Hello my names joe. Im new to the forums and i need some advice.

I just bought a pretty clean 2000 ex coupe with a manual tranny for 3k that runs ok for having 169k miles. my plan was to spend my left over $1500 on fun upgrades but....

I found out today from my friend thats a mechanic at a honda dealer that i need a headgasket/timing belt and water pump. Fml

My question is, in your opinions, should i do all of those repairs for about 1000 or swap a lower milage or rebuilt motor for 1500? Or should i just try and sell the car to a sucker like me and start over? Lol

Thanks in advance for your help

 

Why did he say you need a headgasket? i mean the miles are high but what made him say that?

 

He tested it cuz it was loosing coolant with no leaks and i had a misfire code on cyl 2. He said he tested it twice cuz he wanted to be wrong lol

 

sounds about right. you can head to your local autozone/etc and buy/rent a block tester to verify this. for the neighborhood of 1500, you can swap to b20, ls, or ls/b20vtec. just keep your eye out for deals

 

I want to keep it as legal as possible, more power would be nice but its not a priority. I can get another d16y8 for 1500 installed. Would the prices for those be installed? Im in so cal (i.e.) so if anyone knows legit shops let me know!

Thanks

 

I would think that unless your head or block is cracked/warped you could have the motor rebuilt with upgraded parts for under $1500. I've seen rebuild kits online for less than $500 with the timing belts included.

If the motor is already apart you have the perfect excuse to upgrade the components hidden within and gain a little power while putting in brand new parts.

 

sure, theres no reason you couldnt find a ls swap for around a grand. a good indy shop shouldnt be too much more than 5-600 to fix your current motor.

 

Before you guys start posting up swaps, you should look into where he is located. Has everything to do with inspections, emissions,etc...etc...

 

Installing a new head gasket shouldn't be $1K....

 

Maybe you should do some research and triple check your "friend's" claims. Get your hands dirty, you might save some greenbacks.

 

Why not grab some tools, investigate and if it truly is the HG change it yourself?

 

correct i was refering to the headgasket/timing belt/ water pump still maybe a little high but just an estimate

 

Dont know why friends is in quotes lol but anyways i would much rather spend money to have the work professionally done. My question is based on everyones experience here which will be more reliable for a dd... to repair my curent motor or get a lower milage used motor swapped in. thanks for the replies

 

Reliability of one scenario over the other is impossible to tell.

If we said that re-doing the HG on your current motor is better, we may be overlooking other issues. Is the deck warped? Did someone damage the motor in other ways by letting it overheat?

All in all, it sounds like your motor is solid besides the busted HG....so you may he better off replacing the HG. Then again...this will take time. More time if he deck or head need to be surfaced.

You can find a Y8 longblock from a reputable source with relatively low miles and you'd probably be in good shape in less time. You'd still want a new t belt and water pump kit as well as a few gaskets for the new engine. Maybe a clutch while you're in there. Then sell your old motor to someone willing to deal with fixing it. This is still much mors expensive to do. But...as long as the engine doesn't have underlying problems like.... a barely audible rod knock that develops into full blown death in 2 weeks....You'll be fine.

No way to tell what's going to be more reliable.

 

Sounds right to me. I think im just gonna do the hg/wp/tb and prey lol

 

I agree there are multiple routes you could go with this situation.. lucky for you, replacing the hg on these motors is relatively inexpensive. so it sounds like you're pretty set on doing the hg/tb/wp and hoping nothing else comes up... sounds like a reasonable plan because the miles on that motor are fairly low (For a Honda ).

I bought a 2000 coupe that was in great shape with almost 100k more miles on the motor than that one. it ended up spinning a bearing and throwing a rod a little while later. luckily for me I had already had plans for a motor swap on this car and had a full B16 swap lined up and waiting.

from my experience with my car and that D series, I would replace the hg/tb/wp and save up for a B series swap of some kind. if you're looking for a car that's fun to drive but practical enough to be a DD, B swap is the way to go IMO. it's an extremely simple swap, especially if you're going B16, and relatively inexpensive. Me and two of my buddies helping me out completed it in 16 hours. my busted motor out, his motor out, his motor into my car, test drive, clean up and hauling his car back to his place. well worth it.

anyways, I hope this helps! good luck with the car.

 

Buy as many of the parts as you can from Honda. Definitely buy the head gasket....or any gaskets from Honda. A gates water pump/t belt kit will likely work fine.

 

agreed

 

lower mileage means jack ****. my daily has 279k, my fiance's accord has 243k. both comp. test great, neither use oil. maintenance is everything.