Big engine troubles!

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I know know what was wrong with my nieces engine, it has a burnt valve🙁 Not Good! I was not expecting it to be this bad. It may not be ready in time for her to drive back to collage. This sucks. One good thing is now I have more time to do an even better job! I intend to find a completely rebuilt or new head and replace the timing gears, chain and chain guides. This should make the engine almost like new. Most moving parts will be replaced. She will be able to have it back sometime in December if she comes for Christmas. The car is in good shape/clean and only has 123,000 miles on it. It should have many more miles left in it’s life for her. Plus she really likes the car, her first.
The pics show the bad valve and what it should look like. The engine block looks very good all the cylinder bores look ok too. The engine had no knocks and the trans was ok too so all should be great when I am done. I have many parts to keep track of and it’s not always easy. I went today to take these pics and go over the parts to make sure I remember what & where they all go. I went through the bolts to make sure they were all in a safe place for a while, a few weeks. Just until I get all the other parts I now need to do it right.
I went to the junk yards and they want the same money as I can get a new/rebuilt one. It will be about $300 for just the head. Mainly because it is a dual cam engine and nd has twice the parts on it as a single cam engine head. All the parts should be about $450 after adding for the timing gears and chain & guides. The guides will have to be ordered from a Saturn Parts Dealer. To have it done some where would cost $1,500-2,000. I do not mind doing the work myself. I learn a lot from it too.
I still have to get the broken head bolt out too. I am not in a hurry to do it. I have had trouble in the past with broken bolts and there not fun or easy to deal with. Now they have a few different tools to help that I will check out to make sure I do not make it worse. The block is aluminum and can be easily damaged compared to the usual iron block which is a harder metal. If it were iron, I could use a torch to heat the bolt to break it loose by expanding it with the heat. I would not dare do that with the alum. It might not take the heat of a torch, ouch.
It seems I struggle with everything I try to do…but, it only make me better…tom g
 

9 Replies to “Big engine troubles!”

  1. Wow! I definately don’t have your way with mechanical things. It is a gift, that is for sure! I know you will do a great job on it. Keep us posted!

  2. Hi Logansdaddy,Thanks for the instructions on the Media Player – I now have music!!! Yeah!!!I had car trouble of my own over the weekend. You’ll have to drop by to read if you’re interested. If I ever decide to date/marry again, it will be to a man that knows his way around a car (or at least how work jumper cables!).

  3. Well you sound like you have been busy working on that. Hopefully you can get it done for her without having to put too much money into it.

  4. i wish i knew more about cars. i always feel ripped off when i get any repairs done. we just got our tires and brakes replaced so we are good for some time. by the way, did you know that the song on media player starts and stops. might be just my computer or just scrolling down that does it. anyways i hope you are doing well and i will visit more often – bunny

  5. hey T, that’s ok. I know you have been busy with court and your niece’s car and stuff like that. Totally understandable. And by the way, I love the clips you put on here. Hope your finger heals well and I hope you get to see Logan soon!

  6. ஐღஐღPopped by, to say Hi!ஐღஐღHave a great week!!!!(¯`v´¯) `•.¸.•´ ¸.•´¸.•´¨) ¸.•*¨) (¸.•´ (¸.•´ .•´¸¸.•´Love Shnev

  7. Hello there!This reminds me of my Plymouth Neon. Here’s why:It kept leaking oil. I took it to the shop and they wanted around $1,000 to fix it. So, my good friend Dennis and my (ex) husband said they could do it. They had to buy a pully puller (?) and worked on that thing for hours. Couldn’t get that thing off for nothing, and all they had to do was replace some gasket or something under the pully thingy. So, after many hours, and two broken pulley pullers later, they gave up and put it back together. I ended up trading it in!

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