turning but I have no fire. Just a small studder every couple of turns. The oil on the dipstick isnt milky so I dont know that it was a head gasket.

So Im left with only a few options.

Rebuild the current motor if its salvagable.

Buy a rebuilt long block and swamp my accessories.


Or,,,,

Swap in something with better performance and slightly better reliability.

So guys let me know what you think.

Im going to tear it down this weekend and give it a compresison test and im going to take the radiator to a shop and have them clean it and pressure test it.

Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Alex R.