Rebuild question!

[QuickOne]

Okay guys it will not be long before I am due for a rebuild. The car has 220,000 miles on it. I have an oil leak around the entire motor and I think it is the head gasket. So I am thinking of having a shop rebuild my entire motor. Keep in mind the motor runs damn good. I know nothing about rebuilds so here is my question. What should I tell the guys I want? A rebuild, overhaul, what??? Is there any difference? What should I make sure to tell them to do and how much $$ should that add up to?

I talked to one guy and he said he pulls the motor, check the pistions and replaces insert, rings, etc... I also bores the motor if needed and replaces anything else that needs to be replaced. All the gaskets are replaced as well as the timing and balance belts. He said he charges around $800-$950 for a SOHC 1.8 engine. Does this sound right? He also has a 3 month warranty.

Sorry for the many questions but this is something serious for someone with limited knowledge. Thanks.

[Blackboost]

I hope this helps a bit: http://www.dsmtalk.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=70190

[QuickOne]

Thanks man. I read that and for some weird reason I forgot completely about. Near end semester in college will do that. I was thinking that was about turboing. Dumb me.

[Blackboost]

Originally posted by QuickOne
Thanks man. I read that and for some weird reason I forgot completely about. Near end semester in college will do that. I was thinking that was about turboing. Dumb me.

No problem man. There's also another sticky about the turbo conversion.;)

Feel free to ask anything here...

[ginsu417]

On an entirely irrelevant note (since you're planning to have your motor rebuilt anyway) the oil leak you see is not probably coming from the head gasket. When you blow a head gasket, you'll know. The 4G37 isn't shy about telling you. Being that you have 220,000 miles on your car, however, it may be about time to get it rebuilt. That's not to say that the rebuild will solve your oil leaking woes. If special precautions are not taken, it may make them worse.

I've been working on an oil leak FAQ for my 1.8 page, so I figured I'd post some of it here.

1.8L DSMs have 4 oil leak "hot spots".

1.) Valve Cover Gasket
2.) Rear Crankshaft seal
3.) Front Crankshaft seal
4.) Oil Pan Gasket

The valve cover - this gasket on the 1.8 is especially bitchy, and tends to leak even after installing a new VC gasket. The top of the head tends to warp a little and the valve cover doesn't seat straight, mostly because there's only two bolts holding it down. If you overtorque the bolts on the valve cover in an attempt to stop the leak, you'll just crack the valve cover. A 100% sure fire fix is to pick up a tube of Ultra-blue RTV, and a tube of permatex hi-temp gasket sealer. Fill the crevis in the valve cover with ultra blue and seat your gasket over it. Then run a bead of the gasket sealer around the bottom of the gasket, where it mates with the top of the head. Torque it down to about 20-30 ft/lbs.

Rear Crankshaft Seal - this one will leak for a while and then just blow on you. Usually when you're on the freeway. If your car has been through a paint shop, or has a lot of miles on it, you'll notice this leak coming from around the center of your car. It appears to be dripping from the crack between the transmission and the engine, and you may mistake it for the oil pan. If you have a 5-speed, pop the rubber boot out of the clutch fork. If oil comes out, it's your rear seal. This can be done with the motor in the car. Remove the transmission and flywheel, and it's right behind the flywheel. You CAN use a screwdriver to pry it out (carefully) just make sure you pry against the outside edge, and not the inside.

Front Crankshaft Seal - this one's a pain in the ass because it doesn't show up in one place. The oil leaks around the crank, and then hits the pulley, where it gets flung all over the place. If you're losing oil, but you don't know where, and you see it all over your suspension components on the driver's side, on your oil filter, and some even under the door, it's probably your front crankshaft seal. To replace this, you need to basilcy do a timing belt job with a few extra steps. After you take the belt off, you need to remove the two crank sprockets too. To get the bolt off, you'll need a crankshaft holder tool or a pneumatic wrench. We put about 250 ft/lbs on one and it still wouldn't budge. This seal, you can't remove with a screwdriver. You'll probably need to drill a small hole in the seal, thread a screw in, and pull it out. Be careful with that drill, or you'll chip the oil pump housing. Fill the inside rear of the seal with RTV or gasket sealer before you put it in.

Oil pan gasket - This one seems simple, but it's quite tedious. To do this, you need to take off your downpipe and crossbar. There's a LOT of bolts. Don't use a cork gasket, they don't last long. Clean both surfaces and use at least one full tube of RTV to make a bead along the top of the pan. Then seat it against the sealing surface and hold it there for a few minutes. Then take it off, and apply another bead of RTV. Pay special attention to the areas of the top that don't have flattened RTV on them. They'll leak really REALLY R E A L L Y bad.

- Kalani

[QuickOne]

Thanks Kalani. The leak is not too awfully bad. It drips maybe 5-10 drops after parking the car. By the time I am due for an oil change I haven't lost must oil. The drips seems to be on the drivers side mostly and are dripping off the oil filter actually. But if you look under there there is oil everywhere-on the alternator, oil filter, oil pan, dipstick and even on the back portion of the motor. I had a timing belt job done an they replaced some gasket when they went in. I think there were two gaskets. Would one of them be the front crankshaft seal? If so then I doubt that is the culprit. All I know is that it is pissing me off because sometimes I can smell the oil burning. My engine is so nasty and dirty but there is not any use to clean it up due to the leak. I may clean it up to see where the leak is at when I get the car back. Would that help identify where the leak is since oil is everywhere to begin with? What is the best way to clean all that gunk up with?

[ginsu417]

The fact that it's on everything points to the crank seal. The oil drips down, gets picked up by the pulley and flung all over the place. Could still be the pan though.Pry the front timing cover out a little and see if there's oil in there. If so, the most likely problem is the front crankshaft seal. When they install it, they need to put sealer around it, and fill the back side or oil will eventually leak around the edges. Most places don't do that. Gunk Foamy Engine Brite works well to clean that up so you can locate it.

- K

[QuickOne]

Man that was fast for the 1.8 thread. Anyway thanks for the info. Soon as I get the car back I will clean it up and see what happens.