My $6000 Mistake - Never Drive Overheated

those prices are incredibly out of whack!

if it were my truck, i'd get a reliable guy who does side work and/or a private shop that has a great reputation. if worse comes to worst, get the side guy a factory service manual.

i'd pull the head and get it pressure tested, and go from there. my inclination would be to keep the engine you have since you know how it has been taken care of...but if you can get a lower mileage KNOWN good engine, that would be a serious consideration for me. but i'd still be using a small time operation or something, not the dealership with prices like that!

when my montero head went, i didn't have the room in my garage to keep it because my mazda was there, so i had a friend do it at his home shop. i printed up the mitsu factory service manual (just the major sections, not the dumb stuff) and had it wire bound at staples before gave it to him. i orderd the parts from mitsu, advance and/or rock auto, depending on what it was, and he handled the rest.

at any rate, best of luck with the swap.

 

Those prices are crazy, but thats why its called the "stealership". However, If It were my truck, I'd... probably pay. I dont trust ANY private garage and I dont have any other transportation so, id need it to be done as fast as possible and hopefully get a free loaner car.

Now, if I had another vehicle, I'd definitely be pullin that head off myself to see how things were looking. Maybe it is just a gasket. Paying $3700 to replace a head gasket would be ridiculous.

 

there is no way in hell I would pay any of those prices you can find a swap for around 2 to 3k easy. Just call junk yards and check on ebay

 

172,000 on my fronts before replace, backs still going strong.


Those engine R&R quotes are crazy, shop around a bit more.

 

yea with 160k on your engine i wouldnt bother fixing it, call LKU or Green Leaf and see if they have a used engine for your truck they usually come with low miles.

 

do it yourself unless you shit $100 bills, it's not that hard to pull and replace an engine, probably take you at the worst a weekend, well worth it if they're charging you $3k in labor

 

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
This!!!

There has to be a reputable shop near you that could swap out an engine. A low mileage engine out of a totaled truck would take a lot less labor and then you can just sell your old one for someone to rebuild or if it is totally shot, sell it for scrap and recoup some $$$.

 

IF I were in your situation, and IF I had some vacation time available, I would buy a used motor, take a weekend, rent a engine lift and put it in. Taking a motor and transmission in and out is not really that hard. Plug and play really. I've done it on volkswagens, datsun 260z, MG Midgets, Ford Rangers, toyota corollas and many lawn mowers .

 

Agreed...

 

I want to thank everyone for their input. I want to put this behind me and move on - and obviously I want it for as little as possible, as quickly as possible, and with the least "hassle". I've been doing some online research and here's what I've managed to dig up.

Labor: "Official" Labor hours for an engine R&R on a 2005 Tacoma = 18.9 hrs.

Labor rate in SF Bay area at a Toyota dealer: $100 to $120/hr.
Cost of a decent 4.0 V6 used engine (30 to 50K miles) "shipped" = $2438.

Assuming "worst case" labor charge of $2268
Engine cost of $ 2438
A couple of hours of labor already spent for the rediagnosis = $240 (I'm assuming this - it may be included already in their "guesstimate"

That brings us to $4946.
Toss in the California sales tax on the engine (if applicable) = $245

Total S/B around $5191

Clearly there are some assumptions involved and some room in there to negotiate. I will head back tomorrow morning and try shave down the cost and get a firm fixed quote before I pull the trigger on this.

Again - thanks for your input.

 

good luck, from another bay area guy.

 

Its unfortunate that happened..but nice of you to share with TW mbrs..heads up!!

 

Do it yourself over a weekend. I'm sure you have some friends that have car knowledge if it makes you feel better.

The worse that happens is you can't do it and have it towed to a dealership to finish......!!!

Whats a $100 tow fee if you fail and end up spending $6k!

Try it, be a man!

 

Famous Quote:

A man's gotta know his limitations.

I know mine. Yeah - I might be able to pull it off if I worked at it for 3 or 4 weekends - and 10 years ago I might have given it a shot. But I have too much going on to mess with a project of that size. Not to mention having to listen to the nagging - "what's taking so long" - "you should've let a professional do it" - yada yada yada.

Yeah - my torque wrenches have a layer of dust on them - I can live with the shame.

 

Here is the issue with this as I'm sure you are thinking and everyone else. Say it was just a valve, head, or gasket issue. Depending on how badly you overheated it there may be underlying bottom end damage. So a good used engine sounds like a better idea. However.. its very hard to know for sure that a used engine is in fact good until its in or unless you do tear down.

It could be worth getting a second shop to check it out before you go and assume the worst. I don't know what the techs are like at your Firestone but you might want to look at somewhere a bit more qualified.

Just be careful with who you trust your money with.

 

iv noticed everyone thinks you should replace the motor yourself... and i would def do that... but not everyone has the necessary tools space or time to do that.... and tearing it apart... F*cking it up and then towing it to the dealership... not a great idea... Im a dealership Tech.. and I can tell you I hate nothing more then fixing something that someone else has already taken apart. for starters if someone diagnosed it wrong its too late for me to figure it out, chances are whoever took it apart did not know what they were doing and broke things or took unneccessary things apart. If you bring something to me that you tried to fix and now realise that you cant, I'm GOING TO charge you more then if you had just droped it off in the first place, because honestly its gonna take me more time, and as the age old phrase goes, Time IS money. I work just as hard as the next guy for my money so why shouldent I be paid?? BTW we charge 90 an hour... and i can tell you I dont see a quarter of that... so Dont think its Your Technician thats taking all your money...

 

I want to clear up something - the Firestone Tech(s) came to the conclusion at the end of the process that I had either a small crack in the head - warped head - or if I was "lucky" just a gasket issue. They did not think it would be the gasket. Since they did not do that level of repair - they recommended the Toyota Dealer. I took it to the dealer and they did some diagnosis including compression - borescope inspection, etc, and came to the same conclusion as the Firestone shop. The only "mistake" Firestone made was initially blaming the #6 intermittent misfire as a coil issue so I probably paid for a new coil I didn't really need. Other than that I've had nothing but good service there over the years.

 

They could very well be a good shop and I didnt mean to say that I for sure know they dont know their ass from their elbow, just that it was a possibility.

 

sorry to hear about that. ive always lived by the rule of absolutely just pulling over and driving no farther if 1. overheating 2. check engine light comes on.

overheating is the quickest way to destroy an engine!

good luck on the fix

 

I would never go to the dealership unless it's covered under warranty. Save some $$$ by a local shop that specializes in imports..Find a used motor with a warranty and have a local shop do the install. Check wrecking yards or CL..Here's an example of a wrecked '06 Tacoma motor w/50K in Irving TX for $925.

http://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/pts/2131369291.html