Peter Dujardin
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- Oct 10, 2016
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Hi everybody....I have a 1991 SHO Plus that has 191,000 miles and is heavily burning oil (about one quart every 200 miles). I also smell smoke in the car, particularly while I'm at a red light or driving slowly. I don't see too much smoke while driving, but it does smoke in the morning when I first start it up. The "check engine" light comes on sometimes, and then goes off again (and mostly stays off). There's also thick black deposit on the tail pipe. The car actually runs fairly well, despite whatever is going on, and I just got a new clutch put in that feels like butter......Over the past year or so, I've replaced, among things, the valve cover gasket, rear main seal (while they were in for the new clutch) and the oil pan gasket (also during clutch work). Also got the "oil cooler" filter replaced in a makeshift way (because the guy couldn't find the filter for it, so he jury-rigged another that seems to work). But the engine is still going through a lot of oil. I had my mechanic do a compression test, and he thought that the piston rings are leaking oil, while another suggested faulty valve stems could be the issue. I am thinking of calling it a car's life...I looked into the cost of rebuilding the engine, and was given a price involving 34 hours of labor, plus any machine shop costs. So that would likely set me back $3,000 or more, which is way too high for me. I also looked into the cost of an engine swap-out, which would set me back about $1,700. I found a used engine from a company called the Engine and Transmission Store for $620 delivered from Texas, with no core charge. They say that it is out of the car, in a warehouse, on a pallet, shrink-wrapped, ready to go. They say it has been inspected (compression-tested and had a "cylinder leak-down test.") They say it has 88,000 miles (not sure if I should trust that number with an engine that turns over at 100,000). It also comes with a one-year parts warranty. I found a guy who said he would install it for $800. So that's $1,420 plus the cost of the other parts that he would put in (a thermostat, new spark plugs, water pump, coolant, oil and filter). I was thinking of putting in the 3.2L SHO engine, but don't know if that would make much difference, and I kind of like the idea of having the original kind of engine in it....Also, does the 3.2L look the same as the 1991 3.0? The car has some other issues (interior of the car is bad, it needs a paint job, has an air bag issue with the module above the glove compartment, and needs air conditioner work, and a rear window doesn't work). But I am seriously thinking of going with this second "swap-out" option, rather than giving up the car. Anyone have any thoughts on this? Any tips? I don't think I ever got the 60,000 service on my current SHO, so should I ask the guy installing it to that, as well? (I saw a reference to replacing the shims). Anything else you would do while in there? Thanks for any thoughts you can provide!
