After a mere 166,00 miles (I had two Camrys and an Accord last over 300,000 miles) the oil pump on my Kia Rondo died. The oil idiot light did not turn on until after the engine started making, “I’m going to throw a rod”, noises. Even though I stopped immediately, the connecting rod bearings are trashed. The car will still start, but the oil light comes on and it starts making ghastly noises after driving one or two miles. My brother says he can drop the pan and replace the bearings, Piece of Cake. My mechanic says, “It’s time to euthanize.” He doesn’t even think the car is worth the price of putting heavier oil in it. (Note: He couldn’t find another used Rondo engine to use for a replacement anywhere within a 500 mile radius.) Is my brother’s plan feasible? Or, should I follow my mechanic’s advice and shoot this candidate for Worst Car Ever Designed and Manufactured between the headlights? Mind you, the latter action will alienate the brother.
Well, I’m going to jump in here.
If your brother has the tools, skills, and facilities to do the job. And if you want to risk the cost of parts. Being without a vehicle for an indeterminate amount of time. With the full knowledge your Rondo may still end up at the recyclers. You and your brother agree you will still be talking to each other, regardless of the outcome.
If those conditions are met, I would be inclined to let him try.
Maybe tell your brother that you would like another car anyways, sell the Kia to him for scrap value, and you guys can fix it together.
In what type of condition is the rest of the car?
Does it have any rust damage?
And–perhaps most importantly–does it have an automatic transmission, or is it a manual shift car?
If it has an automatic transmission–and if the trans has not been serviced every 30k miles or so–then the trans is on its way to failure… soon. It would not make sense to spend money on repair of the engine of this 10 year old car if the trans will need to be overhauled/replaced in the very near future.
You would not know if new crank and rod bearings will do much good until you have removed the pan and some bearing caps and looked at some crank journals… You can look for visual damage but you can’t mike the crank without taking it out of the engine on the crank journals. You can with the rods though.
I used to know a shady curbstoner (unlicensed used car dealer) who would quiet a knocking engine by filing the caps and bearing halves.