Go back and reread. My very first comment was to keep driving it until the first sign on trouble then buy a later model one. For the price of getting the engine recond as per other advice you could buy a better, later model. Subsequently the owner said he’s pretty much replaced everything on the car already including hoses etc. My initial advice is still MY best option but that will cost $4-7K upwards. Get a used engine and get it done for less.
I’ll repeat tho’, the Honda engines from late 90’s & right through the 2000’s are the epitome of “bullet proof”.
You’re gonna have to explain how you figure the dollars per mile. Currently is has 260K. With the maintenance & replacements he’s already done it could well go for another 100K at which point he replaces the engine (for $2000 for argument’s sake) for another 100K. So for $2,000 plus normal maintenance he gets 200,000 miles use.
Now lets halve that distance for argument’s sake in your favor. Please summarise how spending $25,000 is a better way to get 100,000miles than spending $2,000.
!?
I am someone who leases a new car every 3 years so I can have the peace of mind of always being under warranty and have the latest safety features. The key to my cost equation is your statement “With the maintenance & replacements he’s already done it could well go for another 100K”. It “could”. It’s more likely to nickel and dime him to death or suffer a major transmission failure before then.
If this were my decision to make, aside from doing the entire engine rebuild myself… I would go with a used engine from Japan.
The name for this type of engine swap is basically a JDM swap…meaning Japan Domestic Market. I have purchased many used JDM engines and they have all been in absolutely fantastic condition mechanically.
In Japan it becomes more and more expensive to drive an aging vehicle and as mileage increases so do the taxes and fees required to keep it on the road. They do this for several reasons one of them is to encourage new vehicle purchases, safety is another… and I’m sure there are several more.
What this means to us here in the USA is that we get an engine that typically has less than 50-60K miles…and this is not a myth its typically what you will find when purchasing these engines from reputable sellers on the internet. The engines I have purchased were all in nearly pristine condition and it was not hard to believe they had the low mileage advertised in their cooresponding Adverts.
I would buy another JDM engine in a heartbeat should I be in that situation. Other than that you can use an engine rebuilder such as Jasper or the like… But for the money and what you get in return…its hard to beat buying a JDM unit. Look into it.
p.g.i. I don’t understand why you keep making a big deal out of this . If you want to keep pouring money into an old vehicle , fine. The OP has already discovered that some parts are no longer available for his 2000 CRV . And it is just going to get worse . Also I think he may have given up on this subject thread. So unless he returns our opinions really don’t matter.
No big deal at all. The issue is that when someone asks options for an engine swap and the response is a blanket “Buy a brand new car” it’s completely over the top in this situation.
Nickles & dimes are nickles & dimes. If you’re using as the basis for advice your own willingness to continually pay the depreciation on a brand new car every three years I think you completely miss taking into account the situation & preferences of the original poster.
This car is 19 years old. Based on current figures, a new CRV will be worth around 68% of it’s value after 3 years. Which on $25,000 is a loss of $8000. Over 18 years of leasing that’s $48,000 (let’s not calculate the 19 years of reasonable opportunity costs into that or it’s well over $100K).
So your concern over being nickle & dimed is indeed alleviated … by being hundreds & thousands’ed instead. Yes I appreciate the desire to have new bling, trinkets and safety (i have no problem with that) but to claim its a dollars per mile thing is completely bogus & disingenuous.
I haven’t seen anything to indicate what type of driving the OP does? Is it around town driving or long distance driving? If the OP does local driving except for long distance summer vacation travel, my solution to keep expenses down would be to rent a car for long distance travel and keep driving the present ride until something major breaks.
Even if the engine gets to the point it uses a quart of oil every 600 miles, if the vehicle is used for local travel, it’s no big problem.
Yes you said don’t replace the engine, replace the car with new. Which is what I said you said.
Why do you feel insulted? Is it your advice or your own situation you’re talking about here?
I never suggested you had a credit problem. More power to you if you’re able to resist, plan, then afford buy a new car without credit but with a national median income hovering around $31,000 that is certainly not a reality for most. So not realistic advice.
Why should you feel insulted by my critiquing your advice?
I have changed a few engines myself without incident or problems but almost everyone I know who has paid for an engine swap has had problems. I think the paid installer is always in a hurry because the faster he works the more money he can make.Wire harnesses get crushed,sensors or connectors get damaged, things just get tightened and not torqued, etc. Arriund here the best way to get a cood used engine for an old car is to buy a running but rusted out hulk on the way to the junkyard.
I am a little older than triedaq and I have no intention of wasting my remaining time keeping up with technology. My job as a truck driver gave me no foundation in technology, And I never used a computer until 12 years after I retired. The only computer I have ever used is a mac desktop and The nice lady from Apple support that was on the phone helping me set up my second one exclaimed indignantly that I had deleted every feature that made it more advanced than my old computer. I have a 2012 Camry and it has features I have no use for. The salesman tried to get me to let him sync my devices for me, he seemed disappointed that I didn’t have any devices to sync. As long as the Bills and Sabres are on TV and the library gives out free books and magazines, I am a happy camper. I love the mostly unconnected life.
Sure but remember, most folks posting questions here are not doing the work themselves. A mechanic isn’t passing that engine at cost. They have to cover costs for picking it up, r&r things that are unknowns but could be devastating like a new t-belt for example, scrapping the old one, basic business costs for paying bills and other overhead, plus some kind of reasonable profit. A $400 engine to me or you will cost the average customer at least double that. Especially if the mech has any kind of warranty to pass along. Not all swaps go as planned so that affects pricing to all customers.
And 10 hours is very optimistic imho. I think a reasonable time to remove the old engine, swap accessories to replacement, probably do timing belt job, thermostat etc, install replacement engine and all the cleanup work is more like 20 hours.
I would do the swap myself but would be hesitant to pay someone to do it on an older vehicle. My luck, the trans would carp out a week later
It’s been my experience over the years that roughly 30-35% of major salvage yard units (engines, transmissions, rear axles) have problems from comparatively minor to junk status. Mileage means nothing. I’m aware that salvage yards claim the unit is “good”. Of course they do. Everything on the lot that they have never heard run or driven is considered “good”.
I’ve also seen more engine problems on low miles car than I can remember. Many of them were in the 20 to 4ok miles range because the majority are not taken care of very well. The record in my case was a VW with 12.5k miles on it; and 2 rods sticking through the block from never raising the hood.
This just seems like a big to-do over nothing; until the engine lets go and IF it ever does.I drove my last Mercury to over 400k miles and still running well when I sold it out of sheer boredom. My current Lincoln has almost 300k miles and never needs oil between changes. As mentioned, don’t fix what ain’t broke.
