| Hi guys, First things first - my car is a 1990 300zx Twin Turbo with 233,000 miles. To keep things short, I blew-out a head gasket last year (around September time during a race). I had rebuild my engine back in 2003. I decided that it was time to do another engine rebuild again. I noticed though that an eBay seller by the name of "We_Have_Engines" (now they call themselves "We_Have_Auto_Parts") were selling complete remanufactured engines for $1,700 (with a $200 shipping charge) without any core charges. Here's a link to a similar item that they are currently selling on eBay: [ http://www.ebay.com/itm/Remanufactured-Engine-Nissan-300ZX-Motor-300-ZX-VG30DETT-Twin-Turbo-No-Core-/321351443461?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item4ad209e405 ]
The main thing to notice is their machining process and the new parts installed, namely:
List of machining processes performed
- Engine and heads cleaned
- Surfaces renewed by milling
- Blocks honed
- Connecting Rods reconditioned
- Crank shaft ground and/or polished
- Cylinder heads pressure tested
- Cam lines checked
- Heads checked for thickness
- 3-Angel valve grind
List of new master rebuild kit parts installed
- New piston rings
- New rod bearings
- New main bearings
- New wrist pin bushings
- New thrust bearings
- New head bolts
- New valve guides
- New valve seals
- New frost plugs
So I decided to buy one of these engines and also keep my old engine for future "fun projects". Again, to keep the story short, when I received the engine I noticed that the intake cam valves for cylinders #2 and #4 were not "sealing properly" (i.e. air was escaping from them when manually cracking the engine by hand). I have installed the timing belt myriads of times on my 300zx and for fellow 300zx members (in other words, I didn't put the timing belt wrong nor were the valves appearing to be bent). I contacted the seller (Arley Leghorn from San Mateo, CA) and he convinced me that this was "normal" and that things would be 'ok' once the engine had been "broken-into" (i.e. after the first 1000 miles). Well, 3 months later and after 2,300 miles put on the new engine, here is a compression test of the cylinders:
Cylinders 1, 3, 5, 6 are at about 130psi
Cylinders 2,4 are at about 95psi The current symptoms when I am driving the car is that it idles rough and that it sometimes stalls when breaking to a stop (the PSI reading in the odometer is at about -8psi as opposed to -14psi at idle). I guess both of these symptoms can be explained... the "rough" component due to the improper compression in cylinders 2 and 4. The "stalling" and "low vacuum readings" can be attributed to the compressed air/fuel escaping back into the plenum from the intake cam values on cylinders "2" and "4" during the upstroke phase. So, here is my question for you guys... apart from the two "bad cylinders", I was expecting to see a compression of about 174psi in the rest of the cylinders (and not 130psi). Could this "lower compression" be attributed to perhaps an under-performing motor starter or is this whole engine rebuild job simply "botched"? I am basically trying to figure-out if I should buy another starter to repeat the cylinder compression test. The battery is basically "new" and for the compression test all spark-plugs were removed, the throttle was wide-open, the fuel-pump relay was removed and the key was cranked for about 7 seconds - the test was performed twice with 2 different compression testers to make sure that I did not have a faulty compression tester (the results were the same between the two tests). It's been a pretty emotional dealing with all of this (let alone all of the work done)... the seller (Arley Leghorn) appeared to wanting to help initially but at this point (since the eBay buyer protection program has "expired") he appears to be less willing to help. I even suggested that I take-out the engine and drive it to his shop (a 9 hour drive from Las Vegas to San Mateo, CA) just to make sure that there are no misunderstandings. His response was that he didn't know how long it would take to fix the problem since he would need to send the engine back to the machine shop, "assuming" there was a problem with the engine (you can imagine how I felt, especially once he told me that he didn't do his own machining). I should had researched the company prior to purchasing anything from them... it appears that they have had some cases with Ripoff Report (just google his name - Arley Leghorn). I just hope I am not out of $2,000... :( Be careful guys... I've seen a few more of these 300zx engines being sold on eBay by him (I hope others have had a better experience than me). I will keep everyone informed as to what happens with this... any suggestions are very welcomed! Thanks. -theo laz
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18:57:17 03/16/14
