It sucks that this has to be my first post, but I've basically got a 2000 Prelude SH with 70k miles that's sitting in the shop right now with a damaged engine. Long story short, oil starvation is looking to be the culprit. When I ask the mechanic to find out exactly what has been damaged inside, he warns me that the work to do that could add up, and he thinks I may as well just look for a replacement engine, which he's also trying to find for me. I appreciate the mechanic's honestly, but it kind of irks me that I supposedly can't find out exactly what has been damaged in the engine unless I throw down a wad of money.
I haven't been able to find a used engine locally, but I'm still looking, and also entertaining engines from out of state, or maybe a brand new one. Thing is, it isn't really my car; I do drive it as I'm the only one in the family that can drive a manual transmission, but I'm mainly a motorcyclist, and I also have a truck that I use more than the Prelude if I don't ride the bike. My brother owns the Prelude, but because of an ailment he had, he's basically unable to drive it, or do much of anything at all. My parents have just kept the car out of respect for him.
My question is this: If I can't or don't want to replace the engine, what would be the best option for me to do with the car? Donate? Part it out? Sell as-is? Remove the engine myself and have it rebuilt? Etc.? I'm more adept at fixing a motorcycle than a car; my car maintenance skills include your basic necessities like an oil change (unfortunately, I didn't change the oil the last time out on the car - I had Pep Boys do it) and basic tune-up, but that's about it. So while my parents would probably throw down the money, even for a brand new engine, just to keep the car around sitting in the driveway for my brother, I'm looking for the more rational option for this car.
1) Getting a "new" engine isn't an option. Honda stopped producing H22's nearly a decade ago. There are still many H22's being imported from Japan that have relatively low mileage though.
2) Used H22's are not terribly expensive (~$1000 plus labor for install), which is why your mechanic recommends just swapping it now. You will however need an engine out of another SH (or type S), as all the other H22 blocks won't mount up to the transmission and ATTS unit in your car. An SH engine can still be had for about the same price, they are just a little harder to find.
3) H22's are more difficult than most other engines for a machine shop to rebuild and a good portion of them end up failing shortly afterwords. Unless you are willing to ship your block to a shop that is familiar with FRM, I wouldn't recommend a rebuild.
4) If you just want to get rid of the car, you can get the most money out of it by parting it out, but that is time consuming. Since you are in Cali I doubt you would have any problem selling it as a shell, but you wouldn't get as much money for it.
1) Getting a "new" engine isn't an option. Honda stopped producing H22's nearly a decade ago. There are still many H22's being imported from Japan that have relatively low mileage though.
I was afraid of that, but in some ways it's bitter-sweet to know, cause now I can really talk my parents out of even thinking about putting a new engine in there.
The rest of your points confirmed a few things I found out with some phone calls made this morning, that it's not an option to just use another 5th-gen Prelude engine other than an SH (or S as you pointed out), unless a few of the other components are swapped out as well. Far as parting it out, I wouldn't mind the time it would take; the car mostly sits around in any given year anyway.
Out of curiousity, what is it about these engines that make it difficult to rebuild?
Car's still in the shop so I can't look at it right now, but are the engines stamped with the designation H22A4 (for example)? I've found a few more sellers with H22A4 engines, supposedly, and I just want to make sure on my end that they are indeed what I need, in case the seller can't be sure themselves.
Car's still in the shop so I can't look at it right now, but are the engines stamped with the designation H22A4 (for example)?
Yes. The engine you need will have an H22A4 stamp on it. However, the engine from the base model(which will not fit in your car) shares the same H22A4 stamp. You need to be 100% sure the engine you are buying is out of an SH.
I think u should part it out if your brother and parents don't mind and post it on all the other prelude forums..someone is always going to be looking for a part for these cars because there damn near impossible to find in the junk yard..I just spent $120. For a powerstearing bracket(small ass peice)from the dealership.
Parting out is still an option, and I've already discussed the situation with my brother and the parents, and my brother's on board with either selling the car as-is or what not. But me, being the stubborn curious man that I am, I went ahead and told the shop to get the engine out of the car and open it up, to find out exactly what's what.
Well, the upside is that it wasn't engine damage after all, per se. It turned out to be the timing belt jumping off, though unfortunately, they couldn't figure out what was making it jump off. There was no part that could visually be a suspect, but when they put the belt back on and ran the car, it ran fine for 10 mins., then it stalled again - with the belt jumping off again. I ended up having them replace every component of the timing system per their recommendation, and now the car's back with me running as best as I remember it did, without the tapping noise that I thought were in the valves, or the dreaded sound of soda cans rattling just before this whole thing started. I'm down a good chuck of change, but still made out much better than with the initial prognosis.
Shop said to drive the car more often to keep it in good working order.
That was my concern too, especially after the second time it jumped off, but they assured me everything was clear - valves, piston, cylinder walls. They also guaranteed their work.
If that's the case, I think you should insist they do a leakdown test if they haven't already. Odds are that if you've got bent valves it would be obvious because the car would run like crap, but it still couldn't hurt to check.
You can still get brand new blocks and heads from Honda. Just because they stopped making them doesn't mean theyre not stored in a warehouse somewhere.
But do expect to pay 3 or 4 grand for just the block itself.
lol i looked into buying a brand new bottome end to send in and have machined and honda quoated me, for teh bare block with main caps 3300, then they wnated 1200 for a new crank, 2800 for a new bare head with cam caps. It is much much much cheaper to find a used one in nice shape and have it machined and rebuilt, you get better resluts as well.
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