Opinion for selling car

sionghua · 07-02-2007, 08:31 PM

I have a Ford Falcon EBII (92), which mileage is about 338,000 Kms. I just want to know what is the approximate mileage that it's engine will fail and produce smoke? I am thinking of selling it now, but on the other hand I am also wondering will it last for another 3-4 years before I sell it.... Any advice?

Mickus · 07-02-2007, 08:42 PM

depends on how you treat it. The ford engines can last forever provided you service them regulary. why do you think taxi companys love them so much lol.

we got an XF here, with over 400,000kms on it and its still going strong.

holmsy · 08-02-2007, 01:01 AM

my brothers ea is on 380 odd and untill he hit a roo it ran like new. with zero issues. even after the roo it is still fine just not as smooth

holmsy · 08-02-2007, 01:09 AM

cars can go as long as you want them to if you are happy to serivce and fix them.
i see taxi's selling with over 800000 k's on them
there are people with 20 year old cars but there trip says like 100000 k's cause it is actuall 1.1 million k's
but they have usually changed an engine over.

bentles · 08-02-2007, 08:50 AM

ive heard of taxis where the clock reads 300,000kms but thats on its second time round (1,300,000kms) and has had 2 diffs 3 trannis 5 head gaskets or something crazy

sionghua · 08-02-2007, 09:44 AM

My concern is that I may have to overhaul the engine if the piston ring fails, which I was advised that it will happen soon. I was told it will cause $3k+ to do this.

RUQ1KA · 08-02-2007, 10:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sionghua

My concern is that I may have to overhaul the engine if the piston ring fails, which I was advised that it will happen soon. I was told it will cause $3k+ to do this.

You can just get an AU engine for ~$500, their meant to be bullet proof

BTW: don't bother paying 3K+ , you could have another EB or 2 for that price even with less Km's

sionghua · 08-02-2007, 10:07 AM

By the way does the new engine fits my old car? Where can I get this new engine? How much it will cost to install it?

EdFairmontGhia · 08-02-2007, 10:08 AM

My Ed is sitting on 360kms and it's still going good, but i only flog it occasionaly, but i will be getting the head reco'ed soon, so that should give it a new lease on life, and if the bottom end fails, at least i still got a sound head to chuck on some other lucky engine.

sionghua · 08-02-2007, 10:12 AM

How much did you spent on the head? Is it blown head gasket or is it warped/cracked?

sionghua · 08-02-2007, 10:25 AM

I was told that it can cost from $800-$1200 to fix the head.

sionghua · 08-02-2007, 10:54 AM

I read here
http://www.thecarconnection.com/Enth...277.A3019.html
that replacing an engine always comes with other costs of replacing other related parts as well.

sionghua · 08-02-2007, 01:52 PM

Another thing is I just realized that my car actually is having problem with the engine head. It's either a blown head gasket/warped/cracked head. Since my collant is getting into the engine and the emission is humid. The lost of coolant is about 5 litres in 2 months. I was told I have to spend $800-$1200 to fix it. But I think it's such an old car not worth spending money on it.

This problem must have been there about half year ago when I bought it from a dealer since the fuel efficiency had always been low. I bought it at $4100+, I had absolutely been conned by the dealer to spend so much money to buy a broken car. The RACV operator told me that it's all the same between sending the car to garage for inspection and on-site inspection, so I went for on-site, but they obviously didn't do the emission test for on-site. Such a bad luck for me. Hate that car dealer and RACV.

I am thinking of either selling now or using it for another 3-4 years before I sell it. I don't plan to fix the head but I will have to refill the coolant every 3-4 days. Do you think it can last for so long? By the way will there be any other problem arising from the head gasket?

eMpTy · 08-02-2007, 02:05 PM

All depends.
Our EB II GLi was going through about the same amount of coolant at first but progressed to major problems within 2 weeks after we got the car. Cost $1060 to have the head gasket replaced and the head reconditioned, there was major pitting of the valves & seats due to the coolant getting into the cylinder.

EB before it was leaking coolant into cyl no. 6 for about 18 months, had no loss of power or any other problems and clocked up 70,000km without a problem, just had to top up the header tank every morning. Car was still going strong when I sold it (the buyer was fully aware of the head problem) last year and haven't had a bad report back about it yet.

Honestly, if you plan to either sell it or keep it 3-4yrs, I'd spend the money and keep it. At least you know how long you're going to get out of the engine, you're familiar with the car (and any other problems it may have).
Selling it as is you'd be lucky to find a buyer and if you did find a buyer you wouldn't get much for it, not enough to upgrade to a newer, trouble-free car, that's for sure.

EDIT- Could always go the cheap option - 1 bottle of chemiweld and alot of hopin & prayin that it works.

