tips on checking an engine before purchasing(out of car)

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tips on checking an engine before purchasing(out of car)

By nickbrungard
- Fri Jan 08, 2010 11:54 pm #167000 I recently purchased a jdm engine from a reputable company and once it was installed I realised it was about shot. Knocked terribly and upon removal of oil pan noticed large pieces of metal. They said they will take it back and replace it no hassle. Before i do this i would like to see if anyone has some good pointers for me. Im going to take the valve cover off to take a quick visual and maybe the oil pan if permitted.
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By Classiccarsrule85
- Sat Jan 09, 2010 12:14 am #167004 check the timing belt area look for wear and tear there ummm make sure the alt and p/s etc spins and you can always hand turn the motor over to make sure there is no lets say noise that shouldnt be there.....

really there isnt too much you can do visually except valve cover and oil pan .....

By Method
- Sat Jan 09, 2010 1:41 am #167021 what was the name of said reputably company? you should take a mechanic, everyone has a buddy who is a mechanic. get them to look at it. it might cost you a case of beer for your buddy to help you out, but its peace of mind.
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By elrompetoto
- Sat Jan 09, 2010 3:37 am #167049 Check the oil in the mottor if it has eany ok if they let u take out the oil pan and check the bottom of the mottor u can't tell if one of the bearings where heated up or blown u can tell cuz u see black stuff all over the metel on one of the pistons turn the mottor make sure it turns over and if u can comppresion test it all u need 2 do is have the tranny fly wheel instald and a starter and battery but the 1st thing u did right was buy from pplz who will replace ur mottor if it hass a problem
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By JUICE
- Sat Jan 09, 2010 3:48 am #167054 what "reputable company" if i might ask, cause thats some BS. I would be extremely mad. glad to hear they're gonna take care of it though.
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By VegasCivic
- Sat Jan 09, 2010 4:41 am #167072 look at the color of the rockers. if they are gold colored then there was a good chance that oil was normally changed/ engine stayed lubricated.

If they are dark brown it means oil was burned on to them/ engine overheated/ ran with no oil/ oil was never changed.
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By suspendedHatch
- Sat Jan 09, 2010 5:59 pm #167176 One thing you can do is take out one spark plug, cover the hole with your hand, and crank the motor by hand just to see if it makes compression. But there is nothing you can do to guarantee a good motor w/out actually running it.

By nickbrungard
- Mon Jan 11, 2010 8:41 pm #167656 It was a local company to me that has over 1200 positive feedback on ebay at a rate of like 99.9 positive. so im going to go out on a limb and say that this is just a bad luck scenereo for me(sh#% happens). Plus since they didn't give me a hard time about returning it I would like to refrane from giving there name. If i get another bad one then I will surely post it as a warning. Once i got the last one home i noticed that the valves were covered with what resembled tar or molasses. Just assumed it had been sitting on the valve cover and the oil had been broken down before removal and just got worse. cleaned it up as best i could and did a few oil changes with a couple minutes of run time on each and it didn't help. Thanks for the help and love the honda, making pizza delivery profitable comment.

By JDM_adam
- Tue Jan 12, 2010 10:34 pm #167964 You could get a compression tester you screw it onto where the spark plug goes and you can hand crank the engine over 8 or so times, that will tell you if it has piston ring problems, valve problems etc..

By nickbrungard
- Tue Jan 12, 2010 10:50 pm #167966 Whats an ideal compression number whats acceptable and unacceptable on these? again this will be the zc single ohc engine.

By JDM_adam
- Tue Jan 12, 2010 11:15 pm #167972 Not sure exactly but generally anything above 120psi is very good anything under 100psi isn't good and anything in-between should be fine :)

By JDM_adam
- Tue Jan 12, 2010 11:17 pm #167974 Maybe someone like Teal_dx could give you the exact compressions your looking for if you PM'd him?
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By JUICE
- Wed Jan 13, 2010 12:52 am #167988
JDM_adam wrote:Maybe someone like Teal_dx could give you the exact compressions your looking for if you PM'd him?


NEVER PM people with tech questions! :x

By JDM_adam
- Wed Jan 13, 2010 12:57 am #167990 sorry man just trying to help him out lol
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