I just want to get some insight as to whether or not this sounds like the correct course of action...

one night recently, I took a fast turn on an onramp pretty much at redline. before the next exit, I noticed a strange rattling/ticking noise. then my oil pressure light came on. and I am used to those lights being "if you see it come on, it's too late". I stopped at a gas station and check the oil -- it took 2.5 qts to get it back to level! and I am still a few hundred miles away from my next oil change. I knew I was burning a little oil, but DAMN [no leaks]. it drives fine, but the noise is still there. I couldn't find anything loose, so I took it to my mechanic [only works on Honda/Acura] who looked all over, did a valve adjustment, and no change. he says that the problem is internal since I was damn near out of oil and I'll need to rebuild or replace the engine. they charge close to $2k for a rebuild, but an imported low-mileage motor from Japan [installed] is about $1500.

I'm sure the hard turn pushed whatever oil was left all to one side of the pan and I lost some important lubrication at around 6500 RPM. dumb, I know, but like I said...I had no idea I was burning so much oil [the engine is just shy of 185k]. I can afford the replacement engine and will be going with that. I would love to do the work myself but have nowhere to do it, no time, and have never swapped an engine. they can do it right and test it and yadda-yadda. luckily, my boss lives just down the street from me.

do the prices seem right? I've never really had to look into this before now, so I'm not sure what's fair. a replacement LS engine with under 40k miles can be had cheap, but I was also wondering what kind of price jump it would be to go a step up...?

any input is appreciated. right now, I'm thinking of taking it to the shop tomorrow on my lunch or leave early from work. thanks in advance.

 

Well if you were down 2.5 quarts, that's a little over 50% capacity of that engine. So if the corner/curve was long I suppose it's possible that starving the engine of oil for that time could have pushed it over the edge. Did he say what was wrong with the motor, or did he just say "it's internal"?

$1500 installed sounds almost kind of cheap, but maybe for just a short block that's not too bad. If anything it's on the cheap side, especially if a shop is replacing it for you.

Step up would be a B16 or a B18C, in order of increasing price, but I would stick with the LS or the GSR engine over the B16.

Make sure the shop you're having do it is reputable. A guy I used to work with went to have an engine replaced in his older Integra. They wrote a name and a date on the valve cover in tamper seal making it look like it was replaced, but it was the same ****** engine.

 

Sounds like to me you SPUN A ROD BEARING and depending on the damage you can get off easy or expensively...i live in AZ and a shop here took my block and rehoned it and cleaned it .....took my crank a ground all rod and main sides the same ...balance the crank w/ the flywheel.... and took all my rods to make sure they were all the same size ...again everything balanced....I paid 350.00
I bought of course at that time new bearing and rings 140.00 and put the bottom end together myself never done it before was a little apprehensive but I like to make sure the thing I buy get put in and if you can follow direction well you should be ok and if you have some knowledgeable friend that helps too

If you want too keep your same motor and do a rebuild and let a shop do it I would think 1000.00 would be fair...but depending on the motor you want you may pay more and doing a swap is easier than a rebuild in my opinion...

 

thanks for the replies. the shop has worked on my car before and they are very no-nonsense straight-to-the-point mechanics. they only work on Hondas and Acuras, and all of their parts are from Honda.

i'm sure i could get by cheaper if i tore it apart myself and just had shops do the machining, but i don't have the time available during daylight hours and nothing resembling a garage or driveway.

i dropped the car off tonight and am very anxious to have her back already!

 

What are you having done? Rebuilding it, replacement...?

 

i'm getting it replaced. sounds like they are having a hard time finding an engine, though. their sources don't seem to have many LS engines lying around. i'll see what the news is in the morning...

 

let me know i am sure i can find you an Ls or B20B for a good price hit meeh up if needed

bdydropdon24s@aol.com

 

they can't find a used b18...imported or local. so we are now talking about rebuilding, but they said they'd keep the price in the same ballpark.

b20? nah, don't really want to do a swap. i don't have time for it and i don't want to pay someone else to get into it. if you know anyone with a clean b18a, i'm all ears.