Do I fix a 2002 Corolla with a seized engine?

[SpatiallyAware]

Is that book labor or the time it takes a skilled experienced person to do the swap? If the accepted industry cost for a service is for 10 hours and I do it in 1 hour, I still need to be paid for 10 hours and not penalized for my skill and expertise. You benefit from my quicker than quoted service by having your car back in a day instead of a week, not by not paying what the job is listed for.

If you know what you are doing, a single person with a hoist and all the tools and things gathered and prepped the night before, get up at 6-7am when its cool and be done by noon.

A lot of mechanics feel this way and IMO it's generally BS.

My truck was acting up a few years back, I took it to ford and they quoted me ~$600 to replace a main wiring harness.

Before paying I took a look and basically it had a bad connector on a sensor. They cut the connector off and spliced a new one on, but did not replace the entire harness.

The mechanic pulled the same excuse on me.. That they took the initiative to not rip my truck apart, that skill is what I'm paying for and I should be appreciative they didn't actually take the truck apart and replace the harness but should still pay full price. To crimp on a used connector?? Kiss my ass.

I ended up paying $100 diag fee and $50 to splice on the harness.


I have found that most mechanics are crooks and will rip off anybody who doesn't know better than they do.

 

[pauldun170]

If they quoted you for a wiring replacement job and all they did was splice a connector, they are crooks and should be reported to the BBB.

 

[thomsbrain]

The way to look at it is this:

If you sold the car and added $4,000 cash, how much car would you end up being able to afford to buy? Compare that to your Corolla with a motor with 60K on it. Whichever is the better car is the correct option.

 

[Doppel]

Ouch. No interest in tackling it yourself? If it is like for like, same make and model it is a plug and play job. A couple of clueless guys could be coached through it by one with the knowledge.

Technically most of us could perform some kind of surgery if couched through it

Second all the ehow jokes, that site is a real piece of crap.

 

[exdeath]

A lot of mechanics feel this way and IMO it's generally BS.

My truck was acting up a few years back, I took it to ford and they quoted me ~$600 to replace a main wiring harness.

Before paying I took a look and basically it had a bad connector on a sensor. They cut the connector off and spliced a new one on, but did not replace the entire harness.

The mechanic pulled the same excuse on me.. That they took the initiative to not rip my truck apart, that skill is what I'm paying for and I should be appreciative they didn't actually take the truck apart and replace the harness but should still pay full price. To crimp on a used connector?? Kiss my ass.

I ended up paying $100 diag fee and $50 to splice on the harness.


I have found that most mechanics are crooks and will rip off anybody who doesn't know better than they do.

Yes this is BS. They quoted you labor to replace a harness, not labor to replace one connector. Thats not the same thing as paying someone the standard rate to complete a task, who does in fact complete that very task, just faster than average. In the latter case the faster than average mechanic still deserves the full market standard compensation, he doesn't get paid half for being twice as fast.

What you are talking about is paying for an engine swap and then they just throw a quart of oil into the old one and get it started again, and did not fulfill the quoted task (eg fraud).

 

[jagec]

Yes this is BS. They quoted you labor to replace a harness, not labor to replace one connector. Thats not the same thing as paying someone the standard rate to complete a task, who does in fact complete that very task, just faster than average. In the latter case the faster than average mechanic still deserves the full market standard compensation, he doesn't get paid half for being twice as fast.

This is true. If you can do the same job in half the time WITHOUT cutting any corners, you shouldn't be paid less.

That said, if that many mechanics are able to cut the book time in half, that suggests that the book might be a little inaccurate, and some repairs really ARE overpriced.

 

[nboy22]

I didn't ask, the mechanic was surprised at how much they cost. How much do they typically go for?

I hate Toyotas so the story I told myself is that it's because they're shitty engines and there's a lot of demand for replacements.



Kind of embarrassing. It started making a noise and I thought it was an exhaust leak (I had an exhaust leak in my old Jetta and it sounded the same). I had 4 guys in the car and was driving up the side of a mountain, the sound started getting worse, checked the oil and it was two quarts low

I put oil in it but the damage must have already been done. The engine seized up about 15 miles later.

Right... So first you say it's a shitty engine and then you say that you were 2 quarts too low... Seems like a user error to me, and not a shitty engine.

