Do I really need to buy a new engine?
Posted by Icy-Natural1480@reddit | askcarguys | View on Reddit | 7 comments
2011 Nissan Cube. My car has been making a “knocking” noise and it started this past Saturday and last time it did that I just got an oil change and it continued to run smoothly.
I’ve been meaning to go get it changed (past the due date for a month) but, my parents recently drove my car and now my mom is freaking out. So we took it to the dealership but they want to change the WHOLE engine. It’s apparently $12,300 to fix this issue. We took it to a Nissan service center.
I’m a broke college student and I pay everything on my own. I still have to pay off 2K on the car. I have 96k miles on this car and would want to keep it as long as possible.
Honestly it was my fault for this, but do you guys have an alternative solution? I was thinking of trading it in for another used car as a last resort. Please give me some advice 🙏
bobqzzi@reddit
"My car has been making a “knocking” noise and it started this past Saturday and last time it did that I just got an oil change and it continued to run smoothly.
I’ve been meaning to go get it changed (past the due date for a month)"
Is this the real sequence of events?
A knocking noise is usually a spun rod bearing and changing the oil won't fix it. Did you at least check the oil level?
hms11@reddit
Your first mistake is taking an out of warranty vehicle to the dealer, just never do that again. They exist to sell cars, not fix them. Once a car is out of warranty a dealer WILL find a laundry list of issues and an insanely high repair quote so they can then say "well we have this beautiful line of brand new / certified used vehicles that we can get you in for X amount biweekly.
Moving on from that, find a reputable local independent shop and look into a used engine. The 1.8 MR18DE that is in your cube is a very tough little motor (the transmission behind it, assuming it's an automatic, not so much). When an engine is a tough engine, they tend to be very cheap used because they are not a hot commodity. I'm not sure where you are located but here in Ontario, Canada you could pick up a good used engine with a warranty for $300 and you'd probably be looking at $1500-$2000 to install.
Redbulldildo@reddit
It seems like you probably do have to replace the engine, but $12k is a lot, probably trying to do all new parts. An independent shop can probably get you a much better price with a used engine.
AlaskaGreenTDI@reddit
The car may well need an engine. But maybe it doesn’t. First, if it went away last time you got an oil change, that’s probably because it was low on oil. STOP letting it get low on oil. At minimum you need to be checking the level and not just waiting for bad noises.
Until someone actually diagnoses it, we don’t know how bad it is. But if you need an engine you obviously don’t drip that coin into an 11 Nissan. You cut bait and eat the remaining two grand you owe, or you pray you can find a decent used engine to have installed in the cube.
SamAndBrew@reddit
Check your oil, you’re probably just a little low.
Never go to the dealership for service unless it’s covered under warranty.
IF it does in fact need a new engine, driving it now isn’t going to cause any additional problems.
MasterKaleidoscope97@reddit
if you really need that specific car you can take it to an independent shop, it’ll probably be like 2-3k to put a new engine it. I dont imagine your engine being more than $900 plus labor, fluids. 3-4k at the very most?
lucerndia@reddit
Of course they want to, its a $12,300 sale for a 15 year old car.