How Much For An Engine Swap?

[GazChap]

Yep, another thread about the oil problem. I posted in a thread earlier in the month that it had gone through enough oil to go from Max to just under Min in 956 miles.

Well, I topped up the oil and it seems to have gone from Max to just above Min in about 250-300 miles. And this is on a Gen7 that had the engine replaced at 56,000 miles with "NEW S/H ENGINE" (according to the receipt).

No history on the engine at all, annoyingly. Is there anywhere I can look on the engine to find out if it's an engine from a pre-facelift Gen7? If it's post-facelift then the oil problem should be fixed, and that means there's something else wrong.

Failing all of this, it looks like I'm going to need to get ANOTHER engine replacement for it. Getting it done free with Mr. T is out of the question as it has little service history and is over 7 years old anyway (X-2001). Unless of course I can do the whole "Sale of Goods Act" angle and say that the car's not fit for purpose and has an obvious design defect.

So, if we assume that I need to get a new engine put in, what sort of money am I looking at? Obviously I'll somehow need to source a new engine for it first and then get someone to fit it. I know all garages will price differently, but a rough idea would be useful. I've only had the car two months!

If there are any peeps near Shrewsbury in Shropshire that could give me a quote for doing the work, I'd appreciate it.

[fazzer]

Yep, another thread about the oil problem. I posted in a thread earlier in the month that it had gone through enough oil to go from Max to just under Min in 956 miles.

Well, I topped up the oil and it seems to have gone from Max to just above Min in about 250-300 miles. And this is on a Gen7 that had the engine replaced at 56,000 miles with "NEW S/H ENGINE" (according to the receipt).

No history on the engine at all, annoyingly. Is there anywhere I can look on the engine to find out if it's an engine from a pre-facelift Gen7? If it's post-facelift then the oil problem should be fixed, and that means there's something else wrong.

Failing all of this, it looks like I'm going to need to get ANOTHER engine replacement for it. Getting it done free with Mr. T is out of the question as it has little service history and is over 7 years old anyway (X-2001). Unless of course I can do the whole "Sale of Goods Act" angle and say that the car's not fit for purpose and has an obvious design defect.

So, if we assume that I need to get a new engine put in, what sort of money am I looking at? Obviously I'll somehow need to source a new engine for it first and then get someone to fit it. I know all garages will price differently, but a rough idea would be useful. I've only had the car two months!

If there are any peeps near Shrewsbury in Shropshire that could give me a quote for doing the work, I'd appreciate it.

Hi Mate

I can sort your engine for you ,not that far from you.pm me if you are interested

[GazChap]

Yeah, I had a PM from you a while ago with a rough idea of prices in it when I first suspected the car was still drinking oil. Whereabouts are you exactly? Any chance you could come and take a look at the car and see if you can diagnose it? I'd really want to know exactly how much I'd need to pay before going ahead with it - it might be so much that I just keep on topping up regularly :P

[fazzer]

Im in chester, i will send you my number ,give me a ring and we can sort something out

[GazChap]

That's handy, I work in Wrexham two days a week. I've still got your mobile number from your PM, I'll give you a ring some time and see if we can sort out a quick diagnosis session in Wrexham or something.

[fazzer]

No probs,im on days this week so will be free in the afternoons after 4pm

[Scarlett Arrow]

I'd suggest you have a word with Rhys at Cardiff Road Garage in Mountain Ash. Rhys knows the 140 Engine very well and may be able to repair your existing Engine much cheaper than fitting another Engine with unknown history. He has saved several Members on TOC! hundreds of pounds :)

[GazChap]

Don't suppose you've got a phone number? A Google Search just takes me to cardiffroadgarage.co.uk which is totally unfinished.

[Scarlett Arrow]

A yell.com search has bought up 01443 474909.

If you do a search for "Rhys" on TOC!, you will see how much he has helped Gen 7 owners.

[GazChap]

Cheers, I'll take a look and weigh up my options.

[GazChap]

Before I contact either Rhys or fazzer, I've decided that I'm going to take the car into my local Toyota garage and get them to have a look at it. If they can diagnose the problem and give me a quote for repairing it, I've then got a baseline to work against.

Obviously Rhys/fazzer will more than likely be cheaper options, but I've got to weigh that up against the inconvenience of them not being local, along with the possibility of doing more damage to my engine on the journey to their respective garages.

Any of you guys have any advice for when I deal with Mr. T? My Celica is a January 2001 model so is no longer covered by that "7 year warranty" thing. If I kick up a fuss are they likely to give in?

[GazChap]

Spoke to Mr. T. They're gonna do the official oil consumption check (top up the oil and then get me to drive for 1,000 miles before checking the new mileage against the recorded mileage at the time of the topup)

But they said to then diagnose the problem (if there is one) would require stripping down the engine and putting it back together again afterwards, which would be about 8-9 hours of labour at £78+VAT per hour - £702 quid ex. VAT.

That's a lot.

I'm gonna let 'em do the oil consumption check so that I can ascertain whether it does have a problem, and then see what Rhys/fazzer say. It does of course mean driving the car another 1,000 miles with a potential problem.

[fazzer]

you should be ok to drive ,just listen out for knocking noise(bottom end)Once it starts it doesnt getting any better,thats when you need to think about stopping driving but hopefully you will be ok,as you said before youve been driving it around and keeping an eye on the oil.

[GazChap]

Cheers fazzer. I'm pretty sure it's knocking already, but it's not too severe except when accelerating at low RPMs in higher gears.

Have you got any testimonials from other Celica owners by the way? People on this forum (or TOC!) that can vouch for you? Not that I don't trust you or anything, but obviously with something as critical as this I'd want to be sure that the person I give the job to knows what they're doing :)

[fazzer]

i did daysleeper's engine about 4 months ago and corollafx's engine about 2 months ago both were really happy with the results,i have also done 2 roadsters and 3 celicas for myself which i have sold on in the last 6 months all with warranty and have had no problems at all.but it really upto you.