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Engine Options |
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Serious Engine Trouble? Now What?
Smart shoppers, like smart motorists, make better decisions when they know all of the options. When your car or truck suffers major engine damage, often the first reaction is to buy a new or used vehicle. However, many times that simply is not necessary or cost effective.
According to the Engine Repower Council, you should first discuss your various options with your automotive technician.
“Often times you’ll learn that choosing to repower your current engine with a remanufactured/rebuilt engine is your most reliable and cost effective choice over the long term,” said ERC Chairman Tom Shrader. “This is especially true compared to trading in your vehicle, patching the specific engine problem, or installing a used or new engine.
Consider the pro and cons of the following options:
- Trade-in the vehicle – keep in mind that the trade-in value of your vehicle will be reduced because of the damage to your engine. Also, by trading in your vehicle for a used one, you might very well be purchasing another vehicle with mechanical problems that you are unaware of. Used vehicle may cost less, but often you don’t know what you’re buying.
- Do a patch job – depending on the type of damage to your engine, you could consider fixing the specific problem, but this is usually expensive and there are no guarantees that other engine related failures won’t occur.
- Install a used engine – you could swap your damaged engine for one that came out of another vehicle. The downside is that you don’t know the history of the used engine or if it was properly maintained. Although “junk yard” engine may be warranted, the labor to replace a used engine with problems will likely escalate your repair bill.
- Install a new engine – this is a brand new engine, just like the one that came in your vehicle when it was purchased new. These units have one big downside…a much higher price.
- Repower your engine. This is your best value option. With repowering, your engine or an identical one from another like-vehicle, is completely remanufactured/rebuilt. Critically important internal parts get replaced with new ones that meet or exceed original equipment performance standards. Frequently, remanufactured/rebuilt engines are even better than the new engines installed at the factory. This is because the original factory engine problems have been redesigned or repaired with better quality parts. They are dependable, reliable and backed by excellent warranty programs that also usually cover installation expenses.
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