I had some engine problems a couple of yrs ago. Well my engine problems bagan many years ago because my car was old. I am talking about my old 1990 tercel with a 1.5 liter engine 4 cylinders. The oil used to wet the spark plugs and the compression used to leak so I never had enough power and the gasoline consumption was way high for a small engine car.
I used oil resistant spark plugs for a while and bought some time but the problem just got worse over time to a point where I had a serious shake in the engine and no power.
I went to see a mechanic recommended by a good friend. The mechanic charged me 13K pesos and offered to rebuild the whole engine, the seals and gaskits, cut the engine block and bore cylinders in machine shop and put rings inside and also rebuild my power steering system and other minor work in transmission (sealing a huge leak). This price sounded good for the moment so I went ahead and bit the bullet. The car was given back to me after 5 days in perfect working condition. I was content for the first 2 days untill I saw a huge oil leak and again engine shake. I went back to see him and I discovered that the same old problem was there and worse. Now the guarantee of the work went out the window as he didn't want to take the blame and simply took the easy way out. He blamed the machine shop and told me to go see them. I knew the work had to be redone again and I wasn't going to get a penny out of the mechanic who had already spent my money. We fought and exchanged words. I only heard from him "no era yo, no es mi culpa, blah blah etc" typical dominican.
I was then referred to another well known mechanic. He assured me the real problem and told me that he would fix it. It cost me about 12K and the car seemed good.
Now fast forward 1.5 yrs.
The car worked good but still consumed oil. Now today (after roughly 1.5 yrs) the car is doing it all over again. The spark plugs are wet again from worn out rings. Its shooting oil on almost 3 spark plugs. The car has a shake and missing one cylinder.
Now I have talked to a good mechanic. He has told me to stay away from engine rebuilt repair jobs and simply buy a nice engine from a japanese import shop. This will solve my problems. This makes alot of sense as the engine will cost me around 8-10 K pesos and 1500 pesos to install it. Maybe 2 days work. The engine is told to be in perfect condition and comes straight from japan. I am thinking about this option because if I sell the old car as it is, I will get almost nothing but if I invest 11k pesos into the car, then I have a car that could be used as a second car which consumes almost no gas. 500 pesos and I run circles all week in santiago.
So the moral of the story is this: If you burn your engine or damage it to a point where you need a complete rebuild, don't bother, simply buy a japanese engine from a japanese import shop and be happy. I have seen people done this in ther past and have come out as winners. I was stupid at the time and didn't explore that option.
Good luck.
AZB
I used oil resistant spark plugs for a while and bought some time but the problem just got worse over time to a point where I had a serious shake in the engine and no power.
I went to see a mechanic recommended by a good friend. The mechanic charged me 13K pesos and offered to rebuild the whole engine, the seals and gaskits, cut the engine block and bore cylinders in machine shop and put rings inside and also rebuild my power steering system and other minor work in transmission (sealing a huge leak). This price sounded good for the moment so I went ahead and bit the bullet. The car was given back to me after 5 days in perfect working condition. I was content for the first 2 days untill I saw a huge oil leak and again engine shake. I went back to see him and I discovered that the same old problem was there and worse. Now the guarantee of the work went out the window as he didn't want to take the blame and simply took the easy way out. He blamed the machine shop and told me to go see them. I knew the work had to be redone again and I wasn't going to get a penny out of the mechanic who had already spent my money. We fought and exchanged words. I only heard from him "no era yo, no es mi culpa, blah blah etc" typical dominican.
I was then referred to another well known mechanic. He assured me the real problem and told me that he would fix it. It cost me about 12K and the car seemed good.
Now fast forward 1.5 yrs.
The car worked good but still consumed oil. Now today (after roughly 1.5 yrs) the car is doing it all over again. The spark plugs are wet again from worn out rings. Its shooting oil on almost 3 spark plugs. The car has a shake and missing one cylinder.
Now I have talked to a good mechanic. He has told me to stay away from engine rebuilt repair jobs and simply buy a nice engine from a japanese import shop. This will solve my problems. This makes alot of sense as the engine will cost me around 8-10 K pesos and 1500 pesos to install it. Maybe 2 days work. The engine is told to be in perfect condition and comes straight from japan. I am thinking about this option because if I sell the old car as it is, I will get almost nothing but if I invest 11k pesos into the car, then I have a car that could be used as a second car which consumes almost no gas. 500 pesos and I run circles all week in santiago.
So the moral of the story is this: If you burn your engine or damage it to a point where you need a complete rebuild, don't bother, simply buy a japanese engine from a japanese import shop and be happy. I have seen people done this in ther past and have come out as winners. I was stupid at the time and didn't explore that option.
Good luck.
AZB