Engine Damage Opinions Wanted

[TexMedium]

My son recently bulldozed a small rockslide with his '92 Z-24. Minimal body and structural damage to the car, but the engine took a beating. The starter was broken into multiple pieces and left hanging, the oil filter adapter was broken off and the oilpan was wiped off the block. He says the car ran perhaps two or three minutes, no more than five, at idle, after the impact. What can i expect to find? There was no coolant loss, just lube oil.
Obviously, the engine must come out of the car, but i do not have time right now for a full rebuild. I plan to pull the cam and mike it, and look at the crank journals. If the lobes are still on the cam, and the crank looks ok, does any one think i can get away with replacing the bearings and putting it back in the car? Keep in mind the car has 200,000 miles, plus, and ran pretty good prior to the accident.

[Guest]

If you don't have time to rebuild, just grab an engine from the wreckers. It will likely be cheaper in the long run and quicker than pulling the current engine apart and inspecting.

[Superdave]

^ Agreed

at those miles it was probably close to the end anyways.


I bet you'll find the mains are trashed and the rod journals probably have some damage.

[Roadbastard]

Depends on the condition it's actually in and if there was metal to metal contact or if there was still enough oil in it while it was idling to avoid damage. Too many unknowns and if the starter was beat that badly and the oil pan was beat that badly you can't really tell until you start tearing things apart to see what the actual damage might be. Even if you don't want to do a rebuild it will be just like you are when you get down to pulling cranks what not. It might be better just to take that insurance check (and I hope you were covered) and find another car if you don't have time to rebuild the motor and need a car quickly.

[TexMedium]

Thanks for the replies. The insurance people said that because the car went OVER the rocks, and the rocks didn't land ON TOP of the car, it was a collision and not an "act of god". No coverage. I mean, who carries collision protection on a 23-year-old car? The junk yard engine may be an option, but calls to my favorite go-to yard came up dry, it seems around SE Pennsylvania junkyards it is common to crush anything more than 8 to 10 years old. The response is usually, "Nobody fixes cars THAT old anymore!". I think i need to find a different "go-to-guy". Weather permitting, i aim to get the engine puuled today. If anyone is interested i'll let you know what i find.

[pocket-rocket]

Have you checked to see if there is an LKQ in your area? If there is and they don't have your engine at that yard, they can have one shipped from one of their other yards if they have one in stock, I believe.

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[unchained01]

Engine Damage Opinions Wanted

Did you check online ? I think there is a yard 20 miles from your town. Douglasville ? Chucks. Or minitto's. I just did a search in your area. Close to Reading. Hope it helps !!


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[Roadbastard]

Thanks for the replies. The insurance people said that because the car went OVER the rocks, and the rocks didn't land ON TOP of the car, it was a collision and not an "act of god". No coverage. I mean, who carries collision protection on a 23-year-old car? The junk yard engine may be an option, but calls to my favorite go-to yard came up dry, it seems around SE Pennsylvania junkyards it is common to crush anything more than 8 to 10 years old. The response is usually, "Nobody fixes cars THAT old anymore!". I think i need to find a different "go-to-guy". Weather permitting, i aim to get the engine puuled today. If anyone is interested i'll let you know what i find.

That sucks your insurance can't help. Usually they send a guy out and total the car out if the damage exceeds its value.

Short rant here: I always find if funny that the insurance/car loan scam always recommends you have collision for the average length of a cars age that's in sync with the average bank loan terms for time the bank owns the vehicle. Then once it's paid off you're supposed to drop collision since the car is "old". Hahaha No The insurance companies just don't want to pay to get your car fixed after you've been shelling out money to them for the car for years so they'd rather you flip the bill.

The thing about body work and swapping out panels is that it's expensive for paint, finding panels is expensive and if you're lucky to find a clean panel it's a needle in a hay stack, and sometimes damage is just enough to fix but not enough to total the car but in the meantime you're driving around in a wreck. A damage is damage and it doesn't discriminate on your car year unlike the insurance companies. In any case you flip the bill and the insurance company is happy about that. Just call them when you slam into a tree and they can write you that 2K check for your old clunker. Much better than a 4K bill to make it look like new even though you probably paid them about 10K in premiums in the time you owned the vehicle (that is if you brought it new).

Anyway as long as your driving the car and it's not a pos and it's clean I think you should always have it covered.

Wouldn't it be funny if people were treated like car insurance. Give you health insurance when you're young and then drop your insurance when you get old and probably need it the most. Instead they'd just give you a small parting check with enough money in it to buy a headstone for your cemetery plot and bid you farewell.

Short story here: I had an old GM car that was pure mint. Looked like it came out the showroom but it was 12 years old. Not a dent or a ding on it and the paint sparkled like like a gold diggers eyes when she sees a diamond. Long story short I one day parked my mint ride at my aunts apartment and some ahole smacked into the rear of it and pulled off. Didn't find out till I got ready to leave. Came out and saw a huge dent in the side of my once perfect car. I dropped to my knees cursing the Gods for the fate they bestowed on my beloved mint old car. My only hope was insurance covering it to get it fixed. I called my Mom since I was at school in the time and the car was under her insurance still (I paid the bill for it) and she told me "Oh, that car was so old so I dropped collision". My heart sank and I felt betrayed by the world (not to mention wondering what my Mom was doing with the extra money she saved on insurance from the cash I sent). I had my once mint car appraised and it was far too much money for me to afford to get fixed. Sadly it got hit in a place that I couldn't even swap a panel out. Needed serious body work. So I continued to drive that once mint car with a giant dent in it for years. Cursing every time I had to step in it and a look at the dent...a giant dent that someone else put in it. So every time I look at my car I get to say ahhh there's that giant dent some hit and run a-hole left.

Ever since than I've had a bitter hatred for insurance companies and how they treat old cars on their policies. Then again that's just me I like taking care of cars like their pets. Doesn't matter if it's a 2015 or a 1985 long as it's looks good and runs good it's just as valuable to a guy like me.

End Rant. Hope you had a good laugh at my story.


I'm in the NJ,PA,NY,MD area myself and was in your shoes a couple months ago looking for an older engine. Most yards in the Tri-state are scraping and doing away with older model engines. They're very hard to find now and finding one in good shape is even harder. I got what parts I could of ebay and left the rest up to the machine shop. I found one place that had a 3.1 97 (version for me) and when I went to check it out I got shivers leaks and rust galore. I would seriously check some old second hand lots, and craiglists and see if they have a Cavalier you can get off them for the cheap. But, the cheapest and least time consuming thing you can probably do now is freshen up what needs to be addressed on the motor and drop it back in.

[TexMedium]

Well, the engine is out, and it looks quite OK. The bearings were still wet with oil, some three months after the fact, and none showing any signs off scuffing. The cam also looks remarkably OK for being a 200,000 miler. The lobe lift miked out less than .002" difference between the best lobe and the worst lobe. I think the kid's adrenaline made him think it ran longer afterwards than it seems to have. I'm going to re-gasket the sucker and stick it back in. A lot of new stuff along the way, though. New clutch, hoses, and such. The kid is signing the checks, turns out spending someone else's money is a real hoot.

[TexMedium]

A quick update: the car is up and running now for about two months. Seems to be no worse for wear. These little devils are quite durable, it would seem.