Urgh... my engine died

abudabi

abudabi

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My trusty 13 year old z18xer from my opel zafira with 205k on the clock went splutter splutter bang. Apparently cylinder 1 piston decided to mate with the valves. Really loved the car as we could cram so much stuff in there when going away on holiday.

Options:
Rebuild engine.. estimated 40k
Jap engine replacrment.. estimated 30k
Buy new car.. unknown k

Looking around the car is probably only worth 60 to 80k

What would you do and why?
 
Can probably get a second hand one for 80-90K? If the rest of the car is fine and you don't spend more than 30K to get it back in good condition. I would go for that option. Otherwise sell and add the 30K you would have spent and buy a second hand vehicle.
 
thechamp said:
Eish, sorry man. What happened, cam belt broke or what?
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Dunno hey. Just felt soemthing go and baaaad misfire on the way home Friday. Cambelt was still intact and replaced probably 3 months ago so wasn't that.

Motomacky says there's no compression on Cyl 1

RedViking said:
Can probably get a second hand one for 80-90K? If the rest of the car is fine and you don't spend more than 30K to get it back in good condition. I would go for that option. Otherwise sell and add the 30K you would have spent and buy a second hand vehicle.
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Yeah. stuck on these 2 thoughts myself. Selling would probbaly get me 30k .. so a deposit on something else.
 
abudabi said:
Dunno hey. Just felt soemthing go and baaaad misfire on the way home Friday. Cambelt was still intact and replaced probably 3 months ago so wasn't that.

Motomacky says there's no compression on Cyl 1



Yeah. stuck on these 2 thoughts myself. Selling would probbaly get me 30k .. so a deposit on something else.
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Well that probably depends if you want to pay a car off again. I don't like debt, so I would go for the option that makes economically sense and without debt if possible. So maybe then a new engine, unless you have to make a load to get the engine...... Eish. I don't know.
 
RedViking said:
Well that probably depends if you want to pay a car off again. I don't like debt, so I would go for the option that makes economically sense and without debt if possible. So maybe then a new engine, unless you have to make a load to get the engine...... Eish. I don't know.
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Yeah same... also hate the debt... but been thinking the last few weeks of getting a smaller more economical runabout (like a newish picanto) for doing the school / work runs.

Maybe it's a sign :ROFL:
 
RedViking said:
I was going to suggest a smaller car, but you mentioned the size you liked.
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Yeah maybe get smaller for now to fix the immediate problem. And then take my time fixing this one (and hopefully score an engine bargain somwhere along the line) so we still have the big road trip car.
 
If you loved the car why not spend the money to replace the engine rather than spend the money on an unknown quantity? At least you’ll have a car that you were always satisfied with and a new engine as well.
 
garp said:
If you loved the car why not spend the money to replace the engine rather than spend the money on an unknown quantity? At least you’ll have a car that you were always satisfied with and a new engine as well.
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Maybe I am wrong, but if the engine went, what are the chances that there are other problems that will follow soon? The car is going to become more maintenance which could have been spent on a better reliable vehicle?
 
abudabi said:
Dunno hey. Just felt soemthing go and baaaad misfire on the way home Friday. Cambelt was still intact and replaced probably 3 months ago so wasn't that.

Motomacky says there's no compression on Cyl 1



Yeah. stuck on these 2 thoughts myself. Selling would probably get me 30k .. so a deposit on something else.
Click to expand...

Who did that job for you? Probably never made sure the pulley was properly seated tightened and the whole system slipped. When opening the engine you are going to find lots more damage!
 
What do you even do now? Does the car just sit in the garden forever? Can you claim from insurance somehow?
 
No, insurance does not cover this unless you have special mechanical breakdown cover
 
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Geoff.D said:
Who did that job for you? Probably never made sure the pulley was properly seated tightened and the whole system slipped. When opening the engine you are going to find lots more damage!
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Yeah I've moved away from him. He came highly recommended by a few people in my neighborhood but when I recently found silicone all over my tappit cover I knew. :rolleyes:

So the hunt starts!

PS. As you can tell I haven't bought a car in years. Are the likes of AA or dekra reports good at weeding out the lemons out there?
 
abudabi said:
Yeah I've moved away from him. He came highly recommended by a few people in my neighborhood but when I recently found silicone all over my tappit cover I knew. :rolleyes:

So the hunt starts!

PS. As you can tell I haven't bought a car in years. Are the likes of AA or dekra reports good at weeding out the lemons out there?
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It's better than nothing, at the end of the day I think it is all on the person who does the inspection job, some just get it done and issue a report.

My trick is to involve knowledgeable people in the process, I am lucky because my colleagues are into cars so if I am going to look at a car I just take with everyone I find loitering around at lunch time, the more eyes, the better.
 
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thechamp said:
It's better than nothing, at the end of the day I think it is all on the person who does the inspection job, some just get it done and issue a report.

My trick is to involve knowledgeable people in the process, I am lucky because my colleagues are into cars so if I am going to look at the car I just take with everyone I find loitering around at lunch time, the more eyes, the better.
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Hahahah.. where do you work? See you at lunch time! :laugh:
 
I would want to know what happened, pistons and valves meeting is not a small failure and is most likely timing related, although you say the timing belt is intact. A rebuild will be expensive and I would only let someone I trust do it and a Japanese import motor is an unknown with all the extra paperwork needed to get it registered and legal. How much do you like this Zafira?
 
Eish

Not a nice thing to happen suddenly. especially when the car has been driving well with no issues.
Wonder though what happened, the only to find out is to get it stripped then take it from there and it does sound like a cambelt failure.

I am sure the motor can be rebuild, at least it sounds like you have mechanic friends around who can assist and have a look at the issue.
 
OK Jap engine is out.. So now just have to decide between rebuild or another car. Other car would likely be the new model picanto (so late 2017 or newer).

Is there a way to make sure it's not stolen / illegally imported / accident damaged via VIN number or dealer database?
 
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