Presumed Blown Motor
 

I believe my motor is blown. I was driving tonight and the car started to misfire significantly at about 4500 rpms under load. The car stalled and when I tried to re-start...it would not...but had a metalic rattling sound. I am going to drain the oil tomorrow morning, but I am not expecting good news.

I am going to consider all options...anywhere from repairing to selling as is.

I know these are tough questions to get an answer on remotely, but here goes:

1 - What could I expect to pay for labor if I could find a used engine and just do a simple engine swap?

2 - What might a typical engine re-build cost?

3 - What could I expect to get for the car to sell as is?

4 - Anyone know the value of a used Novi-2000 with inter-cooler?

Anway, the car is a 2000 GT Black Vert. It is in nice shape and has 75k on it. Tan top and tan interior. 5 Speed, 4.10's, SLP LM exhaust with catted x-pipe. Novi-2000 blower.

Thanks.

Wow, I'm sorry to hear that Blake.. Were you doing any WOT, or just cruising?

As far as a cars value with a blown motor..... I'd have to assume that you'd be looking at somewhere between $1500-3000. These cars are hard enough to sell in perfect working order at the moment, so I can't imagine a non-running car selling for much. You'd most likely get more by parting it out, but I'm really not sure.

As far as the Novi. I think that White04GT just sold his Procharger P1SC with all of the goodies for about $2k +/-. That could give you some kind of an idea..

Thanks Evan....I was at WOT.

If I were you, id pick up a 2V motor from mpsautosalvage.com (1,200 dollars) and throw it in there. Then sell your Novi for however much you can. Then just sell the car.

pick up a used longblock for <1000 bucks or a used shortblock for <500 bucks and put it in yourself. It's retarded easy. Not even any really special tools needed.

A built bottom end and install will be almost 4500 bucks but will never have this problem again.

To just re-build your block will be probably 4K or so unless you do the labor. If you do the work then figure on 800-1000 bucks.

I'd do a 5.4 swap with HPS intake and put your novi on there.

DO NOT SELL right now. You'll lose way more money than you need to. By the end of summer the CCI (consumer confidence index) will be high enough to see prices on the secondary market start to rise for cars like ours.

The plot thickens a little bit.

I disconnected the coil packs this morning and tried turning it over. The motor will turn over and I did not hear any rattle.

I then plugged the coils back in and turned it over. It will run, but extremely rough. I did not try to give it any gas and then just shut it down.

I am going to pull the plugs and see how they look and also drain the oil. If the oil looks clean, I am going to full the oil filter and cut it open. IF, everything looks OK....I wonder if I have a severe electrical or computer problem and the engine is still fine.

For the moment, everything is on the table...inlcuding getting a used motor and pulling the blower. I will need a donor car, though, because I don't have a lot of the stock parts anymore and I am just not sure what all I need.

BTW, I also have a buyer who will buy as is....I won't discuss the price, but suffice it to say the offer is pretty fair is is about what the car is worth IF it had a good motor minus what it would cost be to fix. I figure it will run me about $3,000 to $5,000 to get it back up to snuff depending on which way I go with it.

Red, I don't have the confidence to handle the swap myself. I lack the tools, space, and knowledge....unless....I borrow what I can and REALLy take all long time. I have a very demanding career and it would really be a challenge.

I am going to keep poking around and see what I can find out.

As to your comment about getting a nice built motor, unfortunately, there are no guarentees in life and if I go this route, I don't want to be dealing with this again. That being said, I could see getting a nice, higher compression n/a motor and then just selling the Novi.

pull the plugs

I am heading out for the day, but will definately take a look as soon as I can.

he already said he was going to do that... ayy ooo...ohhh aaaa... badda bing!

I think I am gonna pull them tonight and drain the oil.....everybody say a prayer!

Pulled some of the plugs
 

Well, I pulled 5 of the plugs...all 4 on the driver's side and just the front one on the passenger side. I am not sure if I see a smoking gun, but I have never seen my plugs look this way before.

They are copper plugs and I think they have been in the car for about 15k miles. I was going to change them soon. I am no plug reading expert, but they are dark. Not fouled...at least I don't think, but pretty dark. I expected to see perhaps a lean one...or a sign or one or two just rotted-away. To me, they just look old and tired and ready for a change, but they certainly looks like plugs that should fire.

Any thoughts?

I will yank the rest out tomorrow. I can't find my swivel and did not feel like pulling the intake out of the way. To me, they all look about the same.

<-------Keeps fingers crossed for you

http://www.ngksparkplugs.com/tech_su...qs/faqread.asp

http://www.dansmc.com/Spark_Plugs/Sp...s_catalog.html

From those charts I'd have to agree that they're just old and tired.

I have looked at both of those sites. The problem is, they generally show the extreme or isolated situations. It is hard to read a plug that has been in place for a while.

*fingers crossed*
any new news with the motor?

From the pics, the plugs look old and worn. It looks like the last one has a bit of a deposit starting to build, but nothing serious. Check your plug wires for any signs of arcing. I agree with your plan to drain the oil before making any major decision. You could have a broke connecting rod . . . My fingers are crossed for you too.

Well, the second plug on the passenger side from the fire wall has physical damage. Something hit it. I can turn the motor over with the crank pulley and the motor easily turns. The piston in this cylinder moves up and done as it should.

I have not drained the oil yet or checked compression.

What would cause the plug to get nailed? Valve? Bolt let loose on the piston? Did a valve let loose and bang off the cylinder and the plug?

What next?

Here are some pics:

Whats weird is that the plugs tip is not crushed in like what always happens when a plug is hit by random metal in the cylinder. Could be a small piece of a broken ring land then finally got out the exhaust valve. Or that plug had a fault and cracked and thus all the noise you heard till it found its way out.

Compression test is in order.

Spike, I drained the oil...it looks clear. If there are metal shavings, I can't see them. I am going to get a magnet and run it through the oil and see if I pick anything up. I also have a friend with a boroscope. I am going to see if he will come over and use it. The oil filter is still on the car...I could not get the fucker off. I can't find my dam filter wrench.

Spike, what if detonation caused the plug damage?

use an old belt or a large pair of chanel locks to get the filter off. or you could always drive a screwdriver through it and turn it that way.

Even with my name in my sig everyone calls me spike, lol. if you don't see large metal shaving in the oil its more then likely not a bottom end problem. I would still pull that filter off and cut it open and check it out. You can take a screw driver and hammer it threw the end the filter to make a handle when you can't get it off. I do this all the time when they really get stuck.

I would for sure get that boroscope and see whats going on in the cylinder.

That is defiantly possible and its happened before, this could also of broken the ring land like I said earlier. I would not get all worked up yet till you check out some other things. So far though you are doing good by not having a nice silver tinted oil.

Ok Spike....er.....Dustin - lol

How would a broken ring land get fixed?

BTW, if I can't get my friends scope, I may be able to get one from work. If that fails, can these be rented?

broken insulator could be detonation related. As long as it didn't bang up the piston, combustion chamber, valves, etc... and didn't score the walls or anything then it's a debris removal issue and you may be able to just run that bitch.

As for the swap... don't make me come out there.

What might cause the detonation like this?

Check your PM.

Well hopefully you get to keep the car, but if you end up selling the Novi Start it off at around 2500. I just wanted my gone asap, because my car is currently in the shop getting a built engine, and I need the money from the procharger to purchase my KB.