Serious question!!

Okay, so here's the deal:

My mom drove down to Atlanta last weekend for a visit, and when she was just a few miles from my house, her car started acting up, as she put it. So, this past Monday, we took it to a local shop, Ellis Automotive in Canton, on Hwy 140 to have it looked at. Well, they called back yesterday, and it turns out that one of her timing chain gears broke, the chain skipped a link or five, and her valves and pistons decided to play patty cakes. They haven't taken the head off yet to inspect how bad it is, but assuming the worst, I'm not sure what advice to give her.

The car is a 1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limite 4WD with the V8. It has 175,000 miles on it. According to KBB.com, it's worth about $4,300 if she were to sell it herself.

If the block is scrap metal, and she needs it replaced, Ellis Automotive says it will cost about $3,500 for a brand new block. I'm not sure what it would be if they were to put a used block in it, but I'm guessing $500 - $700 less than this? If the block is still intact, she could possibly just have the moving parts replaced, and have it rebuilt, but I'm guessing that would still be at least $2000 or so. If she goes this route, I'm suggesting that she go ahead and get rid of it, because of her frequent trips down here, I'd rather her be in something a little more reliable.

Okay, so what would you guys suggest doing? Also, anyone in Northwest Atlanta that knows anything about Ellis Automotive on Hwy 140, please chime in as well.

 

Did you drive it to the shop?

I doubt it was driveable if valves and pistons made contact. Most motors wont destroy the head if you break a timing belt these days.

 

I had a 96, and that's a Chrysler 318 Magnum, and that price sounds real, real high - reman should be less than half of that. Is the $3.5k installed price?

 

If the block is 3500 and she has to pay for labor and other misc parts to put it back together she would probably be better off buying a new car.

She could easily exceed the 4300 the car is worth by the time it's all said and done.

 

reread it , what Frank said.

 

Yep, that's everything. OTD. It's an interference motor, and she did drive it to the shop! :wow: She initially told me that it was leaking coolant, and it was running a little hot, I just went out and saw the puddle of antifreeze under her car, and figured she either had a bad water pump or a hose in need of replacement, so I didn't think anything about her driving it 2 miles to the shop, once I topped off the coolant.

Of course then as I'm talking to the shop owner, he starts talking about all of the naughty touching that the internal components were doing, and that's when my mom all of a sudden remembers, yeah, it was making kind of a popping sound, and running really rough!! I was like, uh, you didn't tell me any of that?!?!

 

Like I said...do some quick research to find out of it's a interference motor or not! I would look on ebay for a used motor...if the rest of the vehicle is in good shape might be worth it. If not...then yeah I'm with you...maybe time to just scrap it and get something newer.

 

I just put a Jasper remanufactured 238 V6 long block in my Dakota... let's not discuss why... and it was $1900 for the motor with a 75k 36 mo warranty. I bartered the labor whic was 12 hours flat rate.

Keep in mind once you're "in" there other things will pop up and I can see where I wold have been at $3000+ easily.

 

Car dealerships are desperate to make deals at the end of the month. You could probably get Kelly Blue Book trade in value even with the trashed motor. I'd trade it in before I spent 3500 on rebuilding a 4000 car.

 

Yeah, that's a good point too. When she was down here about four months ago, her car started idling rough, and acting funny, so she took it to this same guy, and he ran a diagnostic on it for her, only to find that nothing was wrong. He gave her some fuel injector cleaner, and charged her a TOTAL of $5 for the cleaner, and nothing for running the diagnostic :up:. She claimed it ran great on the way home after that, so I'd say the guy is pretty straight.

 

$1,490 plus shipping from the first place I found. Almost $2k for the install sounds high to me. Maybe you can negotiate the price down, but at $3.5k I think it's a marginal decision.

Other thing to think about is the tranny with 175k miles - if that's original it might not have much life left before it needs work, especially if it's an automatic. May be time to put this one out to pasture.

 

+1

I'd take my chances at the dealership. You can put a new engine in an 11 year old car with 175K on it but you can't turn back the clock. The miles are still there even if it runs better.

 

Yeah, the transmission was rebuilt less than a year ago. I'm always for having her get rid of these old clunkers, but she refuses to buy anything new, and usually won't go anywhere near a car dealership. I wish I had the $$ to go out and buy something for her. Thanks for searching for engines, I'll take a look at them shortly.

FYI, the $3,500 cost was for a new engine. He's supposed to call back with the cost of a remanufactured one this morning. We'll see how much less that will be. I'm hoping that he can tear into it better today, and discover that the block is still in good shape, and all he'll need to do is replace the internals and she can get out the door for under $1,500. Of course then I'm going to tell her she HAS to sell the thing. Is that an immoral thing to do?

 

Yeah, she's kinda old school. She won't go near a car dealership. Hell, I'll be shocked if she ever ponies up and buys a car made in this century!! I was impressed when she bought this '96!

She has a friend that actually has a 2000 Navigator with 55,000 miles on it she said she'd sell to her for $10,000. Ironically enough, she told her about it last week before her trip down here. I told her, this may be her sign to buy it...

 

I just like the fact that given your current BBS reputation, you had to preface this entire thread with "Serious question..."


Anywho-- take the poor old jeep to the salvage yard, scrap all the parts you can, looks like its time to buy mom a new car...

new motor = new torque/hp = fooked up tranny = busted U joints = more head aches...

I've been down this road way to many times to let u fix that car.

 

Thanks for the advice. That's definitely the route I want her to take as well. But now I'm curious, what is my BBS reputation?!?! Please don't lump me with ORA!! (NTTAWWT)

 

You're just like me...

You're an asshole-- but u can be funny.

 

I've had more than a few ex-girlfriends say damn near the same thing. Well, substitute the funny for good-looking. :up:

 

I say it's a borderline call. But best route is to replace with a Jasper engine.

If you know 3 qualified mechanics, a case of beer each and one long Saturday and your done.

But if you need a shop to do the work, forget it. It will cost at least 600-1000 bucks in labor.

 

Man, No way it skipped more that one tooth and kept running, Also no way it bent any valves and run good enough to drive it anywhere. It would be almost impossible to skip a tooth and bend just one or two valves if she kept driving it. the clearances are all to close across the cylinders/valves.

A lot of cars will run just on tooth off, either with terrible valve rattle from detonation if it retarded itself or no power if it advanced itself...

What V8 is it... any idea?