Long story short, I was on my way to work, in cruise control.. car lost power and started knocking. Pulled over and had car towed home. Sound appeared to be coming from intake plenum area. Tested with stethoscope and it definitely wasn't coming from bottom end. Drained oil and pulled filter, no metal in oil. Pulled upper and lower plenum and valve covers, notices two intake valves not closing all the way. What would cause this? What should I do to remedy this? Please help.

 

bump

 

Do the intake valves close when you rotate the engine manually?

 

No, that's how I found out. I rotate the engine by hand and the two intake valves on the drivers side cylinder closest to the firewall don't fully close, just dropped the oil man and found metal chunks in it as well.

 

Time for a new VQ!

 

Where is everyone getting their replacement motors from? Is it better to rebuild or buy a used engine, or what? I'm wanting to keep costs as low as possible without sacrificing longevity or reliability. What the average cost of a replacement?

 

Depends if you buy a good crated engine, if you buy a refurb, or you buy a built one. You can just buy the broken portion, if you are familiar with engine rebuilding at all. It isn't easy, but it's not impossible either.