I have a 1994 Geo Prism that is pretty good shape it has been sitting in the garage for over a year, the only problem is it needs a new engine. I was wondering if I should put a new engine in it, sell it to the junk man for $100.00 or change it over to a bio diesel or vegi oil ran engine. Any comments appreciated
You can’t convert this car to a diesel, bio- or otherwise, at least not for less than the cost of a moon mission. If it’s in good shape it might be worth installing a new engine. How many miles on the car, and what happened to the engine?
Geo Prism. Disposable car from the factory. Conversion costs would be a lot more than the price of a late-model used car or a new disposable equivalent, like a Kia Rio. To go biodiesel, you need to first get a diesel engine that will fit, fabricate mounts to hold it, and install diesel fuel delivery system and wire in an engine management system. Then convert that to run vegi oil if desired. A replacement gas engine would cost more that blue book on this model. It is a 14-year old lump of metal. And, other parts are ready to fail.
IF the car was in great shape with low miles, I MIGHT install a used engine if I could find one cheap. Spending $500 to put it on the road is smarter financially than spending $5,000 for a decent used car.
Disposable car from the factory?? I think not, as a 1994 Geo Prizm was a rebadged Toyota Corolla, which is hardly a crummy car.
Saw a used engine on Ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/93-97-Toyota-Corolla-Celica-Geo-Prism-5AFE-Engine-4AFEv_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33615QQihZ020QQitemZ300222948922QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW
I would take the $100 myself and move on. You will never recover the cost of changing the engine unless you perform it yourself and get the engine free.
It’s time to say goodbye and move on to a more productive use of your time.
A used engine with some sort of warranty is the only economically sensible course of action, and only if the rest of the car is in good shape.
The good news is that since it’s really a Toyota Corolla you may have good luck finding a decent used engine from a boneyard. They made gazillions of Corollas.