MOTOR SEARCH.....

[seanfromnh]

so i contacted the guy in Penn.... he won't ship, ill have to pick it up...
Anyone have a spare one at home that knows how/ willing to ship it?
im desparate... if i can't get it soon my 2's gonna wind up in a scrapyard because i leave for basic soon....
I dont even need a complete motor... pretty much just a block and pistons... my motor still runs but its got two dead cylinders... It overheated at one point and cooked the cylinder of the #1 piston... So if anyones got a junk motor with a good block and pistons Im looking for em...

[te51levin]

mr2tim: I'm sure you're a really nice guy, and I don't want to beat you up, but some of the things you post are just plain bullcrap. I won't call you a liar, because a liar knows that what he is saying isn't true, and you may not know. That alone wouldn't bother me so much, but other people believe whatever they read, and they start repeating it as if it was actually true, and then we have a nation of people repeating a bunch of stuff that is just fundamentally incorrect...

Originally Posted by mr2tim

As you may or not know Japan has been flooding this country with their used engines heavily for the last 10-15 years.

It's been happening for much longer than that. People were wetting themselves with excitement over "bargain" Japanese engines in the mid-80s, if not earlier.

Originally Posted by mr2tim

The Jap government REQUIRES that any engine over say 40k be recycled and from what I hear Jap authorities will not allow the owner to re-license his car till that old engine is replaced.

This is 100% FALSE. It is, as it always has been, total hogwash, another classic muffler shop rumor that once had some small ring of fact to it, but which has been misunderstood, misinterpreted, rearranged to suit the agenda of the speaker, and yet gets repeated as if was unshakable fact. Reminds me of any number of religious texts, come to think of it, in the way people will cling tenaciously to anything they hear and repeat it as steadfastly as if they could actually stand behind it.

Originally Posted by mr2tim

So the Japs dump these engines on the USA market big time, since most Jap engines are NOT required to have EPA garbage, emissions lines, EGR's, Catalytic converts etc etc these engines have increased horsepower as a result.

This is also almost entirely FALSE. There may be less emissions equipment on a Japanese engine. However - and this is ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL - most of that equipment, such as EGR etc, does not cost you any power. Equivalent Japanese engines often have higher horsepower ratings than US engines, but that is due primarily to the different ratings system used (JIS vs. SAE net). Any engine in the world will produce larger numbers when tested under JIS methods than it would if tested with SAE net methods. This does not mean the engine makes more power.

Originally Posted by mr2tim

When you are contempleting your replacement engine be sure to include these "J-spec's" in your engine source/search. In most cases these engines will have less mileage than most engines found in Amerika's junkyards.

This is partially true, but keep in mind that many (most?) Japanese engines are also notoriously unmaintained. The idea of picking up a fresh, "low mileage" Japanese engine is fun, but not realistic. We are looking at engines that have not been run in at least 15 years, and possibly 20 years or more. If you find a Japanese import engine, it would be prudent to treat it with the utmost su****ion. It may be only slightly better (and may well be worse) than a used engine from a US-market car.

Originally Posted by mr2tim

Look into Wikipedia for the "4a-" series engines and read up before hearing all this "unsubstantiated" info you will no doubt hear over the Internet.

Speaking of which...

Originally Posted by mr2tim

You will find that alot of early engines have low HP ratings which may have been what happened to your car if the engine was replaced.

...I don't understand this. What are you saying? AW11s got the very earliest, very weakest 4AGEs ever made. I don't see how we could go downhill from here unless we start pulling spark plug wires off our engines, shoving pine cones into the airflow meter, etc.

Originally Posted by mr2tim

Tread carefully my friend, a informed buyer is less likely to be scammed.

Ironic? Yes indeed, but this much at least I can agree with.

Sean: Please be careful what you believe. Many people will freely and enthusiastically hand you "information." Most of them are just repeating what they hear. Much of what they say is often rumor, or half-truth, or worse. It may cost you a lot of time and money, or worse, to blindly follow bad advice.

Originally Posted by 1stgen

Just to clarify...this is not a law...they do not require you do replace anything it is just mechanics charge an arm and a leg over there...This is a myth..

Thank you, thank you, thank you! 1stgen has his facts straight. There is no law stating that the Japanese have to scrap their cars if they are properly maintained. However, in a nutshell, their vehicle inspection process is fairly rigorous and expensive. Repairs and maintenance are also expensive in Japan. Thus it gets relatively costly to maintain an aging car, and many Japanese drivers choose to buy new cars rather than maintain their old ones. That's why we used to have a barrage of "low mileage" Japanese engines coming in, but that's also why you can't assume that those engines are well maintained. Judging by the horrible condition of some Japanese import engines, many Japanese drivers don't even bother changing the oil - because they know they are going to junk their car out in three or four years anyway.

Originally Posted by traintech86

i am just trying to score a reliable engine for my 2 as i will have to drive it across country in 16 months and the site recomended had one on it, the yard said core. this is refering to the heads and all or just the block with pistons?

