slalom44

I didn't mean to anger you like that. But we do appreciate the added information.

Your symptoms sound quite a bit like a leaking head gasket. If this is the case, State Farm won't cover it. Insurance companies cover accidents, not mechanical failures. That's why your story sounds fishy.

BTW: I had no typos (not typo's) or misspellings in my initial post. And you might want to make sure that your CEL is for your O2 sensor (not censer) and not something else. If you want advice from others, it might be a good idea not to be sarcastic.

mrfrieze

Well you did spell warranty wrong and wise guy should be two words, but lets stop with the childish games. After getting off the phone with a mechanic friend of mine, he's saying that it sound like a blown head gasket. Let's just hope I didn't screw anything else up. So now I have to remove the head take it down and get it pressure tested and check the cylinder walls for damage. This sounds like it's going to be a heap of fun. After changing the clutch in this car I'm not sure if i want to do any more mechanical work to it. Just give me a car and tell me to cut it in half and put it back together and I'm fine. I just don't like grease.

fperra

When your mechanic takes the head off and puts it back on, make sure he follows the Helms manual torquing procedures. Too many back yard mechanics have ruined perfectly good engines thinking "they all go together the same". Whenever I hear someone mention "my mechanic", that sets off a warning bell. Good luck and I hope its just a head gasket.

mrfrieze

Nope, the whole damn motor is gone, pistons, valves, Block, head, all gone 9700 bucks, just what I need.

JackS

Im pretty sure I've seen used engines for sale for less than half of your quoted price.
Find one and have it sent to your garage and let a mechanic go over it.
Should also come with some type of warranty like 30 to 90days.
Even a rebuilt would be much less and the end result would be about the same as far as re-sale value or for trade-in.

Ek9

You ought to get a second opinion. If you dropped valves I could see needing a whole motor. Why exactly would a blown head gasket trash the rest of the motor?

$9700 sounds high for a complete motor swap anyway. Short block is $2200 and the head is $3000 something? What's the rest, $4000 in labor?

Sounds to me like they're screwing you over.

mrfrieze

Well it is the Honda dealer ship, so it's very possible. I think im going to pull it out of there.

slalom44

When you have a blown head gasket, the high pressure in the cooling system forces water into one of your cylinders. Since this is a high compression engine, it doesn't take much water to hydrolock the cylinder and result in severe engine damage.

I agree that it is possible that your mechanic might be taking you for a ride. That price tag is too high. Check with them to see if the affected cylinder is in good shape. If it is, you might get away with replacing the head, piston and rod.

TheDonEffect

Get it out of there asap, most shops will swap your motor out for under 1500 bucks and you could find a complete f20c/f22c for under 5 with a reasonable warranty. Both of these numbers can be higher but can also be much lower, 9000 bucks for a engine replacement is far too much, I mean people install rb26detts into little 240sx's for that kind of money, your's requires no custom work. Looks like you need to spend a little time in your regional forums, but dealerships tend to charge more than the prevailing local rate.

Ek9

While I agree a hydrolock could cause a bad problem, it doesn't sound like that happened from his symptoms, he was blowing white smoke, not locked up. That probably wouldn't hurt the head either. With a hydrolock, I'd expect them to do a short block replacement for about 5-6K.

It's easy for me to second guess, I always think the worst when someone says "yep, the whole thing's F'd up and needs to be replaced".