Dilemma, What to do....

[Troyziee]

I had a very entertaining saturday, breaking down in the middle of a very busy round about, had RACV come out have a look and get me going, but the news is the old faithful vp's engine is pretty much gone, i'm driving around on the risk of it giving out again.

I figure i've got three options;

option 1: get a reco engine put in, though whats to say then in 2months the gearbox doesnt give out or something else, im sort of over the old car issues

option 2: buy a somewhat cheap car (as atm all my money is headed straight to a end of year holiday to america) so it would be a cheap car that could just give me new issues just with a different car

option 3: take out a loan, and buy new.....

I was going to look at a new car next year once back from america, so this has just come 4months too early, and at a bad time, though i think i just need to cut my losses with the vp, rather than trying to chase out all the issues an older car has.

Not sure if anyones been in a similar situation before, but any thoughts and/or similar stories would be great.

Cheers, Troy

[tonza]

Get a little 4 banger and cruise around in that mate. Old corolla or civic or something like that

[wickann15]

I'd be putting in the reco motor for now.

[Swordsy]

Go buy a second hand motor and put that in. Buy from a wrecker that will offer a warranty on it and it'll get you through till you can afford a new car.

[Stressball]

Adult Diapers mate.

Oh wait, you said dilemma

I would probably ditch the VP and buy a cheap run around, to be replaced in future when you have the money/plans to get a new car.

[Jecs]

id buy a a reco engine. you can pick up a 3.8 for couple hundred bucks. one night, you and mates, couple drinks, throw it in. when it comes to buy a new car least you can sell the VP easier, and make more coin from it.

[Troyziee]

ok, since there's no stand out, i've added a pole to this, hopefully get a clear idea

[Philthy]

Buy an old corolla til you get back from your holiday, or whenever you can afford a new car

[fuzzy2308]

get a Reco engine can pick em up cheap

[Astranomical]

Reco engine - it'll be cheaper than another car (V6s are cheap), you'll still have your VP, and as others said it'll make it easier to sell the VP when you want to upgrade.

[Tsunamix]

Not sure what to advise, depends on your budget. Heres some numbers that may help - These are Brisbane numbers.

$4000 gets you a fully rebuilt stage 2 engine, the works, from SRE in melbourne, includes shipping and an exchange junker so you have no down time. this is a serious street engine. Add $500-1k to get it fitted.

$350 gets you a secondhandy from a wreckers. Allow the full $1k to get it fitted because you will likely need new seals and etc, just to be on the safe side.

Good VT commodores start at $4k these days from dodgy yards. $6k is reasonable. Absolute max is about 12K for sweet rides.

I have spent about $2.5k on gearbox. $2k on diff, $2k on suspension, $1k on brakes so if I was in your situation I'd be going for the SRE stage 2 engine. If yours is dead stock, and it's lifespan is no more than maybe 9 months, get the wreckers special. If you want top keeo the vp for 12 months or more, spend the $4k - you can't get an engined properley reco'd for under 2.5K so the 4k for a new better performing, tougher, more powerful engine is good value.

If you plan on replacing the vp in 12 months - bring your plans forward and replace it now. Why spend $1300 on fitting a junker when you can spend $6k (maybe) for a whole new car...

My car is my daily drive and it NEEDS to have top notch reliability, so options that might take it off the road without notice are not in my plans.

[immortality]

i'd say 2nd hand motor from a wrecker with a warranty, as this option isn't in the poll i voted reco motor as it's near enough

[VN_Luke]

how is it the 'engine' that's broken? - if your car broke down and they got it going again.. chances are the actual 'engine' is probably fine (well unless you're blowing litres of burnt oil or something out the tail pipe).....

Can you give us more info on what was actually broken and what is at risk of "giving out again"?

.. perhaps you might find a $5 replacement sensor for a dodgy one is all you need?

[Reaper]

What do you mean by the engine is pretty much gone??? Need to know what that entails before advising more. VN/P motors can take a lot before they actually stop. I reckon VN_Luke is on the right track there.

Reaper

[Troyziee]

ohhh ye, it's fixable, no doubt, its more the fact that do i waste time fixing it, or just go a faster solution (as i cant be without the car for a day or two for work)

whats currently wrong with it; valley gaskets are gone, and leaking into the inlet (which was causing it to just stall, so we've raised the idle for now) um but possibly head gaskets, though you need to replace the valley gasket, then re-assemble, and then test the heads, so its alot of double handling........? correct me if im wrong.
Theres afiar few water leaks around the place, and it always likes to run warm, and chew through the water, and has started to drink the oil too (only very recently)

its never been the smoothest or nicest of engines, hence why i wouldnt be sad to see it go, personally i'd probably rather drop a new one in, rather than try and fix one problem, but who knows what else might let go

[supahot1!]

i had came across the same dilema. bought acalais for 25k


3 weeks later motor shit itself, and engine shit itself



asked work for a work vechile



got given a colorado LTR



Problem fixed

[padrickz88]

Hey troy I say do a compression test, and if all returns fine then just fix the vallet gasket (if i remember right that could be the problem with all the things you said above.... and its cheap)

If you fix the valley gasket and it turns out its the head, just use chemiweld till you go over sea's....

If that fails then i reckon do what jecs said, Get a reco or 2nd hand engine cheap, and get some boys over with some beer and a bbq and change the bastard


edit: also the car is to nice to just let it die, fix it

[Swordsy]

Is that all? Fix it, its going to be the easiest and cheapest solution.

Its prob only using oil as its bleeding through the valley gaskets.

[Troyziee]

if it was for sure just the valley gasket, then ye i woulda fixed it, but what if its more, and doing that doesnt solve my issues, waste of time and money