If the yard is offering you a core, they are basically offering you an engine that is ready to be rebuilt. It's not a reliable runner. It may be no better than scrap metal.

Originally Posted by seanfromnh

I dont even need a complete motor... pretty much just a block and pistons... my motor still runs but its got two dead cylinders... It overheated at one point and cooked the cylinder of the #1 piston...

OK, so two cylinders are dead - what do you mean by "dead"? No compression, no fire? There is little chance that you destroyed anything in the bottom end of the engine via overheating.

Have you actually torn the engine down yet to determine what exactly the failure is? If not, do so. You'll have to do it anyway, and it makes no sense to try to guess at the problem, or to formulate a plan to repair a problem that may not actually exist.

I'd bet a six pack that you have a blown head gasket due to running low on coolant and/or not having it properly bled. If you have time, repair it. You will need a head gasket set (USE OEM TOYOTA PARTS, not Fel-Pro or AutoZone or Pep Boys or Advance). You might also consider a new set of head bolts (again, USE OEM TOYOTA PARTS) and you will definitely want a new thermostat (again, USE OEM TOYOTA PARTS).

You may have noticed that I am strongly urging you to USE OEM TOYOTA PARTS. There is a reason for that. Toyota builds parts that are good enough to last for fifteen or twenty years in any environment in the world! I do make my living selling Toyota parts to the MR2 community. However, that does not change the fact that they are the best parts, especially where mission critical items like head gaskets and head bolts and thermostats are concerned.

For buyers who buy on price alone, there is always a cheaper part that Toyota is not willing to put their name on. Anything I that I can sell you can also be made a little worse and sold more cheaply by someone else. That is the difference between price (what you pay) and value (what you get).

[1stgen]

LOL @ aaron...my original guess would have been that mr2tim was a kid by kid I generally term anyone under 23 nowadays...but then I looked at his profile..I could assume thats him? Great looking wing


AAron speaks the truth. compression check..pull the head visual inspect....best case replace head gasket and bolts with Toyota parts. (Aaron is the cheapest even with shipping strangly enough..) and a good guy +1 to you..

[traintech86]

bolts... i'd say 85% of the bolts i touch on my car rust off >>

[seanfromnh]

Unfortunately it has a brand new head gasket timing belt etc.... i already took it apart.. thats when i saw the damage- it overheated before i bought it and you can see where the piston melted/welded to the head- the head is fine but the pison can wiggle.... I could probably get away with a new piston but i think that the cylinder it self is crap.... Thanks for the tips, but ive already done all that... Im wondering if new rings would do the trick but the piston seemed a little too loose to just be rings... but who knows? anyone got some rings? or even a set of pistons i can get for free? or at least really cheap? I dont really have any money to spend so any help would be awesome... i really dont want to have to scrap this thing... but if i don't fix the motor soon, i'll be leaving for basic training and she'll have to go...

[1stgen]

Basic training for what branch.. if your heading out for basic training. your best bet is sell it for cheap unless your sentimental about it.. once you get through it youll get stationed somewhere and have enough $$ in your pocket to rebuy a car that doesnt need a motor..unless of course your joining the army..then you will be deployed to Iraq/afgan and come back with some shrapnel and enough $$ to buy a new lexus and forget about mr2s all together..just my 2cents.

[te51levin]

I'm gonna side with 1stgen on that. It's not a great time to chain yourself to a dead car. I've done it before, and it's never pleasant.

[seanfromnh]

yeah i know... but unfortunately there is some sentimental value just because its one of a very small handfull up here in the woods... Also it sucks to actually still be able to drive it around my yard... yes it runs and drives just runs like crap and smokes.. plus ive done so much work to it... Id hate to just let it die off...
So, with that said should i try some new rings/pistonsand see what happens or just lose my false sense of hope? lol

[1stgen]

Originally Posted by seanfromnh

yeah i know... but unfortunately there is some sentimental value just because its one of a very small handfull up here in the woods... Also it sucks to actually still be able to drive it around my yard... yes it runs and drives just runs like crap and smokes.. plus ive done so much work to it... Id hate to just let it die off...
So, with that said should i try some new rings/pistonsand see what happens or just lose my false sense of hope? lol

Are you going to get restationed back in your neck of the woods? i.e. reserves? if not then then its just going to be a running smohking pile of crap in someone elses neck of the woods :P

Trust me life changes after basic. You could find a short block from a miriad of places and that would do the trick. Most likely a junk yard short block would work. Find one like 328 said find a car that was smashed to bits meaning the engine is "fairly" good. If the car looks fine means the engine was prolly shot. but lugging around a half beaten car around the coutry is no fun.. I have done it and wound up taking a huge loss because of sentimentle value. i.e. shipping cost when I should have just sold it for a decent amount and bought the plentiful amounts of the same cars they had when I got to my next duty station.

[seanfromnh]

ya im stationed up here in new hampshire- Air force/ Pease air force base- so i won't have to move it around with me... But its in my dads yard and who knows what'll happen to it if i don't do something...
I think im gonna buy new rings and maybe pistons and see what happens...