Engine Replacement

[Wasa]

Dear Experts,

This is a common for any kind of reconditioned car (Japanese) engine .

I would like to know what will be the maximum miledge with a reconditioned petrol car engine.

Why it's called engine replacement is cheaper than engine repair

Reliability of reconditioned engines available in the market

Finaly whether the market value of the car decrease / increase after engine replacement.

Please make your comments/view on above.

Thanks

[jdnet]

1. There isn't a maximum milage per se and there isn't any way of telling the milage other than my tearing it down and inspecting the wear on it (even that would only tell you the condition).

2. There is no such thing as a reconditioned engine. Either it's rebuilt or it's not. I doubt there are any places here that get down rebuilt engines. What we have imported are used engines.

3. Reliability? again, these are USED engines so you really can't say. It's highly dependent on the vehicle it was plucked out of.

4.Value of the vehicle overall decreases with engine transplants. Also i a buyer wants to finance the vehicle he will run into problems

5. Depending on why you want a new engine, repairing will be cheaper (exceptions are cracked heads and blocks).

6. Over all, rebuilding an engine is safer than replacing it with one from a car you know nothing about. When rebuilt, most of the parts will be new and the the whole engine should actually function like it's brand new (if done right). So the best bet is to rebuild an engine.

[The Don]

First of all I am NOT an expert so please view my comments in that light. I'm just an automotive enthusiasts like you.

The maximum mileage on a well maintained petrol engine should be around 300,000 KM - 400,000KM in my opinion without the need for a complete overhaul. I say this because I have friends whose cars are still running without burning oil at 250,000 miles ! The key here is "well maintained" and you need to adjust a bit for environmental factors such as heat, humidity, quality of petrol, oil, filters but also the fact that many cars are "clocked" (their odometers turned around) by the time they reach our shores.

How many miles you get from a recon engine depends on how well it's used and how many miles it has already, and that is anybody's guess!

Replacing with a recon engine, is sometimes cheaper than a complete overhaul, because the cost of parts and labour of an overhaul is often more than engine replacement, because those parts are brand new. But often the reason why it is recommended is because the quality of the repair often dictates how many miles you can get after an overhaul and sometimes you can get more miles out of a recon engine than from a poorly overhauled engine, and some mechanics view it as a more sure way of sorting out the problem.

Reliability is unfortunately not guaranteed, and you have to absorb the risk and the reward. A good mechanic should be able to help you here though.

The most important thing when it comes to an engine replacement is that the change is registered with the RMV. If this is done your vehicle should not suffer a loss in value and at times you may even see a slight increase in value.