Need some advice. Long story short my good friend had my car while I was on vacation, he says he fears my timing belt may have gone, while he was cruising down the highway, he says the connecting rod punched a hole in the oil pan and that the car is leaking oil, but he says it still turns over? Anyway, I've been told a new engine would be 10-12 grand--out of the question, but that a used engine through Lexus may be around 3 grand. Huge let down, since I was going to hold onto this thing for a while,--may still. It's a '97ES300 with 130k miles. Is it worth getting an estimate and attempting to have repaired?


Any advice is appreciated!

 

10-12 grand's a new '97! Hot damn.

I'd say the used engine through Lexus option isn't so bad, but you might as well get an estimate.

 

Can't you get the ES inspected and see if just the oil pan needs to be replaced, and nothing else? That could save you a lot of money and worries down the road.

 

Yeah, even 3 grand is out of my budget at this point, but I need transportation. Thanks for the advice and suggestions guys.

 

try going to a Toyota/Lexus independent mechanic. 10-12k for an engine rebuild/swap is not worth it, unless you were doing a full on 2JZ-GTE swap w/tranny upgrade on a GS or IS.

You can buy rebuilt engines at a fair price and you don't have to buy a Lexus one. You can buy the same year Camry V6 since it's the same exact motor 1MZ-FE.

 

Isn't the camry engine a few less h.power>?

Also, I wonder if this may be the reason, despite regular oil changes:
http://consumeraffairs.com/news02/toyota_sludge.html