Worth repairing? Advice please Suzuki Grand Vitara

pnp, Jan 12, 1:37am
Hey all. Just after a bit of advice - had a timing chain break in my 2001 (2000cc 165,000kms 5dr) Vitara on the weekend. Early diagnosis is obv chain broken & teeth missing on gears - plus no compression so valves bent etc meaning it's pretty much buggerood!. Mechanic seems a good sort & says it not worth repairing so most economic option is a replacement motor - (maybe around $2k?) I'm just considering whether it's actually worth doing at all? Rest of car is in average condition so I'm picking I'd be lucky if i'd get $4k for it? Any advice is much appreciated. Cheers :-)
kazbanz, Jan 12, 1:42am
Its worth about $500 as it is. The maths IMO means theres no big gain to be had financially by fixing it
pnp, Jan 12, 1:45am
Cheers Kaz, I was just going by prices on expired listing on here from similar spec'd zooks. By "As it is" do you mean in it's current sad state?
dublo, Jan 12, 1:47am
Weigh up the costs of buying another one versus repairing this vehicle! If your Vitara otherwise has lots of life left in it (apart from the engine) and you would be happy to live with for so many more years go for the repair, but ensure the replacement engine is 100%.Hopefully, for $2000, your Vitara would have a lot of mileage ahead of it.

If you wanted to go for another Vitara (or a different vehicle) how much more would that cost? I guess you wouldn't get much for your Vitara with its dead engine so it could be a costly exercise.

These comments from an old geezer who can't bear to see anything discarded if it can be fixed!
pnp, Jan 12, 1:56am
Cheers Dub - yeah - I'm not so much of an old geezer (No disrespect intended) but I hate so see things discarded too. Was looking at selling it in the near future tho so just unsure what to do. Just stink timing (pardon the pun) but I'd have hated it breaking as a new owner was just driving it away.
skyblue17, Jan 12, 2:06am
' I'd have hated it breaking as a new owner was just driving it away.'

You don't have that angst now. What's the rest like.? Ripped seats, headlining, rust.?
pnp, Jan 12, 2:14am
Hey Sky - yeah thats for real! haha. No rips, head-lining perfect, no rust, 2 new tyres, tow bar. Paint on the plastic bumpers could do with a freshen up but that's pretty much it. 5pd manual
skyblue17, Jan 12, 2:17am
OK. Re-power it. Sounds way too good to wreck.
bwg11, Jan 12, 2:20am
If you like it, re-power it. It is the devil you know, it is a manual, and if it is worth $500 now, plus $2k to re-power, what better could you buy for $2.5k?
pnp, Jan 12, 2:25am
Yeah it'd be a shame to see it wrecked. Just comes down to the economics of it all. Will see what the quote of the re-power comes in at.
skull, Jan 12, 8:58am
If you do repower it how will you feel about keeping it? You did say it wasn't far from the flick so as the explosion was unexpected I guess the reason for the flick must still exist.
pnp, Jan 12, 9:09am
Cheers for that Skull - I was happy enough with it. It's just that I've ended up with 3 cars of a similar value (work related) & know no longer need them all so was going to offload them all for 1 decent one.
supernova2, Jan 13, 4:35am
If you intended to sell it anyway then just sell it and accept that its now only worth about $500. If it was your only wheels then I would have said replace the engine.

If you do replace the engine you want a new set of timing gear fitted to the replacement otherwise the same problem might happen again.
franc123, Jan 13, 5:36am
This advice is bang on, you get sod all in the 4x4 market for that money, it is worth fixing but make sure the chains are changed in the replacement motor while it is out. Those vehicles always have value to the hunting and fishing crowd. If it was something crappy and useless like a Mitsi RVR or similar I'd say crush it.
pnp, Feb 1, 2:21am
Cheers for that. Good call about doing the chain too! Thanks for all the advice guys - much appreciated.