Accordless

Hi All,

My 2004 V6 (32000 miles) blew a spark plug out while on the highway a few weeks back. Apparently, debris from the plug fell into the cylinder and trashed the wall. Now two mechanics say I need a new engine. Yikes - I'm kinda throwing up in my mouth a little bit here.

So the dealer tells me he found a used engine with 47000 miles on it and can do the swap for $3500. He wants to replace the timing belt and the water pump at the same time, but for this he wants to charge a lot more. Isn't this swap really really easy to do with the engine out? And the parts are only, what - $150 or so?

BLKFLSH

A dealership probably gets those parts for under $100. You can buy a belt and pump on-line for less than $150. There is, however, some labor involved, even if the engine is not in the car. How much more are they asking for? IMO, it shouldn't add more than $200 to the engine swap job. If they are going to do a valve adjustment also, maybe $250-$300.

Accordless

Hey - thanks much for the input. They are asking for more like $400, no mention of the valve adjustment. I will try to haggle a bit there. It would be foolish not to do it when the engine is replaced, right?

Stuff

$3500 is a typical inflated dealer price. Are they even going to offer you a warranty? You could probably save a couple grand by going to an independent shop.

http://www.partshotlines.com/ shows engines for less than $1000 with 30K miles on them. The salvage yards usually have someone that would do the swap as well for a couple hundred.

Yes, it does make sense to do the timing belt at the same time for an 8 year old engine. What you can do is call the dealer's service desk anonymously and ask what their rate is for a timing belt change.

BLKFLSH

I think changing the timing belt now, is a good idea, not sure about the water pump. The belt only costs about $40, but the water pump is closer to $100. Chances are, the original water pump would last until the next timing belt change. It's always a dilemma when changing the timing belt, because there are so many other parts that COULD be changed along with it (tensioner, pulleys, shaft seals, etc.), but changing all those parts would run up quite a bill, and would be unnecessarily changing out perfectly good parts. My car is due for the timing belt change, but I'm only going to do the belt and water pump (maybe hydraulic tensioner), and take my chances on the rest.

I would let them go ahead and do the belt and water pump, but try to get them down to no more than $300 for that job. Or maybe get them to throw in the valve adjustment for no extra charge. Hope everything turns out well.

Accordless

oh jeesh... you're killing me here. I thought I was doing well since my local independent shop wanted $4000. The dealer is at least offering a 1 year parts and labor warranty. He started work, so I am kinda stuck now.

BLKFLSH

The problem with this is, the timing belt job will be 10 times easier with the engine out of the car. The price they would quote him would be way too high.

BLKFLSH

I would not trust some salvage yard chop-up guy, to swap a motor for me. They are usually pretty good at yanking an engine out of a car (cutting wires, and hoses to make the job quicker and easier), but a lot less skilled at installing an engine into a car. You are doing the right thing, IMO.

Accordless

One other question - is there only one belt on this engine? Sorry for the newb question. Got the guy on the horn right now and he says the $500 (not $400) covers replacing ALL the belts.

BLKFLSH

Well, there is 1 timing belt (no balancer belt, like the old 4 cylinders used to have), and the drive/serpentine belt (the one you can see with the hood up, that turns the alternator and A/C compressor). Each one costs about $40.

Accordless

Thanks much. Appreciate it.

Accordless

Thought I would add an update here.

Car was at the dealer for 7 days. Got a used engine installed (47k miles), belts & water pump replaced. This was about $3600. They also found a problem with the ECU, so they replaced that under warranty.

Drove fine for about 10 days (runs a little rougher than before maybe), then yesterday the CEL came on. Pulled the codes and see that is has 4 of them: 2 P0420 and 2 P0430. From what I have read, P0420 is usually a bad cat, but could also be related to the new ECU. I note on my repair sheet that it says "FRT excludes 'Idle Learn'". Any insights here?

BTW - I am in negotiations with Honda about getting some help on this repair. To their credit, they seem willing to work something out. I am highly impressed.

BLKFLSH

I don't know anything about your codes, sorry. I hope they get everything worked out, and leave you with both arms and legs. Good luck.