2 Attachment(s)
04 Aveo Hatchback getting new engine!
hello everyone. I just joined this forum today and decided to document my engine replacement. I recently traded an 04 Aveo for a minivan. The Aveo had a broken timing belt and I was told the engine needs replaced. The car is in pretty nice shape, other than the engine. It has 91k miles and no rust so I think it will be worth fixing. I want to document as I progress through this project much like this post: http://www.aveoforum.com/forum/f103/...epaired-10191/
I would love to shake this guy's hand because this post convinced me to attempt this project. I really appreciated all of the information he provided. I am NOT a mechanic so this is going to be a bit of a challenge for me. I am a computer programmer/systems analyst by day, and a "fix whatever the kids broke" dad by night. So please be kind with your comments as my lack of professional mechanical ability will be obvious. But my skills as a computer programmer usually allow me to figure just about anything out.
So here are a few pics of the car... I will post more as I progress and I look forward to getting to know some of you guys on here and hopefully will get some helpful tips. Thanks!! JP
Attachment 4419
Attachment 4420
6 Attachment(s)
Started disassembly; battery, radiator, air box, valve cover...
OK, so I started disassembling some of the engine components. The 1st thing I did was remove the battery. I also removed the battery tray to give me more room to work. There are 4 bolts that hold the battery tray in and they were pretty easy to get out. The nice thing about this car is that it is only 7 yrs. old so the bolts seem to be coming out pretty easily. What I hate most about working on cars is rusted bolts!
Next, I removed the airbox and hose from the throttle body. The hose has a tear in it so I'll have to replace that. I removed the valve cover unplugged all of the spark plug wires. I took some pics of the plug wires to make sure I hook them back up correctly. I started disconnecting the wiring harness. I have learned to go slow and be patient when disconnecting wire plugs because they all seem to have different type connectors and they break easily. So far so good, none of them broke. I also labeled them with some masking tape to make it easier to hook them back up. Most of the connectors only fit in 1 place, but it can still be confusing when you have 15 disconnected wire plugs so marking them will just help it go a little smoother for me. I have only ever pulled 1 other engine and that was from an 87 Ford Tarurus 4 cylinder about 18 yrs. ago. I'm just going to take my time and try to make this go as smooth as possible.
I also drained and removed the radiator. The drain is on the bottom left. TIP: I figured out that if you just slightly open the radiator cap it will drain out slowly and not make a mess! I found couldn't get the radiator out, so after about 10 minutes of fiddling I removed the left fan shroud. After doing that, I was able to wiggle it out. I'm going to attach some of the pics I took for my reference so maybe they will be helpful to someone else as well. JP
4 Attachment(s)
A good air compressor helps!
Thought I'd give update on my project. Been a rough week with the kids being sick, so I didn't get as much done as I wanted to. I continued to unplug and label connections. A good buddy from work gave me a good tip to help with labeling hoses. He said to get some colored plastic ties and tie them on a hose that is taken off and 1 on the connector it came off. I thought this was a good tip to share.
I have been needing to buy an air compressor for years but have kept putting off buying one. So I managed to get the bottom pully off by wrapping the serpentine belt around the pully and then hooking it onto a tie rod. This held the pully from spinning and allowed me to get the pully off. Then when I tried to remove the cam sprockets, of course they were spinning and I messed around for a long time trying to come up with a good way to hold them to get the bolts out. After wasting about an hour, I finally decided it was time to break down and buy an air compressor. I bought a Husky 26 gal. from Home Depot for $239. It came with a hose and connectors, an air ratchet, and an impact gun. I thought that was a pretty good price for everything I got. It's not a professional air compressor, but should work good for the little use it will see in my garage. The cam sprockets came off with the impact gun in about 10 seconds!Attachment 4433Attachment 4434Attachment 4435Attachment 4436
5 Attachment(s)
The engine is indeed trashed
After getting the head off and looking things over, all 4 pistons are ruined where the valves smashed into them. The valves don't appear to be sheared off, but I'm guessing they are bent???
I guess my next step is to continue working on getting the engine and transmission out and start looking for a good junk yard engine. I had found 1 on Ebay about 2 hrs. away that only had 43k miles on it that I was watching but someone bought it :mad: so I'll have to keep looking.