RUQ1KA · 08-02-2007, 02:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sionghua

By the way does the new engine fits my old car? Where can I get this new engine? How much it will cost to install it?

yes it will fit with very slight modding (just grinding a lip on the sump off)

The engine can be bought from wreckers

I wouldn't know how much it would cost to install, but it should'nt be more than $1500-2000 to install at a mechanic, (including the price of the engine) i would have to think. much less than the Engine recondition that your mechanic is trying to charge you for, it will end up even cheaper if you do it all yourself

BTW: here is whats involved in the conversion to an AU engine http://fordforums.com.au/showthread.php?t=74982

kyro_02 · 08-02-2007, 02:10 PM

sell it buy an ef-el, i did, i haven't looked back :P

sionghua · 08-02-2007, 02:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mad_ed_wagon

I wouldn't know how much it would cost to install, but it should'nt be more than $1500-2000 to install at a mechanic, (including the price of the engine) i would have to think. much less than the Engine recondition that your mechanic is trying to charge you for, it will end up even cheaper if you do it all yourself

BTW: here is whats involved in the conversion to an AU engine http://fordforums.com.au/showthread.php?t=74982

I wonder what kind of engine can I get for that price, will it be in good condition etc... definitely not going for something that failed after a while. And also hopefully not causing problem with other parts of the car.

sionghua · 08-02-2007, 02:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eMpTy

Honestly, if you plan to either sell it or keep it 3-4yrs, I'd spend the money and keep it. At least you know how long you're going to get out of the engine, you're familiar with the car (and any other problems it may have).
Selling it as is you'd be lucky to find a buyer and if you did find a buyer you wouldn't get much for it, not enough to upgrade to a newer, trouble-free car, that's for sure.

My concern is that the head gasket probably is not the end of problems. With such mileage the piston ring is going to fail anytime.

RUQ1KA · 08-02-2007, 02:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sionghua

I wonder what kind of engine can I get for that price, will it be in good condition etc... definitely not going for something that failed after a while. And also hopefully not causing problem with other parts of the car.

you should beable to get a pretty good one for that price

Have a call around to wreckers and see what they have

An AU engine as far as i know shouldnt cause problems with other parts of the car

Im looking into doing an AU conversion to my EB aswell when i get to that stage of my project, they are a good engine and shouldn't cause any problems if you get one in good condition

Depends how much you want to keep the car? seeing as you already paid 4k for it, and you would never get that much for an EB with that many K's if you were to sell it, I'd say just put a Low km's AU engine in and have trouble free motoring for a long time

sionghua · 08-02-2007, 02:46 PM

I probably need to have an expert to go with me as I have no idea about differentiating good and bad engines.

RUQ1KA · 08-02-2007, 02:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sionghua

I probably need to have an expert to go with me as I have no idea about differentiating good and bad engines.

I usually prefer to see/hear the engine running in the car,

make sure it isn't leaking oil from anywhere,
make sure the inside top of the oil cap isn't milky

sionghua · 08-02-2007, 02:57 PM

By the way does this price include running on LPG?

RUQ1KA · 08-02-2007, 03:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sionghua

By the way does this price include running on LPG?

Is yours currently on LPG?

If not after the Au engine goes in, just get it converted to LPG and get the $2000 Government Grant, shouldn't end up costing too much if anything at all, to get it converted

sionghua · 08-02-2007, 03:12 PM

Yes it's currently on LPG. I heard from my mechanic that LPG can cut the lifespan of the car to half, so is not very good. What do you think?

By the way I am currently still on student visa (applied for PR) do you think the government grant applies to me as well?

RUQ1KA · 08-02-2007, 03:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sionghua

Yes it's currently on LPG. I heard from my mechanic that LPG can cut the lifespan of the car to half, so is not very good. What do you think?

By the way I am currently still on student visa (applied for PR) do you think the government grant applies to me as well?

If it's already on LPG then the govt grant is useless (it only applies to new conversions)

With LPG, I have had a few cars on LPG never any problems and all have had fairly high Km's all about 200,000 - 300,000km

I'm pretty sure it should all work with the AU gear but i haven't done any engine work to a car with LPG yet so can't help much on the LPG side of it

sionghua · 08-02-2007, 03:51 PM

I talked to a mechanic just now and was told that installation of the new engine will cost about $1500 before adding the price of the engine. I think this is a bit too high.

RUQ1KA · 08-02-2007, 05:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sionghua

I talked to a mechanic just now and was told that installation of the new engine will cost about $1500 before adding the price of the engine. I think this is a bit too high.

Try a few different mechanics

get a few quotes

sionghua · 23-02-2007, 12:09 AM

Since AU engine needs conversion, can e-series engines be fitted without modification? How much should I expect to spend to get a mechanic to fit a low k e-series engine? (including engine price)

Christiaan · 23-02-2007, 12:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sionghua

Since AU engine needs conversion, can e-series engines be fitted without modification? How much should I expect to spend to get a mechanic to fit a low k e-series engine? (including engine price)

low kay e-series engine? Isn't that like finding a prostitute who's a virgin?

Go for an AU long motor. Not much needs to be changed.

sionghua · 23-02-2007, 12:57 AM

The total amount for the conversion to be done by a mechanic is more than 2k, nearly the price for another second hand car.