Engine replacement

[NewZJ]

My warranty has been voided and I have low compression in cylinder 4. They put a camera in it and saw scratches/gouging on the cylinder wall and can't replace the pistons and recommend a new motor for $6200.

I can find used motors with less than 30k miles on them for ~$800 and don't want to pay the cost for new.

Does anyone know how much a shop would charge to swap them?

Is it an easy swap and I should do it myself or with help?

I'm thinking that draining the fluids, disconnecting the intake/turbo piping, and the few electrical connections, the motor mount and the bellhousing bolts should be all it takes. Should I pull it from the top or drop it from the bottom?

Any advice or suggestions are welcome.

 

[Dogz]

Why was your warranty voided?
Are the scratches from a broken piston ring or you don't know yet?
An engine swap looks fairly easy to me though I wouldn't do it myself. I'm sure there are a handful of guys on here who have had the engine out so they could chime in with how easy it is.
Over the last few months I've been doing lots of looking & measuring to see what other engines will fit should the chance or need arise.

 

[NewZJ]

It's a repeat issue. At 15k miles I had a broken piston ring and they replaced the pistons. And now at 30k miles it did it again. They said they couldn't change pistons again because of the scratches/gouging. Rather than Chevy pay for a new motor they are pointing at any aftermarket part they see and denying warranty regardless of wether that part could have caused the problems.

I know I can find a lawyer and try and go after them but with no guarantee of a successful outcome because Chevy can afford better lawyers I'm resigned to just swapping the motor and trying to move on with my life.

I don't plan on doing any more tunes or aftermarket parts and am thinking of selling what I have but haven't made that decision yet

 

[Stew]

Oh man that sucks. Well if you are going to go ahead and swap motors you should do a DIY thread. I know Preloader replaced his at one point but I don't recall him going into a lot of detail about the process.

 

[Kuntryboy865]

Do a swap, find a bad ass motor and turn it into a beast!

 

[Swordsmith]

I have a local mechanic I use and they have done engine replacements for me on an F150 and a Nissan altima, each time it was under a grand for the work, and as you say used engines can be had for under a grand as well. $6200 sounds insane, that's the kind of money you're talking about when you want to swap one type of engine for another, not for just replacing with identical. On the other hand I'd be leery of taking the advice of people who want to charge that much in the first place, how sure are you that the replacement really has to be done at all, as opposed to your mechanic having a boat payment coming up and smelling sucker?

 

[TheGreenDragon]

Any advice or suggestions are welcome.

Ahem.

http://www.sonicownersforum.com/forum/1-8l-sonic-engine-discussion/19109-engine-swap-2.html

LS4/F40swapwouldbeabsolutelyradandyoushouldtryitsoIdon'thavetoandseeifitworks

 

[NewZJ]

I have a local mechanic I use and they have done engine replacements for me on an F150 and a Nissan altima, each time it was under a grand for the work, and as you say used engines can be had for under a grand as well. $6200 sounds insane, that's the kind of money you're talking about when you want to swap one type of engine for another, not for just replacing with identical. On the other hand I'd be leery of taking the advice of people who want to charge that much in the first place, how sure are you that the replacement really has to be done at all, as opposed to your mechanic having a boat payment coming up and smelling sucker?

It's a reputable dealer****. I've even called Chevy customer support to request warranty support and cost assistance.

New motors from the dealer**** aren't cheap and I'm assuming they'll put their slowest mechanic on it.

Ahem.

http://www.sonicownersforum.com/forum/1-8l-sonic-engine-discussion/19109-engine-swap-2.html

LS4/F40swapwouldbeabsolutelyradandyoushouldtryitsoIdon'thavetoandseeifitworks

I wish I could afford to do that. I'm a truck driver and this is my only transportation so I don't want to do anything that more knowledgeable people haven't done

 

[Swordsmith]

We've had my Sonic engine about halfway out a couple times, it's hard to replace the clutch without lifting the engine off of it. I'm not saying it's a walk in the park, but replacing the engine isn't -that- hard, again assuming you are putting an identical engine back in. Swapping in something different would be a whole different ballpark.

 

[NewZJ]

You just gave me a thought about having the clutch replaced at the same time. I don't think it needs it but I'll not have a better opportunity.

 

[Natesriv]

I'd thought of that too.. if I had to get a new tranny I'd have them put in a spec II or so clutch...heck, it's right there, accessible!

 

[NewZJ]

Local shops are quoting 12-14 hours to swap.

That sounds like a bit much for experienced mechanics. Either that or I'm not thinking things through.

I remember swapping small block Chevy motors between trucks and had both running in about 6 hours, and I don't think that's half as complicated as just taking mine out and putting another in.

 

[carsNskis]

Local shops are quoting 12-14 hours to swap.

That sounds like a bit much for experienced mechanics. Either that or I'm not thinking things through.

I remember swapping small block Chevy motors between trucks and had both running in about 6 hours, and I don't think that's half as complicated as just taking mine out and putting another in.

Since the block is the same for many displacement variations what about bumping the bore up? Would it be any cheaper to bore the cylinders and run larger pistons?

My thought is the 1.6L euro variant should just be a piston swap, not likely to be a "stroker."

I did this about 10 years audio with a Honda B18a as the performance parts were cheaper. Still had to pull the motor but ended up with a balanced and blueprinted motor with forged pistons and 2.0L of displacement

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[NewZJ]

I'll have my current motor still. I can tear it apart and throw forged pistons and H beam rods in it. I could have a monster motor. But I'm still limited on transmission torque input.

If I can get the transmission to handle 300ft/lb I can have a 400hp motor

 

[carsNskis]

Awww... bummer mate. I suppose that's one advantage to the manual.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[Dogz]

This engine is slightly bigger than the one in the Sonic but 3 hours to remove, 3 hours to change over all the ancillaries & 3 hours to refit.

 

[NewZJ]

Which motor is that one? Does it mount to the 6 speed manual?

 

[ScarabEpic22]

I think 12-14 hours is overly conservative, but then again we'll probably find out how conservative once we rip into this. I think John's more concerned with getting his DD back, we'll worry about building his stock engine (new one is likely going to be a complete replacement so he'll have 2 of everything) to handle more power.

Question is do we drop the subframe or yank it out the top...

 

[Dogz]

Which motor is that one? Does it mount to the 6 speed manual?

I just posted that to give you an idea of times, it's an engine swap we did a few weeks ago.
No it won't bolt up to the 6 speed, it's a 5.4L quad cam V8.