Hey guys, i dug as much as I could till my eye bled trying to find information on engines for these things. The best I came up with for the 2.3L was 2.4K for a refurbished.


My issue:

I drive at least 2k miles a month. I typically keep up with oil changes and such. but one trip I forgot to check up on the oil. sure enough half way though my trip, I started hearing a valve clicking. That's when i realized the oil hasnt been filled in a while. I pulled over check it and.. damn barely touching the stick. I tossed some oil in it that i carry just in case and creeped along for a while.
Noise never got worse.. I tossed some lucas oil to lube it up a bit and got an oil change with it. I drove a good 2 more months no issues. About 2 weeks ago, I pulled up to a customers house and when i was starting the car up after i was done.. I heard a pretty nasty loud engine knock, almost sounds like a rod or a bearing gone. I had to crawl it home which was about 10 miles.

Since then, I replaced the oild completely with lucas and do not drive it. I either need an engine or an idea to what I should do to fix. problem is I dont have 3k to fix this thing.


By the way thanks in advance for any help you send my way. And I love this site so far digging through all the other great info!

 

'Don't know what to suggest, Sk, except it's time to get hands dirty.
I estimate you have about 120k (2k x 60months) on the clock now. It doesn't seem that you should be having a major engine problem that early, but who knows?
A used engine is possible I'm sure. Lotsa' 3's have been wrecked and totaled. What about a local or internet junkyard?
Rod knock is hard to mistake for anything but rod knock. If that's it you will be looking for a piece of the offending rod through the side of the block soon, so be careful.

 

I think it's at about 150k miiles. I did run the engine on very little oil for a decent amount of time during the summer here in Central California it gets about 110F.

 

SkRiGeR, you have pretty much answered your own question.

The engine is F-ing POOCHED,
By driving it after it was initially damaged, you have gone from a simple bearing job which would have cost $120.00 in parts, to having to replace the entire motor.

Start saving, there is no magic liquid that will fix the engine.

Lucas is not magic either, it will not prevent engine failure.

 

I agree with Virgin1, your best bet would be to look on the net(ebay) or junkyard. You might get a good deal,I have seen engines on ebay for between $600-$800 depending on their mileage.

 

Thanks everyone for the input. I realized I jacked it up foolish mistake that will only happen once. I totally forgot to check around on ebay hehe!

thanks again everyone.

ooh so from what I read, I can throw a 2004-2007 2.3L in this right? I thought I read somewhere that they changed up the engines a bit in 2006.

 

Hey, we all make mistakes. My wife once broke the oil filler neck off a walk-behind Toro we had. She noticed the oil spurting out everywhere, but just kept going. Now that's a major DUH!! By the time I heard it and got out there.... lunch meat!! Don't worry about it.
I'm pretty sure the ignition coils are different from '05 on, but the basic long block will be the same.
Remember, no Speed3/Speed6 engines. They are alot different, from the turbo and compression ratio to the Direct Injection.

Best of luck finding one. I'm sure it won't be that hard. And be sure to let us know how it all turns out for you.