New engine for 98 need feedback

[krc333]

My 98 4 cyl blew last year and i found a new engine for 2500 that i'm going to have put in. I really don't know much about cars. Is their anything i should be worried about? The engine is from a known company with a long history so i'm not worried about the quality. The original engine threw a rod because it was leaking oil and it went dry. I'm assuming a place should be able to pull the old and slide the new one in without much trouble. ALso, what does swaping an engine usually run? i've just started looking and it appears to be around 1200-1500. Any feedback is appreciated.

thanks,

[growe58]

Originally Posted by krc333

My 98 4 cyl blew last year and i found a new engine for 2500 that i'm going to have put in. I really don't know much about cars. Is their anything i should be worried about? The engine is from a known company with a long history so i'm not worried about the quality. The original engine threw a rod because it was leaking oil and it went dry. I'm assuming a place should be able to pull the old and slide the new one in without much trouble. ALso, what does swaping an engine usually run? i've just started looking and it appears to be around 1200-1500. Any feedback is appreciated.

thanks,

I'm doing this exact thing myself right now because my son threw a rod because of an oil leak. Luckily I can do the work myself AND I had a spare Dodge Neon DOHC engine laying around. Use the Neon block, the Avenger head, total cost about $75. Of course, I've been working on it since early January and I don't know if it's actually going to work...

$4000 is a LOT to sink into an 8 year old Avenger, but I guess that's your choice. I'm hoping that the engine you got has a good warranty, at least 3 years and hopefully includes labor if you have to replace it. Jasper sells Avenger engines incluidng installation for $3300 warrantied for 3 years, 75,000 miles. No financial interest, a buddy of mine wrenches for a living and speaks highly of Jasper. YMMV.

Installation costs vary with the difficulty of the specific car. I've only done 4 engine swaps in my life, but I will say the Avenger is the worst/hardest of the 4, so $1200-$1500 sounds about right, maybe a little on the high side. Call around and see if you can get something better. A hundred bucks saved is a hundred bucks in your pocket...

Good luck!

[krc333]

Well after thinking about it i'm just going to get rid of the car. Does anyone know where i can get rid of this thing? I don't know squat about cars so parting it out is not an option. I just want someone to take it a give me a couple of hundred dollars. The rims and tires alone are worth more than that.

[growe58]

Originally Posted by krc333

Well after thinking about it i'm just going to get rid of the car. Does anyone know where i can get rid of this thing? I don't know squat about cars so parting it out is not an option. I just want someone to take it a give me a couple of hundred dollars. The rims and tires alone are worth more than that.

Your options are basically:

Sell the whole car to a junkyard.. The car is probably worth $100 to them but since they have to tow it, you may get less or nothing. Call around, look in the yellow pages under towing service and salvage yards.

Sell the whole car to someone who has an Avenger with a good drive train, but needs a solid body, maybe had some accident damage. Or possibly someone looking for a project car. Unless they live close to you and can do the work themselves, it’s not going to be cost effective for them to buy it, so this market is pretty limited.

Sell just the wheels and tires. Problem here is that the avenger is a rare wheel size, eclipses and sebrings are about all that will fit so again the market is pretty limited. And if you sell the wheels, the car becomes that much harder to tow away so you may end up PAYING to get rid of it.

It all comes down to how much you want to work at this, how much storage space you have, how much time you can spend on this etc versus making a couple hundred bucks. Blowing an engine on a car really sucks – you either spend big $$$ to get it replaced or your car becomes virtually worthless.

You can advertise a few free places, craigslist, these forums or put it on a busy road with a for sale sign and hope. Good luck…

BTW, where are you located?

[krc333]

I'm just outside of Denver. At this point i just want to get rid of the thing. It's a nice kick the balls every time I just see it sitting in front of my house. If i can get a $100 for it i would be happy. Thanks for the feedback.