Club 80-90 Forums

Unfortunately my van overheated yesterday due to a water leak appearing to come from the cylinder head. Obviously I will be removing the engine to investigate but if worse comes to the worse could somebody give me a guide price on a replacement dg engine. I appreciate a bit of a ' how long is a piece of string' question but I spent a fair bit of time last night and there doesn't seem to be much about. My other question is would it make better sense to go down the scooby route. I know where I can get my hands on a complete running car with proven non turbo ej20 engine. I have priced up the parts from rjes and it would be about £850 plus the cost of the car and wiring harness work.

Cheers

Gary

Gary.pb wrote:Unfortunately my van overheated yesterday due to a water leak appearing to come from the cylinder head. Obviously I will be removing the engine to investigate but if worse comes to the worse could somebody give me a guide price on a replacement dg engine. I appreciate a bit of a ' how long is a piece of string' question but I spent a fair bit of time last night and there doesn't seem to be much about. My other question is would it make better sense to go down the scooby route. I know where I can get my hands on a complete running car with proven non turbo ej20 engine. I have priced up the parts from rjes and it would be about £850 plus the cost of the car and wiring harness work.

Cheers

Gary

There are quite a few posts on this topic dotted around, sometimes difficult to find them though I know.

New or recon engines generally come in anywhere from £1400 to £2000 dependant on where from... and what quality some are more cleaned than recon !! plus fitting.

When I priced up a scooby conversion it came out closer to £3500 and a lot of work.... It would be much cheaper to fix your dg, it could be the seal between the head and the liners that has perished, or a split pipe, worth looking at properly first , unless you need an excuse for the misses to drop a lovely scooby in

Perhaps better posted in Alternative Injuns don't you think ?

Ian

Gary.pb wrote:I will be removing the engine to investigate but if worse comes to the worse could somebody give me a guide price on a replacement dg engine.

The option I would go for if a replacement is required is here = LINK at just over £1000 fitted. Best get them to fit it to make sure the warranty is water tight (no pun intended). Much has been said about Elite, good and bad. I will not start that discussion again, but suffice it to say "It's what I would do".

Ian Hulley wrote:Perhaps better posted in Alternative Injuns don't you think ?

Ian

Does a replacement/recon dg engine count as an alternative engine? He doesn't mention Scooby until halfway through! As a programmer this sort of thing keeps me awake at night...

Well, I guess if he's after valid advice from people who know the facts about the Scooby conversion (like JamesC76 and a few of the other bad bois) it's better not hidden among the usual 'I drove my van for 10 miles with the oil buzzer going ... did I do wrong ?' muppetry

Ian

Ok just to clarify my initial question was basically what cost (roughly) to replace my engine on a like for like basis. I am very much hoping mine is going to be salvageable. Basically as soon as it started to run slightly warmer than usual I pulled straight over so as not to cook the engine. What I found was water coming out of a cylinder head bolt which had either come loose (unlikely) or had snapped or stripped the thread. I will obviously post I new thread in the technical area once the engine is out to try and get advice on how to fix this and get it back on the road.

Gary.pb wrote:Ok just to clarify my initial question was basically what cost (roughly) to replace my engine on a like for like basis.

ghost123uk wrote:

Gary.pb wrote:I will be removing the engine to investigate but if worse comes to the worse could somebody give me a guide price on a replacement dg engine.

The option I would go for if a replacement is required is here = LINK at just over £1000 fitted. Best get them to fit it to make sure the warranty is water tight (no pun intended). Much has been said about Elite, good and bad. I will not start that discussion again, but suffice it to say "It's what I would do".

Just to clarify

You could then break the car and further offset the cost of the scooby...

ok a quick update......

it appears that the cylinder head bolt on the drivers side has snapped off (the one in front of the inlet manifold). This is where the water is leaking from. I have a fairly limited mechanical knowledge so will probably have lots of sill questions to ask

Firstly is this repairable. Im assuming that the cylinder head will have to be removed and the remainder of the stud removed by a specialist. Are there likely to be any other problems.

Many thanks in advance for your help

Gary.pb wrote: Are there likely to be any other problems

Yep, possibly the other studs .... if one has decayed through (we'd have to see the dead one to tell) the others will most likely be in a similar state. Try a search on 'waterjacket seal' and there are threads we've done before on the subject

Cheers, Ian.

Thanks Ian, I will have a look. You are not filling me with hope by ending your comment with a crying face though

Things can all go tickety boo, however if it's got to the stage where a stud snaps all on it's lonesome ....

Best placed in the bodywork section.

so will probably have lots of sill questions to ask

Hello Gary
I have a 1991 T25 1.9 petrol water cooled camper (almost original engine 180K miles). Last year I spotted a small water leak - small crack in one cylinder head - so replaced both (£1.7k inc. VAT). After a run to France this September and a lot of oil consumption (no leak and no smoke identified!) My garage have had the engine out. There advice has been try and avoid re-con engines as much as possible as - for the same points you listed - you have no idea what has been, not done, still worn etc. I think I have been fortunate, as they are going to be able to replace a number of parts - I have advised them to replace any part that is even slightly worn - all available - this will cost me £1.5k plus VAT). Feeling confident that I will have an "almost" new engine, and will know everything that has been done to it. I have been with my garage for 30 years - very trustworthy! cheers...........