Here's my dilemna... (ALH, 4-door, AT) it appears as though a previous repair job (timing belt) may have reused the three stretch bolts and they subsequently failed leaving the engine hanging on the right side; my wife limped home with the car. The engine block flange broke away on the rearmost mount. No dealer wants to touch it w/o doing an engine replacement. I would just as soon sell the car as is, but have no clue if there's any value to it. Any reasonable estimates?
The car is essentially in very good condition barring the minor front end cowling cracks from dragging over curbs and the need for the sunroof drain recall (it leaks through the visor and fuse box area in heavy rain). IOW the car has never been involved in collisions etc. Mileage <203000.
I have most of the parts, but haven't rented the tools to do the timing belt job properly. Truth be told, I really don't have the desire/patience to tackle the job (maybe when it warms up I'll get enough motivation). I would be content to get two bolts torqued and get the rearmost bolt into the remaining threads and run a bead with a nickle-alloy weld. If it cracks away again, it's still got two good bolts in place (who knows how long it ran with only one?). If it lasts til next timing belt change...grind and reweld.
Make an offer...maybe I'll just ditch the whole project and go back to gasoline...yuck!
Thanks, GW
They do sell a repair plate for the cracked block. Dieselgeek sells a kit i believe. Not that i'm trying to convince you to repair. If cheap enough i of course always have room for another!
As a side not i have read many times that problem is more from overtorqueing the bolts rather than reusing the old ones!
Thanks for that information. I'll look into that so I can do the repair as strong as possible, if I decide to pursue a repair.
I'll have to get back to you on price once I get some idea and decide to abort any repair attempts.
Other issues now require that we ditch the car. We must raise cash quickly. My wife says $4500, it's yours... Tuesday only 8 March 2011.
Serious inquiries only. Title here with most of the repair parts included. No new bolts or new fuel filter purchased.
203 545 6499