kart_man

My Sti 5 engine has just died (still running, but a box of spanners spring to mind !). Sounds like a big end, and reading through a few of the posts here and chatting to some people, it seems likely that piston 3 has melted and done some damage down below. Has anyone got any views on whether this would be sensible to repair, or should I be looking for a new engine. I'm getting mixed opinions so far ! (Obviously that assumes that the crank is serviceable etc.). Any opinions gratefully received, or even better, anyone who has replaced piston/shells and is happy
Thanks

RT

Pal, no one will know till you take the engine out.

kart_man

Yep, I understand that, but was curious if replacing pistons (or other components) singley was a good idea or not. I guess I'm looking at the best case scenario and wondering if repairing is a good idea, or whether everything is matched in the factory and replacing single parts would be unadvisable.

RT

I would replace the pistons as a matched set. Also take the opportunity to replace/upgrade everything, as far as budget allows. The labour for an engine out jobbie is so much that you might as well do as much work as possible.

RT

Sorry, to answer your question: I highly doubt the STI engine is made as a whole matched set ie "blueprinted". Almost all aftermarket engine work I witness is done with bits and pieces. Seems to work well.

kart_man

Yep, that makes sense, thanks. Just trying to weigh up difference in price between replacing the internals and replacing the engine at £1500.
Long gone are my mini days when you could pull the engine out, rip it down, rebuild and refit in a morning !!

Deep Singh

Kartman sorry to hear about your bad luck.Would you mind if I asked what kind of fuel you were running the car on and the mileage.There are a number of people on here that have had their engines rebuilt hopefully one of them will answer.

tarmacterrorist

Sorry to hear of another STiV engine failure.
My engine let go last year & I decided to repair rather than replace with another engine. Main reason for this was that with a new engine you would have to inform DVLA about the engine number.

Very much depends on the damage that has been done when the engine let go. Pick the garage carefully & ask on this bbs about what they thought of the garage they chose to have the work done by.

On the other hand, if you can find a sensibly priced engine it was mentioned to me that it could be cheaper due to labour costs.

My bill was just over 2K but I did have another clutch fitted as well (no extra labour charge). Some garages scared me with possible quotes of 3 to 4K as a minimum.

I would be happy to forward details of the garage used for my rebuild. I found the guy to be up front & honest about my engine failure. No bull**t, just the facts of what was wrong.

If you would like more info on my engine failure please email me & I will go into more detail.

Andy.