Last week before a long drive, I noticed my coolant level was below the L so I topped off my coolant reservoir before starting my trip to the max line. About 2 hours into my drive the engine started to overheat. The temperature gauge needle went all the way to the top. The car would jerk and stall when trying to go above 20 mph. I drove for another mile until the next exit, pulled over and let the car cool down for about 30 min. The coolant levels were slightly below the max line, but there was no smoke from the exhaust or engine. I started my car again, and the temperature gauge was in the middle where it should be. I drove for about 1 min and the temperature gauge started to rise again. I pulled over again and let the car cool down. I eventually drove it to the nearest nissan dealership which was about 1 mile away. They diagnosed my car and told me my head gasket was blown and needed replacement, along with my radiator hoses. Quoted me $4300 to fix my blown head gasket, and replace my hoses.

I drove my car to another shop less than a block away. The guy verified that my head gasket was blown and suggested I replace my entire engine instead of just repairing the head gasket. I have a little over 200K miles on my car, and his reasoning was that if I just replace the head gasket on my engine, since its an old engine, another component of the engine will fail, eventually leading me to replace the entire engine anyways. He found an engine with about 100K miles and quoted me around $3500 which includes labor, engine with new spark plugs and heater, radiator hoses, air filter, thermometer, and oil change.

My car is a 2007 G35 Sport Sedan with a little over 200K miles on it with no major accidents. The guy at the garage may be interested in buying my car off of me if I choose not to repair it. I love my car and would hate to part ways with it. But something tells me it may be time to just sell it and get whatI can for it.

Do you guys think its worth replacing the engine for $3500? Or should I sell the car and get what I can for it? The blue book value on my car is around 4K but obviously with an engine that works. If I replace the engine how many more miles do you think I can get out of the car? What do you guys think?

Thank you in advance.

 

Whatever you do, do NOT replace the head gasket on the current motor.

That being said, for not much more you can get a brand new stage 1 long block for not much more from IPP here on the forum with full warranty. While I'm sure the 100k mile motor may be fine it would suck to get it in there and find out otherwise when you could pay around $1k more and have basically a brand new lease on the cars life.

Tough to say, man. If the motor had 50k I'd say go for it, but 100k is just too many miles to hope someone treated it right (for me anyway). It's not necessarily the miles (cuz these motors can last a very long time), but rather the unknowns.

 

I suspect the 2nd shop has a line on the used engine and is getting it on the cheap. Try asking them to break out the parts (engine) vs. labor costs on their estimate. I bet labor is the major part of their estimate, which would also explain why they'd be willing to buy the car from you if you don't opt to replace the engine. If my guess is correct, they KNOW they can make money on it.

If you were handy with cars at all (which I'm guessing you're not since you're asking here), you could most likely source a used engine yourself and then contract the labor for a total that is less than the total that shop is giving you, but that's not the case here, so you kind have to pay them for that extra value they are adding by "handling it".

One thing to consider when evaluating whether or not you should invest more in the car is this: What would it cost you to buy another car of equal (or better) quality and characteristics vs. what it will cost to get your car back on the road with that shop.

If you can get another equivalent (100K-ish mileage) car for $7K and sell yours with a blown gasket for $3k, then you're out of pocket for $4K. When you compare that to getting your 200K mile car back with a used engine, it would be worth the extra $500 to shave 100K of chassis wear off.

If you can't get another equivalent (100K-ish mileage) car for less than $9K, and your car with the blown gasket only gets you $2K, then you're out of pocket for $7K and, in comparison, that $3500 engine replacement starts to look a lot better.

No one can decide this for you, you gotta do it yourself based on what is more valuable to YOU. Just make sure you look carefully at the cost comparisons between the options. Good luck!

.02

 

well according to kbb your car is only worth about 5500 dollars. I would personally sell it and get another car. put the money you would spend down on another car and not go through the headache of trying to get another motor into it. and not to mention who knows what motor they will put into it and if the ecu and everything will even work.

 

To help on an idea of price, I picked up my 100k mile engine from a 350z for $750 and put it in my G35 with no problems. Although this was cheaper than most, a good condition engine with some sort of warranty would be $1000-$1500 so most of that quoted price is labour. But still not bad with the extra new parts. It would make a huge difference if you were given a 6 or even 12 month warranty on the engine that they fit for you.

 

Sell the ride and upgrade to something newer.
Only reason to replace to motor would be if you got it a little cheaper and wanted to build it.

 

Had your coolant ever been low before? What do you think cause the head gasket failure?

 

Good point to consider. After fixing my head gasket I paid no attention to what caused the initial overheat and almost overheated again. It was the fan motors which failed for me.

 

Yea, never experienced a head gasket failure but it seems to be caused by overheating either the radiator fan doesnt work, the coolant pathways are clogged and corroded, no coolant, or the water pump failed. Its best to turn off the car immediately if you see your temps rising and tow it so your engine doesnt overheat and warp.