When is your deadline?
3800.00 for the used engine + labor to install + towing to shop for the work + low chance of selling for much more than cost of all this + that used engine warranty might not go to the next owner .
And Watkin if you do this for yourself you might regret it if that used engine croaks .
Yeah, I told him all the numbers and he wants to sell it as it sits, whatever it brings.
What is the resale value on a good one anyway. Any margin to work with?
In my area dealers are asking $11,000 to $15,000 for a 2013-2014 Passat.
For $11K - $15K . . . I’d be looking at any number of other vehicles
But not a Passat
At any rate you couldn’t really justify paying more than a couple thou for it and still pay for all the risk and trouble. Assuming the trans is good.
We buy engines through LKQ, there hasn’t been much risk, no problems with the used engines. LKQ shows used engines for $2500 in my area and I don’t think the Southwest is a low priced area. The 1.8 T is also used in the Jetta so it is not a rare engine.
For $3000 you can get this car drivable but if he is unwilling to pay for the engine then he can’t be helped.
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I’m assuming the automatic transmission is as neglected as the engine
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There were no known issues with the transmission but I don’t know what the maintenance interval is on the fluid changes. My guess is he wasn’t having the fluid and filter changed based on what happened with the oil but often transmissions have a very long life fluid these days. I don’t know a lot about these cars.
At this point he is about to head back to his home country and doesn’t want to get into a complicated project. I am hoping to get another friend to buy the car and put a used engine in it. Of course he said he wanted something a little more simplistic and with better fuel economy as that would be the whole point of him getting another car. He said it needed to get a min of 38 mpg on the highway for him to be real interested.
Just about the only cars that get that are hybrids (excluding plug-ins).
That sounds like a really good way to ruin a friendship.
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The guy who might buy this used to be a mechanic. He knows the dirty on the car as well. He is also thinking about flipping it and making a few thousand dollars so I don’t think he has a long-term outlook on the thing.
I don’t think he is interested enough to bite though so odds are it will sell for whatever it will go for on Facebook Marketplace as a non-running car.
He took it to AutoZone again and got the CPS code read another time. Anyway, he is now of the idea that replacing that sensor will fix all the problems so I think I am done trying to help on this one.
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+1
On several occasions, I learned–the hard way–about the old maxim…
No good deed goes unpunished
That is not to say that one shouldn’t try to help others, but there is sometimes a point where it is appropriate to step away, and you have clearly reached that point.
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Here is the update on this. He still hasn’t sold the car but it seems to be running better after the oil was topped off. The check engine light even turned off after a while and there are no more misfires. Obviously the engine wasn’t damaged as badly as we all assumed but I still wouldn’t trust this thing for long, being a turbo and all.
How would it suddenly start running better after having oil added? I am thinking some hydraulic system such as the timing chain tensioner or something related to the valve timing refilled with oil and started working again, at least for now. The valves are definitely not bent.
I drove the car right after the oil was added and then again today. It was a night and day difference. I thought it was going to die the first time and today it ran pretty much normal and the engine ran well.
The car still hasn’t sold. I told him it would be risky to count on this car for long term. Obviously it is using oil but I didn’t see or smell any serious signs of oil use today.
Could be the valve stuff, but another idea, piston rings could have been sticking, preventing full compression. And after an oiling, they unstuck. Valves associated w/the turbo function now functioning properly could be the cause too. EGR sticking partially open another possibility.
So logically, he/you should do an oil and filter change with new synthetic oil and a brand-name filter, and add a can of Restore to the oil. I have used Restore on old, worn-out engines, and it helped a lot.
A dealer bought this car from him cheap, aware it had problems and like 26 stored codes. For the price they paid him I am sure they can fix the problems and still make it worthwhile for them.