My rs200 was running a bit lumpy so I took it to the garage.

They told me it has oil passing the piston rings (the plugs were knackered at only 7 months old).

What sort of price should I expect for an engine rebuild?
Anyone know how much second hand beams engines go for and where I could get one?

I really don't know what to do with it. Any advice would be appreciated.

Talk to Robin H about rebuild, think he's doing that at the moment. My Altezza is off to the scrapyard soon so you could get the engine from taht. Not sure how much they cost second hand, Thor racing have a few brand new ones!

Cheers.
Sorry about yours.

Just had a look on Thor's website.
£4k+vat for a new engine! I don't think I can stretch to that.

Thanks for the suggestion though.

Were you getting any oil smoke out the back, what type of plug and how many miles had they done? Also when was the oil last changed?

The cost of a re-build is a "how long is a piece of string" question. it depends on what they find when the engine is opened up. Mr Singh (on here) had a 6MT engine for sale a while back.

There are a couple on fleabay at the moment.

Hope that helps.

Cheers.
The plugs have been in roughly 7-8 months. It had a full oil change in october. I have had it serviced every 6 months and don't do many miles.
It has 75k on the clock. There is some smoke when I blip the throttle. The revs at idle drop then pick up, then drop.

I have found one engine on ebay (breakers in cheshire) does anyone know the car this is from?

The brand new ones at thor racing looked nice when i was there........................
ebay linkys
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/TOYOTA-ALTEZZA-LEXUS...1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/LEXUS-ALTEZZA-3SGE-B...7QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/JDM-3SGE-Be...sspagenameZWD2V

There was also a black tezza breaking on there but its gone,

ebay item no 230233769554 or 170144763303

Is the possibility of rebore and oversize pistons and rings not an avenue , just a thought.
I know this next fixit may not be an option and could only be a temporary measure but you can buy a product called ring seal which basically does the job of the oil ring on the pistons but as I said its only temporary .
Regards
Paul.

Cheers for the help guys.
I'm going to get a second opinion before I rush into anything.
The car still drives and does not seem to be down on power (although I have been taking it easy).
It only smokes when I rev it hard and it's a puff of black smoke not blue.
Is there a chance it could be a sensor or hose issue? Going to check everything then take it to another garage then start thinking about a new engine.

sorry to here the news as I've been in the same position as you

here's a link to the thread I started about looking into a to swap or rebuild, it maybe of some help
click

all you need to have done is a compression test and that should tell you the answer
you should have 11.5 in all cylinders if not there's a problem,

if you down on compression you down on power and thats a fact
you may not have noticed the power draining away but put it on a rolling road and you will find out how much you've lost

there's a few things you can do

swap the engine
have the cylinders bored and fit over size piston rings
have the bottom end rebuilt ( new bearings ect ect )
have a full rebuild

no matter if you swap or rebuild you may will to replace the cam belt. so you want to think about all of the other things cam belt related, pump, tensioners ect ect


keep us posted on how the 2nd opinion goes

Thanks for that.
The garage should have done a compression test. I'll get another garage to do that first then see what to do.

theres an altezza engine on ebay

here you go
http://search.ebay.co.uk/search/search.dll...=altezza+engine

or item number
230233769554


hope this helps mate

You need one of THESE same as I got from Halfrauds.

You just take all the spark plugs out, put the tester into the spark plug hole for the first cylinder and crank the engine on the starter for a few seconds and read the pressure off the gauge. Like Robin said the 3S-GE should be around 11.5 Bar (for a new engine), if it is less than about (IMHO) 10.5 Bar you have a problem. It's really easy to do.

I did not realise you could get something like that so cheap.
Thanks. I'm going to do it tomorrow.

Nice one.

Forgot to add but probably obvious, you need to do the the rest of the cylinders as well!

If the compression is low on any of them get an oil can with a long spout and squirt some oil down the plug hole into the engine, this makes a seal between the piston and bore and try again. If you still get a low reading the problem is with the cylinder head, probably valves.

how did you get on ??

To be honest I have not had time to sort anything. It's still sat on the drive. I had to decorate the spare room this weekend due to a baby on the way.

What are you having done with yours? sounds like upgrades are on the cards.

If it is a new engine job for mine I can't decide weather to have it rebuilt but uprate stuff, just put a second hand engine in or look into doing something silly like a 2jzgte, think the cost of that would rule it out though!

yeah I've had a full engine rebuild but with bells and whistles added

if your thinking of a rebuild there's a few people you could talk to Thor racing, prolex, TDI these should all be able to help it just depends on how far/crazy you want to go and how much money you have to spend at least if you talk to all 3 you will get a ruff idea of how much a rebuild could cost

you take a bit of a risk when buying a 2nd hand engine off of someone, but if you know the history of the car it can't be bad, but I found a few dodge sellers on ebay,

have a chat with some of the Irish boys on Tezzaworld as they may know of a right off you could use as a donor vehicle

I thought about getting a MR2 turbo engine and dropping that in but wasn't sure how much of a problem it would be marrying up the gearbox and other bits

my engine is up for grabs, no damage to it from the crash, its on the way to a scrap yard as they were put a mad salvage value on it. I can price it up for you if your interested

Cheers for that.
I would be intrested in a price but I think to get it shipped here would cost a fortune.
Thanks for the offer.

Update - engine is down on compression. Anyone selling a second hand engine at the moment? I have seen a few on ebay and breakers but would prefer to know where it's come from.

you may wanna keep your eye on ebay

Item number: 150237004870
just type in altezza if not

cheers, I will do. Still can't make my mind up what to do!

Well I made up my mind and sold the car as it was to a garage so they can sort it out.
Pretty gutting but I will have a baby soon (due 27th June) and a supra to play in so not all bad.
Cheers for all the help and I'll come back on here when I get my next Lexus.

good stuff