Do I Need an engine rebuild

[Green97GST]

Hey guys I want to ask for some advice from you

I have a '97 GST with about 106,000 miles on it (mods in profile). I have taken good care of my car and it usually runs great. Last week I noticed my car had light blueish smoke coming out of the exhaust pipe. It just started smoking and never did before, and I also had the same some coming out of the top of the engine when you remove the oil cap. I'm pretty sure thats called oil blow by, correct me if I'm wrong. First I thought my turbo was bad cause of the smoke out the exhaust pipe, but when I saw the smoke out of the top of the engine I feared I had bigger problems. I hoped in my to take it to a shop and get in opinion. On my way there my car overheated, all the water in the resevior was gone and I could smell a hint of antifreeze burning. I usually pay attention to my guages but I had my girl in the car at the same time giving me crap about taking her to pick up her sister because I was taking my car to the shop.
The only things that were wrong that I knew of before this was an exhaust leak from an exhaust manifold bolt that broke, and I needed a new valve gasket. I was planning on fixing both of these problems as soon as the Fall semester started, because I usually have about 1 thousand dollars left over from my scholarships. When I take it to the shop, shops called First Choice Auto its in Orlando, FL, the guy tells me I'm probably going to need to seals and that I would probably should have the pistons replaced. Basically an engine rebuild. I'm like wtf, my car ran like a brand new car two days ago, and I have not been raceing it. I just can't believe I need all this. I just wanted to ask for any advice, opinions, suggestios from you guys. I have searched some, and I actually have been a member of this forum for a couple of years under another screen name, I just always read info. from here and never posted. What am I looking for in terms of price of this repair, he is going to do a compression check first to see how bad everything is, but he said he is sure I will at least need that and probably a headgasket. Do you guys know any better shops around UCF? Any info./input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys and sorry for the long post.

 

[hopwoodp]

By the sound of it, you will have to open up the motor and replace some parts. You can either pay the shop to do it or you do it yourself.

Make sure a compression AND leakdown test is performed. When the head is pulled from the block, make sure the mating surfaces, bores, valves and pistons are inspected along with whatever else you can see. When the oil pan comes off, check for contamination(ie, rubber gasket material, metal flakes or chunks, coolant etc). Check the crank play. You get the idea.

This is the best time to figure out what was going on in your engine. This stuff isn't cheap. You'll most likely pay more for labor than parts, unless you know the guy.

Keep us posted on whats going on.

 

[spoonman]

Sounds like the piston rings need to be replaced, even if your compression is good your oil rings could be worn. With that many miles it would be good to rebuild.

 

[jongreene]

Start with little things.
Make sure your PCV is functioning properly, and if you have a filter in the line that goes from the VC to your intake pipe make sure thats not clogged with crud.

Like you already said your valve cover gaskets needed replaced...get those.
The spark plug well gaskets have been known to let a little oil past over time.

Im sure youve already filled your coolant back up ....itd be a good idea to check for any leaks incase that was the reason it was all gone.

 

[jamisonj24]

Take it to a different shop and have them do a leakdown test. That will tell you where the problem is. It may just be a blown h.g. and the rings are fine. Before you have any shop dig into it I would definitely go with a leakdown test, it could save you some money. You can't diagnose bad pistons in your case without pulling the head, I would'nt go to that shop again sounds like they wan't to rob you.

 

[dontfeedphils]

If your loosing a lot of coolant the first thing I would think is the head gasket. Which isn't a bad job. I could do a head gasket in one day with the right tools, and a couple extra hands.

 

[Green97GST]

Whats up guys I got an update on my car. Basically I need new rings to stop the blow by and my head was warpped pretty bad. I was told that I should just replace the rings and get a new head. This would fix all my problems and I should be good to go. Its going to cost about $1,500 for everything, which I guess isn't that bad. What do you guys think?

 

[architechnik]

That sounds like a great price!

I don't know what it's like where you are, but around here I was quoted $500 to replace the exhaust gasket! Make sure the shop is reliable and that there won't be any "unforeseen" charges that arise while they have your engine apart.

My experience says not to take it to "chain" mechanics. They seem to know what they were trained and nothing about figuring out problems in all vehicles. The fact that they pinpointed the problems is a good sign.

Have you or anyone you know taken their car to this shop? What type of head are they replacing it with - used, rebuilt, or re-manufactured?

 

[Green97GST]

yeah the car has been to this shop plenty of times before, when the orginal owner had the car. This guys is actually does a lot of DSM work, so he knows what he is doing. The head is coming from a local machine shop. The mechanic will replace the rings, and we saw that the pistons themselevs look fine.