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I was shopping for a small, cheap pick-up to use as a bike and kayak hauler and I found a 2004 Nissan Frontier XE with the KA24DE 2.4 L with 146K miles for a decent price. Everything seemed great when I did my inspection. Body and paint are in excellent shape, brand new tires; the interior looks practically brand new. All the accessories work, even the AC. The transmission (auto) shifts perfectly and even the engine ran great, for like a day or two. Since everything seemed to check out and the Carfax came back with no wrecks and a service history showing the vehicle having oil changes religiously performed at the dealer every 4k miles or so, I decided to gamble and skip having an independent inspection. Big mistake. The second day I owned it, the CEL came on and came back as an error with the EGR system. The truck was still running fine but I took it in to have that taken care of. The shop calls and asks me if the head had ever been removed and I know nothing about this of course. They found what seemed like a rushed repair job and they hook some things back up and send me on my way. The CEL comes right back on within 2 miles of leaving the shop with a slight misfire. I take it back in and it's a bad ignition coil. Great, now I'm back on my way until the drat CEL comes right back on as I'm heading to work. Afterwards, as I'm taking it back to the shop, the engine starts overheating as I'm half a mile away. This time it's diagnosed as a bad thermostat, but as I'm heading out again after this repair, the truck goes right back to overheating within a mile or so. They do more digging and find that exhaust gas is getting into the cooling system from what turns out to be a botched head repair job. There is a crack in one of the cylinders plus an issue with the block. Now I'm told I need to replace the engine. A used engine is going to cost $1,900 plus labor or around $3,500 plus labor for a refurb. I'm at a loss as to what to do here. I'm really fed up with this thing but in its current state, I'll get next to nothing for selling it and I'll be left with nothing but an expensive lesson in used car buying. If I replace the engine, I'll pretty much be spending the purchase price of the truck or more again but I'll ideally have a well running truck that I'll use for several years. What would you do in my situation? This is not my main car, so I'm not dependent on it but my main car is not very well suited for hauling around what I need. If I give up on this truck, I'm not going to buy another one. Everything else on the truck is drat near perfect, except for the engine. And if I do replace the engine, what experiences do you all have with used vs. refurb/reman engines? The cost savings of the used one (unknown mileage, but there is another one with 105k miles for $800 more) is tempting but I have a strong feeling going that route is just going bite me in the rear end even harder. Right now, I'm leaning towards washing my hands of this whole thing. 
Lorthdon fucked around with this message at 05:48 on Mar 31, 2019 |
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Mar 31, 2019 05:43
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| # ? Apr 25, 2024 18:51 |
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There is always fit a good motor yourself? Saves some coin! A good second hand with warranty isn’t a bad idea. If it’s going to go bang... it will do it fairly quickly! It’s best to see it running if you can.
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Apr 1, 2019 11:06
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In 30 seconds I found refurb/remanufactured engines for $2k. If it was me I’d wait and find a wrecked one and pull the engine and swap it or pay a decent priced trustworthy shop (or find a Nissan mechanic moonlighting).
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Apr 1, 2019 14:06
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Yeah, it's not like this is Automotive Sanity, get a good used motor and install it yourself! If it's not your main vehicle, you can take as long as you need.
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Apr 1, 2019 20:25
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Did I hear you're putting a SR20DET in this thing?
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Apr 1, 2019 20:26
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BlackMK4 posted:Did I hear you're putting a SR20DET in this thing? I think he said LS.
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Apr 1, 2019 20:27
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beep-beep car is go posted:I think he said LS. I heard RB.
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Apr 1, 2019 20:40
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Bajaha posted:I heard RB. you can get parts now!
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Apr 1, 2019 21:39
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Drop the À and slap a k24 in it. Then stick an ebay turbo on it since it's not a daily.
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Apr 1, 2019 21:51
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Putting my burning hatred of Datsuns aside for a sec;beep-beep car is go posted:I think he said LS. VK56 tho, Titans are hitting yard age en masse Realistically, the KA24 is a stout little tractor motor and I'm not aware of any common issues where I wouldn't trust a known good used one. $1900 is a little nuts for unknown mileage tho, I'd expect a known running, lower miled lump to not run more than $1200 and really, the kind of engine you'd get for less is still likely to last you a good while. Poke car-part.com for stuff in your area if you haven't already.
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Apr 2, 2019 00:18
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I googled nissan frontier motor swap and motors came up for ~$1600 USD, no idea what the deal is though. Then I found that there's a company that makes LS swap kits.
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Apr 2, 2019 01:54
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This same basic thing happened to me a year ago (bought a 6 speed v6 accord, changed the oil and it started knocking real bad.) You should do what I did - find a new (used?) engine and swap 'em. And by a new engine, I mean an LS.
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Apr 2, 2019 02:04
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time for a 26B imo
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Apr 2, 2019 02:37
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NumbersMatching320 posted:Realistically, the KA24 is a stout little tractor motor and I'm not aware of any common issues where I wouldn't trust a known good used one. Timing chain guides. Though they're not terrible to swap with the engine out, except for the fact that the timing cover seal (at the top) is part of the head gasket. So if you pinch it...  I think they'd pretty much gotten them taken care of by the time the Frontier came out, but my 99 Altima needed them, and it was an engine out job to get the timing cover off (and an intake manifold off job to get to the power steering pump). Carmax got suckered into buying it when I got sick of the timing chain slap.
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Apr 2, 2019 16:26
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Yeah, I did some searching myself and found better priced engines with known mileage and fewer miles than the engine being replaced. I haven’t had a chance to stop by the shop and see where they were finding theirs. I may have a lead on a much cheaper source of labor. I’ll definitely feel this out throughly before I piss a bunch more money away on this adventure. Though after checking on some guides, replacing an engine doesn’t seem quite so daunting and it’s a very spacious engine bay. As much as I love the LS swap idea, I’d really need to let my funds and technical skill build up. Or just go all out for the comedy answer and switch this thing over to diesel and roll-coal.
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Apr 3, 2019 03:59
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Honeslty swapping a motor in an 04 vehicle isn't crazy complicated and it's within the realm of possibility for anyone methodical enough. Label everything, take a ton of pictures and work slowly. Even for a complete beginner it won't take more than probably 4 or 5 days at absolute maximum.
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Apr 3, 2019 12:05
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FWIW, my Altima had the same engine, and aside from it being a really cramped engine bay (since it was a FWD version), it looked like one of the easier engines to pull. Only a few vacuum lines plus your typical power steering + cooling system lines. Nissan really does package poo poo terribly with that engine though; if it's like the old hardbody and 240SX versions of the same engine, the alternator is under the intake manifold (the FWD version buries the PS pump instead). If you do this yourself, unbolt the compressor and support it somehow so you don't have to open the AC system, and change the PCV valve while it's out (it's buried under the intake and normally difficult to get to). If you pull the timing cover, be REALLY goddamned careful with the gasket at the top (it's part of the head gasket).
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Apr 3, 2019 12:12
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Bajaha posted:I heard RB. RB in the front, LS in the bed for AWD the RB driving the rear wheels and the LS the fronts, of course...
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Apr 3, 2019 19:50
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| # ? Apr 25, 2024 18:51 |
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CornHolio posted:RB in the front, LS in the bed for AWD Driveshafts going every which way, exhausts intertwined like vines 
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Apr 4, 2019 12:48
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