Overheated sr20det

cne_merchant, Jan 16, 12:05pm
A mate of mine just overheated his sr20det. The car completely shut off. It wasn't turned on or driven after that at all, he towed it to his place. I suspect a faulty thermostat (ran a check on it in boiling water and the blimming thing wouldn't open).I also know he needs to get his sr20det head checked for warpage. His headgasket also screwed (oil in coolant). ANy idea on the price to fix the engine!It's a standard sr20det red top (i think), with forged internals. I know it's a long shot at getting the exact figure, but just a rough estimate would be good :)

Thanks for any info :)
1ollie, Jan 16, 1:12pm
There is no way anyone can give you even a rough price as there could be many many things wrong!
Its not very good that it was driven to the point where it stoped! and I dout that the headgasket would be stuffed if its had a rebuild in the past as they dont tend to blow often its more likely cracked or warped the head!
If I was taking on the job as a perky I would charge $100-150 to pull the head off and tell you what the story is and if when the head was off I could not see clearly what was wrong it would have to go to the engine reconditioners to get straitness checked and pressure tested which would cost around $100 then you would be able to make a guess on cost, but at a shop this could cost $500 give or take to find whats wrong.
cne_merchant, Jan 16, 1:25pm
Fair enough, mate. Thanks for the constructive answer.He's got a budget of 2000. Hopefully that would be enough. If to check what's up with the engine is about 500, than 1500 would be left to fix it. He better hope it's enough :)
1ollie, Jan 16, 1:45pm
No problems. I would say $2000 will get eaten up very quickly at a shop(depending on where you go of course) as there are a few things that could be wrong & end up costing lots more! Like if the head isint able to be saved that could be $1500 just by its self, the block is alloy and have been knowen to warp also then thats more that $1500 gone strait away and then even with all that you still have to take into account labour, parts like gaskets, new thermostat etc so he will need to be prepared for the worst.
But no matter what it needs to be pulled apart by someone that knows what they are doing then you can go from there!
cne_merchant, Jan 16, 2:18pm
Hm, fun :D Oh well, in the worst case scenario a new engine might be the way to go, by the sound of it.Thanks mate, for the answeres. I'll go give the "good" news to my mate, he'll be "stoked" :D
antz91, Jan 16, 2:29pm
How long was he cruising without anti freeze!
1ollie, Jan 16, 3:34pm
Do you mean water or anti-freeze! because aint freeze has nearly nothing to do with a motor over heating etc
jamstew, Jan 16, 8:54pm
anti freeze is also anti boil isn't it! so its pretty relevant
ct9a, Jan 17, 6:31am
have around 7k spare just to be sure.good time to renew bottom end and stroker kit etc at same time
r15, Jan 17, 6:35am
anti freeze although it raises the boiling point slightly, also reduces the cooling properties of water.

basicly irrelevant to this guy's problem. if the thermostat is poked, the wettest, coldest water running through the worlds biggest radiator still isnt going to help
falcon15, Jan 17, 8:13am
if he drove it until it haet seized theres a pritty good chance the rings will be stuffed aswell so the whole motors going to need to come out
elect70, Jan 17, 1:02pm
Get it checked for hardness, reconditioners will tell youif its worth fixing ,some headscrack water jacket to oil gallery , if so its stuffed .
cne_merchant, Jan 21, 11:17am
Thanks all for the tips and advices.I didn't get the full story of "toasted" components, but the reconditioner told my mate it's not worth the rebuild (considering there are pretty cheap sr20 engines out there), he reckons. . At the moment he is trying to figure out whether it's worth putting an RB20det (has one at home lying around) or buy another sr20det. Either way . i'll leave him to it :D
cne_merchant, Jan 14, 9:16pm
Silvias can be extremely fun, can't they :D