NEW RINGS OR NEW ENGINE? ADVICE NEEDED

[Craig James]

Hi all as title says my astra needs new rings under hard acceleration she she leaves a lovely trail of blue smoke so far I have covered 1200 miles and burnt through 9 litres of oil so need to pull my finger out and make a decision, the car has done 77k miles but came with absolutely no history, I have found a engine close to me for £300 with 32k on it and a 3 month warranty so this is were I need advise do I just swap out the engine or do I strip down mine and replace the rings? I am a competent armature mechanic and have done multiple engine changes, head rebuilds ect so I would be tackling the job myself any advise and opinions greatly appreciated cheers craig

 

[Dave Gilbert]

depends what you want to do, n how much the car is worth to you, I know this new engine comes with warrenty but you dont know the history. a rebuild would probably cost you £300 but you would know that every part you had replaced was good.

n would be a good experiance for you, I did a head rebuild n timing chain on my corsa a few weeks back n its good to start a engine up for the first time n say I did that.

 

[evocarlos]

me personally i would get the 2nd engine
then you can take the old one apart see if its salvageable or scrap then work from there
as dave said chains is good advice on an unknown engine

 

[Dave Gilbert]

n would be easier to do the chains wile its out n wile your there it would be easier to do the balance delete

 

[Sjdickso]

As above I would go for second engine but factor in the cost of chains. Also would want to see some prof of mileage.

 

[danprice7134]

me personally i would get the 2nd engine
then you can take the old one apart see if its salvageable or scrap then work from there
as dave said chains is good advice on an unknown engine

This would be my option of choice too.
One thing to bear in mind, if the rings are gone at 77k, you may have other worn parts as it is possibly due to oil starvation or oil contamination.
If your competent doing a rebuild but dont want to have spare engines lying about, why not buy the second hand engine to use while you do your rebuild, then sell on the second engine with a couple of thousand extra miles? At least you can sell it on as working and tested

 

[Craig James]

Cheers for all the replys guys well I have just acquired little run around so I can take my astra off the road to strip down the engine see what damage is actually done, the chains were done at 72k (finally got history off previous owner) so my question is could I reuse the chain I take off? Or should I just replace it (funds are a bit tight atm but don't want to cut corners) since I have had the car I have checked the oil daily and have never let it go below min so chains have always had a good supply of oil

 

[Sjdickso]

So the chains have only done 5k? Do you know what brand of chain was used?

 

[Craig James]

Yeah chains only covered 5k well just under and not got a clue what brand was fitted I just have the receipt from the garage it was done at

 

[Sjdickso]

Sure someone more technical can advise but to me seems a shame to bin a fair amount of money in chains if they used good parts, spose they will be stamped to see the brand?

On the other hand you don't want to pour £££ into a lump then the chain to fail because you didn't swap them.

Catch 22 I suppose.

 

[evocarlos]

the chains i just fitted to my old engine were the ones that had done 10k as long as all the parts are from the same kit when removed it should be ok

 

[danprice7134]

I've re-used chains many times without problems.
I like to have new rails though.
Check for wear on the chain sprockets too, no matter how good the chain is, if the teeth are worn it can slip.

 

[Craig James]

Think the desicion has been taken out of my hands does anyone know what would cause that damage to a piston never seen anything like it myself

 

[Dave Gilbert]

bad s**t, never seen a piston like that

 

[evocarlos]

that little bit stuck under the inlet valve bounced between the head and the piston 8.6gagillion times would of done it
i would say get that 2nd engine now

 

[danprice7134]

that little bit stuck under the inlet valve bounced between the head and the piston 8.6gagillion times would of done it
i would say get that 2nd engine now

I though it was about 8.55 gagillion myself. But what do I know hahaha
Deffo time for another engine. Not that I'm saying It can't be fixed, but it's far better to have another engine so you can take your time to properly check everything without rushing to get it going again.