Rebuild?

[ILLSHOU]

I posted not so long ago about an oil pressure light and a ticking in the engine. Everyone who replied seemed to think rod bearings. I stopped driving it and took it to my mechanic. He ended up telling me that he feels a complete rebuild is necessary. His reasoning for this was that there may be engine wear, or damage, already done for the time i was driving it while it was making this noise,or just worn parts unrelated, and also that since the engine is going to be out of the car, it was a good idea. He has a point due to the fact of if he replaced whatever was wrong and it cost me say 1000 bucks just for a number and something else ended up going wrong shortly thereafter, and they had to pull the engine again, it would end up being more of a hassle and more money in the longrun, than if i just had it rebuilt in the first place. To get back to the symptoms my car shows, my oil light flickers and the engine starts ticking. The light doesnt remain solid, it just flashes. It has gotten worse, but there is no loss in power. I have only 68000 miles on this car, i just purchased it a few months ago. Recently i have noticed that when i am on the gas pretty good going down the highway it goes out, sound goes away...But as soon as i slow down the engine starts ticking and the light flashes again...Sometimes all i have to do to get it to stop is shut the car off and immediately restart it. Sometimes it doesnt even do it at all. One other thing i have just noticed very recently, is that when i start it cold, it makes a loud groan, i mean loud. It is hard to explain exactly what it sounds like...it doesnt do it at the time that its cranking its a few seconds after it cranks, and only when its been sitting overnight or a few days...I dont know how you guys feel about a rebuild? I dont want to end up having another problem soon after this repair. It may be cheaper in the longrun to just do it. I dont have the money right now, but I can make due without her til i scrape the money together. What are your opinions? On the rebuild, and on what could be wrong...? thanks,
Tom

 

[luigisho]

Personally, I would try doing the bearings myself and if the crank looked bad then go with a rebuild. There are not that many miles on your car. This job sounds intimidating but I would try it myself before I dropped thousands of dollars into a $100 job and a days worth of work. You can do this yourself. Look at the write up at http://www.kurtmetros.com and sdpatt posted some good stuff on this recently as well.

 

[SHOtimer]

Your ticking could be your valves, I take it you don't know if they have ever been adjusted. You should try replacing your oil pressure sensor, or but a mechanical one on and seeing what the pressure really is. Doing the rod bearings would prolly stop your oil light problem you would prolly benefit a lot from a full top and front 60k.
Doug

 

[THE Shobra]

If you just bought it, how can you know for sure that the milage is accurate? There are some people out there that are not so honest. Just a thought sorry it's not a happy one.

 

[pete c]

Listen to Luigi. Checking/replacing the rod bearings is a relatively easy job. It will take a few simple tools, a set of ramps or jack stands, and a days time, less if the y-pipe hardware co-operates. A set of rod bearings are about 50 bucks. The required gaskets are a little less than that.

Are you willing/able to wrench on your own car? If not, sell it and buy a honda. Trust me. SHOs are wonderful, but they are cantankerous. I don't know what I'd do without this board. Probably end up torching my SHO for insurance money!!!!

Look at the aformentioned kurtmetros site. It is the best how to site I have seen done concerning SHOs. Read the entire thing before starting.

BTW, I have that same groan in the cold weather on start up. WTF is it?

 

[fricker66]

I guess I'm somewhat glad to hear of others who have had a cold start groan. My SHO experienced this for the first time this past Monday. Not sure what caused it. Hasn't occurred since!! Any other thoughts on a cause? It only lasted a few seconds and seemed to be on the driver's side of the engine. All I know is it caused my heart to skip a few beats!

 

[ILLSHOU]

I cant be sure about the mileage i guess, but i did run a carfax that guarantees it before i bought it. The cars interior is near mint, and the exterior is in good shape, it looks like it has 68k on it. I would give the work a shot myself, as i could prob get through it with a friend, and all the support id get on here, but i dont have anywhere to do it, i live on a main street, no off street parking, and i dont know anyone with a garage. I could do it in a friends driveway, but temperatures are in the single digits here now, and im not keen on that, plus your better off ina garage anyway...cant be doing something like that outside. I see what your getting at that the car is expensive if you cant work on it yourself. I guess i didnt realize what i was getting into, but i already have too much invested to dump it, plus i love the car...for the money i paid for it i wouldnt get anything compareable...and I HATE HONDAS!!, Id buy a bicycle first.

