I had a catastrophic failure of my engine when the idler seized up and caused my timing belt to break. At this point, the cost of the repairs, the usual damage from timing belt (valve replacement, seals, etc) costs is approaching the value of the car.

I have a couple options:
1)Anyone know where I can get a used engine and the approximate cost.
2)Park it in my driveway and put an ad out to see if someone with some mechnical knowhow wants a fully loaded 98 gs4 with navi

Any advice or tips?

 

talk to aliga he should have no problem getting you a gs4 engine for a good price if not scour the junkyards next to you. I wouldn't pay over a $1000 though.

 

thanks, I will cotact him.

 

Seems to me all you have is broken valves. I would say to take the heads off and inspect the damage. A machine shop can put in new valves and smooth out the head surface.

If you did not put any homes in the pistons, I would say go ahead and rebuild. The engine will OT turn over with broken valves. After you take off the heads and remove the broken valves on top of the pistons, the pistons should turn over easily.

You should always change the 2 idlers when doing the timing belt. Many people don't and bad things happen. One idler is fixed by one bolt, and the other idler is attached to the tensioner and keeps the belt tight.

Hopefully nothing else should be bad, and you don't have to remove the engine. Once you get it apart, it will be fairly obvious what you have to do to get it running again.

Good luck.

 

Well, the dealer told me that I needed new valves, and this was a $5-6k job per side, so I didn't want to deal with it, since the cost of replacing the valves was approaching the value of the car. Are you thinking I am being ripped off?

They did the timing belt service, it fired up, then they ran a compression test, said I had 2 cyclinders dead. He said replacing the valves on 1 side, which he recommened I do all 4 cyclinders, would be about 5-6k. I told him to look at the other side, he did and it was the same. So total cost would be approaching 12k.

So my question is 1) do I really need to replace all the valves if only 2 cyclinders aren't firing? 2) should I take it somewhere else?

It is a lexus dealership, and I have had good service with them before.