If you want to see a shitty engine go buy a dodge stratus with a 2.7l. I had one and the engine blew out at 69,000 miles. I babied that thing - changed the oil with synthetic every 3000 miles. It still sludged and blew up.

 

[jlee]

While the 1ZZFE may not be Toyota's best engine ever, it's usually a pretty great little workhorse...definitely doesn't deserve the title of 'shitty.'

 

[mmntech]

Best case scenario, the car is worth $5000 tops according to KBB. I don't think it's worth it. It's a Corolla after all. Hardly a classic car. Might as well take that $4000 and put a good down payment on something newer.

 

[exdeath]

While the 1ZZFE may not be Toyota's best engine ever, it's usually a pretty great little workhorse...definitely doesn't deserve the title of 'shitty.'

You want an engine that can run with dirt in the crank case instead of oil, get a 5S-FE :awe:

 

[Doppel]

Anyway I agree, see if you can get this done cheaper. If $3k or less go for it. Otherwise, consider scrapping. The argument of not to repair if the repair is worth more than the car is not always relevant; e.g. in the example of everything else about the car being awesome (more so than a new "unknown"), but perhaps it's time to go car shopping.

FWIW there are memorial day sales this weekend You can lease a new corolla with no money down for under $200/month hehe

 

[CurseTheSky]

For $4k, pick up another beater.

 

[BUTCH1]

http://www.automotix.net/usedengines/2002-toyota-corolla-inventory.html

Wow, awesome site, great prices too!..

 

[Pens1566]

While the 1ZZFE may not be Toyota's best engine ever, it's usually a pretty great little workhorse...definitely doesn't deserve the title of 'shitty.'

Again, the pre '03 ones were known to have a rather bad oil consumption problem. I'd file that under "shitty engine".

 

[Blackjack200]

Right... So first you say it's a shitty engine and then you say that you were 2 quarts too low... Seems like a user error to me, and not a shitty engine.

If you want to see a shitty engine go buy a dodge stratus with a 2.7l. I had one and the engine blew out at 69,000 miles. I babied that thing - changed the oil with synthetic every 3000 miles. It still sludged and blew up.

 

[jlee]

Again, the pre '03 ones were known to have a rather bad oil consumption problem. I'd file that under "shitty engine".

My 98 made it past 200k. How bad is "rather bad"?

Forgetting to check your oil is another issue.

 

[Pens1566]

My 98 made it past 200k. How bad is "rather bad"?

Forgetting to check your oil is another issue.

There was a toyota service bulletin on the issue. It's not a "check your oil" thing. My celica was dealer serviced every 3k miles (not the manual recommended 5k) and oil disappeared in the span of 1k miles before I even knew of the bulletin. Don't believe me, google is your friend.

 

[jlee]

There was a toyota service bulletin on the issue. It's not a "check your oil" thing. My celica was dealer serviced every 3k miles (not the manual recommended 5k) and oil disappeared in the span of 1k miles before I even knew of the bulletin. Don't believe me, google is your friend.

I'm aware that some had oil consumption issues, but I wasn't aware that it was several quarts in between oil changes.

 

[SparkyJJO]

I'm aware that some had oil consumption issues, but I wasn't aware that it was several quarts in between oil changes.

I suspect some were a lot worse than others.

 

[Rifter]

An engine swap sounds like a pretty ridiculous job for the average non-mechanic, even if it is a plug and play type of thing. Actually a hilarious suggestion imo.

Its not as hard as it sounds, me and a buddy swapped engines in my truck in a few weekends. Neither of us are mechanics, i simply couldnt afford to have a shop do it and needed wheels so i did what i had to do to make it happen. We even took the engine we were putting into it apart, repleaced all gaskets and seals as well as main bearings. Was really not that hard. We even replaced the whole front end(fenders, rad support, inner wheel wells, grill) Because mine was rusted out and a buddy of mine had mint rust free sheetmeteal for it sitting in his barn. All in all it was alot easier than i thought it would be, and i would not hesitate to do another engine swap.

 

[Rifter]

I'm aware that some had oil consumption issues, but I wasn't aware that it was several quarts in between oil changes.

My moms was that bad, leak was in the head somewhere, it wasnt coming out anywhere or going into the coolant but was loosing 1-2 liters every 1-2 months. She just rebuilt the motor and got it done for 3k total, was a 03 Corolla.