Bought an 86 GXL auto with 73k miles for $700, you might have seen it, it was for sale in the Midwest section. Anyway, I towed it 500 miles home (at 55mph, bleh) and drilled out the bolt in the water pump and had a new tstat in that night. I fill it with coolant, try to start it.... Pull the fuses, crank it, put fuses back in, try to start it... I get out of the car and step in a very large puddle of coolant, I hear hissing in the engine bay. I figure a line popped, but then I notice the coolant is coming out on either side of the oil fill tube from the seams of the housings.... F*CK... and I'm sure it's f*cked, cause coolant has been shooting out the exhaust manifold too.

So here's where I'm at. I've never pulled or rebuilt an engine. The most extensive mechanical thing I've done is replace a clutch and a little body work.

I do have access to all the tools I would need as well as an engine hoist, but money is an issue, what would be the better option.
1. Buy a running s4 engine to put in and sell the junker.
2. Buy a rebuild kit, and rebuild the engine thats in it.
3. Sell the car and cut my losses.

Thanks for the input

 

First I would try this.

Drop the transmission and tighten all the block/housings bolts to spec, then retry the engine, it may have just been rebuilt and not tighten down properly, and the owner gave up.. its a thought. I have seen crazier stuff before.

I had a bolt back out on my car, caused a coolant leak. I tightened the bolt down and everything was good.

 

You know, that doesn't sound like a bad idea. Well I'm going to cross my fingers and hope like hell thats it. I mean, if I take the tranny out, I'm just making an engine removal that much easier. Thanks for the advice.

Anyone else have input?

 

Sell the car, buy something with a 5-speed in it. That's my advice. Unless you're really stuck on having the terrible power-sapping auto trans in there.

 

Well it's my wifes car, we bought it to replace her cavalier and will be her DD. She can drive a standard, but doesn't want one for everyday use. She definitely won't be doing any racing, lol.

 

Yea a full engine rebuild can easily be 1500+ if you are doing most of it yourself. After the rebuild kit (1000 ish) you still may find components in the engine that require changing (rotor bearings, etc).

Then again you could always do it on the cheap and only replace the soft seals/gaskets (providing those are the only thing going bad), but if the apex seals blow on you in 20,000 miles your gonna be pulling the whole thing back out to do the whole job again the right way so it may not be a good risk to take.

Just my thoughts on it

 

Then I should check the bolts and make sure they're torqued to spec, if they are already good then I will pull the engine, start dismantling it (trusty Haynes sitting right next to me) and find out just how junk it is.

 

If the irons are good and you can follow directions well you can do a rebuild from RA for $531 plus shipping for all the seals you should need assuming the enigne isnt warped from overheating.

Or you could send it to rotary resurrection maybe and he could do it for about $1000 i think.

If the engine is running with coolant in the oil though, youll probably need new bearings too.

Believe me, an NA S4 Auto isn't worth crap if it's not at least runnning, you overpaid. I paid $600 for a similar S5 base model with a perfect interior and exterior that was auto.

 

f*ck it, i'm gonna get a cheap 302 to put in it.

 

The kit to do that properly will cost you far more than doing a rebuild yourself.

 

What do I need, a custom driveshaft and engine mounts? Fab up an exhaust and megasquirt the sucker. I don't think it would be so bad. Plus I'd get me some torque. I likes me some torque.

 

Then go for it. Driveshaft will be $300 or so, then a megasquirt for about $500, then mounts, a way to address bump steer, etc.

There's a reason Granny's sells their kits for like $2k.

 

Eh, the prices your giving sound a little inflated to me. But I realize that this is not the best place to carry on a conversation like this. I'll drop it.

/thread