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My wife's car broke down yesterday. Lots of white smoke from the exhaust, water gone, complete loss of power. RAC recovery guy told her "New engine. About £500 - £1,000."
It's an 04 plate Astra. I can't really afford to be buying a fresh car but if needs must then so be it but wouldn't want to go above £3,500 - £4,000.
So, the choice is go for repair or new car. I am not a mechanic or expert on cars so any advice will be appreciated. I know that there are many on here well informed in these matters.
Thanks in advance.
Head gasket from the sounds of it.
What's the car worth? It might not be economical to repair and fitting a new engine won't be cheap.
I'd get an expert opinion on the engine. My mate used to just get the AA/ RAC to recover the car and he do the diagnostics, unless its plainly obvious of rod out the block etc.
If you fit a second hand engine, then you would do a cambelt change , water pump change etc etc, so factor some costs for those. How old is the clutch ?
The car as it stands is worth scrap, sadly.
difficult to assess over the internet - whats the condition of the rest of the car.
unless you can fit the engine your self and have the tools i wouldnt have thought it would be economical on an 04 astra.
which engine is it - is it one with a flaw - i had a golf with major issues down to the materials the block was constructed from- and it was most likely a new engine would have the same issues .... i got rid..
also have had bad experiances with having to reprogram immobilisers on Vauxhall cars after just changing fuel pumps - would imagine it wouldnt like an engine swap much - although perhaps thats because mines was a bastardized isuzu motor....
I would stick it on gumtree and local facebook groups - always a mechanic out tere looking to turn a buck and will pay above scrap for a car with a decent length test on.
an engine swap doesnt take long if you know what your doing.
ps theres not many ways for white smoke (water) to be coming out the exhaust and for the water to disapear from the header.....how ever it is always worth getting a second opinion.
It's an 04 plate Astra. I can't really afford to be buying a fresh car but if needs must then so be it but wouldn't want to go above £3,500 - £4,000.
You wouldn't need to. There's plenty of good cars around for about £2k.
New car sales are at a record high. That makes oldies even cheaper.
pssst reubens right you know. Paid 1400 for my mrs current berlingo (04 plate 1.9D on 84k) - and to date its needed a wheel bearing and i had the timing belt done just because.
my pug partner van - same engine was an 06 (in 09) on 38k .... 3.5k
I swapped a broken engined non running 04 golf for a 99 2.2 DTI vaux frontera a couple winters ago and ran it for 2 years for minimal cost.