I'm going to take a break tomorrow since it's Sunday and the Lord's day. Plus my hands are awefully cut up after today, my back hurts, and my kids are needing some quality time spent with them. I can understand why garages charge up to $2k for a job like this. It's alot of work, and it sucks. But it's rewarding when it's finished and all comes together. Hopefully this project will have a happy ending! I'll continue to post as I make progress. Hopefully these posts will be helpful to someone working on a similiar project.Attachment 4443Attachment 4444Attachment 4445Attachment 4446Attachment 4447
8 Attachment(s)
More pics of pistons and head
Quote:
Originally Posted by
thehunterooo
+1, any more pictures?
Notches in the pistons!!!! I'm embarassed because I really should have realized that, but hey it was late last night. So here are some more pics of the pistons and valves. After getting a good night's sleep and looking it over again today, it looks like everything is in pretty good shape. The 1 group of valves is oily compared to the others. Does anyone know what this might indicate?
hunterroo, what do you mean by +1 ??
So here is where I need some good advice/direction. Should I have the head reworked and slap it back together and hope it runs, or should I continue down the path of finding a replacement engine? I welcome everyone's thoughts on this. Thanks for all the help guys!!!! JP
Attachment 4448Attachment 4449Attachment 4450Attachment 4451Attachment 4452Attachment 4453Attachment 4454Attachment 4455
5 Attachment(s)
Cylinder walls scratched, junk??
thanks daug. I think there's a Jeff Foxworthy joke about "You might be a redneck if you have an engine hangin from a tree!" :) I'm not to that point yet, but I might get there!
So my dad and my buddy from work suggested I clean and check the cylinder walls really good before I send the head out. 2 of the cylinders do have some scratches, but I'm not sure if they are bad enough to abort this engine or not. I need to make sure the bottom end is good before I proceed with sending the head out. I like this forum because my dad is an hour away, so it gives me a good place to post pics for him and anyone else that cares to comment.
He knows a machine shop not too far from his place that will rework the head for around $185 + any parts that may need replaced (valves, seals, etc.). I thought that sounded like a reasonable price. I'm trying to be cautious because by the time I have the head reworked and buy new head bolts and a gasket, I'll have around $350 to $450 in it and I can buy an '08 engine with less than 50k miles for around $650. And I want this car to run when I'm done because if it doesn't it'll probably get sold as-is and I'll move on with my tail between my legs.
So here are some pics of 2 of the cylinders that have some scratches. The other 2 look pretty smooth. So today's question is how does one determine if these are too scratched or whether it will be ok? Thanks, JPAttachment 4461Attachment 4462Attachment 4463Attachment 4464Attachment 4465
Head is off to the machine shop!
thanks for the replies guys. I talked to the previous owner yesterday and asked him if the car used any oil. He said it didn't and that he changed the oil regularly, so I decided to send the head out for repair. My dad knows a machine shop not far from his house, so I took it out to my parent's house yesterday and he's going to drop it off tomorrow. I'm going to wait until I hear from the shop as to what all needs replaced and how much it's going to cost. It looks to me like there are 2 bent valves. Once I hear from them and as long as it isn't too expensive, then I'm going to start cleaning up the parts I've taken off and the top of the block to get it ready to put back together. So I'll update again when I know anything new. Thanks again guys for the help! JP
Also, to answer rabbit's question... yes, I can feel the scratches with my fingernail, but just barely. they are not deep at all. my friend at work said unless they actually stop your fingernail as I move it across them then it's probably not going to burn oil.
Head is out getting worked
quick update for anyone following this project... so the head is now at the machine shop. the machinist called me yesterday and said all 16 valves were bent! nice!!! He said the head was not warped or anything so that is good. I told him to go ahead and clean it and replace the valves and do whatever else machinists do to these. The total bill with the head work, gasket set, and head bolts is close to $500. I was hoping to not spend that much, but it's still cheaper than a new engine and less work. He should have it done early next week, so I might actually have this car running by next weekend which would be awesome. I'll update again when I make some more progress...