 

[luigisho]

I remember PA winters under a car all too well. Not fun. My best advice is get the parts required for the job, make sure you have the tools necessary and wait for a little warm front to blow in (it could happen). Other than that, shop around and see if someone will just replace the rod bearings and the oil pan gaskets. If the crank is fine there is no reason to pay for all the labor required to remove and tear the motor apart with 6x,*** miles. If it actually does require a rebuild you will not have spent much more on the job in comparison to the potential massive savings on labor for a rebuild.

Just my $.02

This is considering bearings are the problem.

<small>[ January 16, 2003, 03:59 PM: Message edited by: luigisho ]</small>

 

[Off Road SHO]

A flickering oil light is from low oil pressure at the sending unit. Some causes of low oil pressure:

Worn out oil pump; not very likely in such a low mileage SHO

Worn rod and main bearings; Again, not likely in your case unless the oil was not changed very frequently.

Blocked oil passage; Poor filter quality, sludge build up in pick-up screen in bottom of oil pan, etc

Oil too thick: Make sure you don't use the wrong SAE oil. For your cold conditions probably a 5W-10 non parrafin oil would be best. Our oil pump are not the same gear type as in an American V-8 that can pump molasses (sp?). Ours need to put out high volume AND pressure.


Last but not least: An oil pressure relief valve that is stuck in the partially open position. This valve is used to protect your oil-lubricated seals from blow-out due to high oil pressures. I don't know where it is on the SHO motor but on other engines, it is near the junction of oil pick-up tube and engine block.

This part is strictly my opinion: DO NOT ATTEMPT to rebuild or have someone else rebuild your motor. It is expensive. In the words of one of the great SHO Gurus (SDPATT), and I quote: "find the problem; fix the problem" un-quote. Or something like that. Sorry Scott. wink

Tom

 

[bradman]

I agree with Tom Dooley, you might have other problems, but I'd be surprised if a 68K SHO would need rod bearings or a rebuild unless it's been severely abused and/or not maintained.
It's also curious that your "ticking" is intermittent. You might want to get a second opinion. I don't want to slam your mechanic, but do you trust his expertise and that he wouldn't be trying to shaft you?

 

[ILLSHOU]

I dont think my mechanic would be trying to shaft me hes known my father since they were kids...I guess i cant be positively sure but, its unlikely. I think i may get a second opinion however. I am afraid that i may have done some damage driving it around like it was. I hope this is not the case. Thanks Tom for the rundown of the possible outcomes, ill be sure to note those things to be checked out. The way my mechanic tried to put it was that the rebuild was to save me money, in the case that they fix the problem and then i have more. He said if he went in there to do rod bearings he may almost have to rebuild the motor anyway, if theres anything else wrong. The price i was givin for the full job was 4000.00 . I cant pull that out of wallet, so i have to save a bit if im to do it. Id defenitely prefer to fix the problem and only the problem, as the low mileage was the reason i bought the car, and not a different SHO. I am afraid of ending up spending close to or more than 4000 in the longrun though, with one prob after another, and still not having it rebuilt...I appreciate everyones help, I just dont know what to do.

 

[AutoSHO]

In my opinion, rod bearings are very cheap compared to a full rebuild. The crank shouldn't be trashed unless you have a pronounced knocking all the time. It would be very easy to drop the pan and tchange the bearings. This will also allow you to check the pan for metals and/or other foreign material. Parts, including bearings and seals, should be no more than $80. I doubt your mechanic will charge more than $150 to do the job (labor). Your engine shouldn't have anything else wrong with it that needs to be done.

 

[luigisho]

Do what you feel comfortable with. I would not spend $4000 for that job. It's a fair price for a rebuild but I would rather replace bearings and take my chances than do that. In fact, I'd do a 3.2 swap before I spent that kind of dough too.

This is all predicated on the assumption that the bearings are bad, which may or may not be the case.