I bought a 2006 RTL from a private party last week for $8400. I took it to a mechanic but it was not in my area so I didn't know the mechanic, and he didn't do a good inspection. Long story short, before I even got home - about 30 miles from where I bought it - the engine died and left me stranded on the highway. I had it towed to my mechanic and the verdict is that the engine is shot and the catalytic converter has to be replaced as well. It cost me $1400 to find this out and will take another estimated $8K+ to replace the engine. Of course I feel like an idiot and really got taken, but I'm wondering if I should bite the bullet and do the replacement. The interior is in very good condition, the exterior is good, and Carfax shows no accidents. Anyone have advice? Should I cut my losses or push forward? Thanks for any input you can offer- I am really beside myself about what to do.
ChrisJ
Am I reading this correctly - you paid $1,400 for a diagnosis?
This story sounds curiously familiar. Someone else on here reported buying a used Ridgeline that cratered right after purchase and they were contemplating cutting their losses or dumping thousands more into it. I can't remember what they decided to do.
This story sounds curiously familiar. Someone else on here reported buying a used Ridgeline that cratered right after purchase and they were contemplating cutting their losses or dumping thousands more into it. I can't remember what they decided to do.
I would question those quotes, $8k to replace an engine seems astronomical. You can get a used engine with warranty for around $2k and a re-manufactured engine with a 5 year warranty for under $4k. I know it takes some substantial labor but over $4k for that? And as interpon said, what did the mechanic actually diagnose? If the engine truly needs replacing I'd expect something along the lines of the timing belt went causing head and piston damage and that might qualify the need for replacement but there may be other alternatives that your mechanic didn't consider/share.
I would hope that this is just a misunderstanding and your mechanic priced a shiny brand new engine instead of considering what it's going in and looking after-market. And I hope the $1600 to diagnose includes a huge towing bill, figuring out how bad the engine is wasted shouldn't have taken much more than a couple hours labor. Will your mechanic write off the diagnosis cost if you have it repaired?
This is not an easy decision either way, if the engine went on the way home what else could be ready to go? Maybe nothing but with only 30 miles of experience and one unknown mechanics opinion that's a hard call to make. Explore the options and ask your mechanic a few more questions about alternatives and such, then it probably comes down to doing the math. Figure out how much over retail you would pay to get it on the road and compare it to what you've already paid and can't get back. See which choice comes with the highest net loss compared to the value of the vehicle. Then again, if you keep in mind that if you call it a loss you're going to have to pony up for something else in its place maybe repairing isn't such a bad idea IF you can find an alternative that brings the cost to a more reasonable level.
I would hope that this is just a misunderstanding and your mechanic priced a shiny brand new engine instead of considering what it's going in and looking after-market. And I hope the $1600 to diagnose includes a huge towing bill, figuring out how bad the engine is wasted shouldn't have taken much more than a couple hours labor. Will your mechanic write off the diagnosis cost if you have it repaired?
This is not an easy decision either way, if the engine went on the way home what else could be ready to go? Maybe nothing but with only 30 miles of experience and one unknown mechanics opinion that's a hard call to make. Explore the options and ask your mechanic a few more questions about alternatives and such, then it probably comes down to doing the math. Figure out how much over retail you would pay to get it on the road and compare it to what you've already paid and can't get back. See which choice comes with the highest net loss compared to the value of the vehicle. Then again, if you keep in mind that if you call it a loss you're going to have to pony up for something else in its place maybe repairing isn't such a bad idea IF you can find an alternative that brings the cost to a more reasonable level.
I'd go straight back to the seller and demand my money back. With only 30 miles from them it was junk from the beginning. It had to have been making noises or something. No way would a engine just "blow" that quick without any warning signs.
Steve
PS.. review this:
https://digitalcommons.law.lsu.edu/...nt.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=4998&context=lalrev
And reference these comments from an excerpt from it:
Section 2-315 provides:
Where the seller at the time of contracting has reason to know any particular
purpose for which the goods are required and that the buyer is relying on the
seller's skill or judgment to select or furnish suitable goods, there is unless
excluded or modified under the next section an implied warranty that the goods
shall be fit for such purpose.
Steve
PS.. review this:
https://digitalcommons.law.lsu.edu/...nt.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=4998&context=lalrev
And reference these comments from an excerpt from it:
Section 2-315 provides:
Where the seller at the time of contracting has reason to know any particular
purpose for which the goods are required and that the buyer is relying on the
seller's skill or judgment to select or furnish suitable goods, there is unless
excluded or modified under the next section an implied warranty that the goods
shall be fit for such purpose.
I don’t know the law in the OP’s area. He did say, however, that he had a mechanic check it out, so your online legal advice doesn’t appear to apply. Perhaps suggesting that OP _contact_ counsel would be appropriate.
OP, I don’t know what you should do, but run the numbers and figure it out. Call a wrecker or look up prices for non-running Ridgelines to see what it’s worth now. That subtracted from the sum of diagnostic costs plus what you paid for the pickup is your current loss.
The quoted figure for a new engine looks high to me, and the price you imply you paid for a diagnosis is inexcusably high. If you do replace the engine, you may get a few extra dollars out of it vs what you paid, but you’re still out the price of the replacement engine and you won’t have a vehicle.
OP, I don’t know what you should do, but run the numbers and figure it out. Call a wrecker or look up prices for non-running Ridgelines to see what it’s worth now. That subtracted from the sum of diagnostic costs plus what you paid for the pickup is your current loss.
The quoted figure for a new engine looks high to me, and the price you imply you paid for a diagnosis is inexcusably high. If you do replace the engine, you may get a few extra dollars out of it vs what you paid, but you’re still out the price of the replacement engine and you won’t have a vehicle.
Hey Everybody, thanks so much for your responses.
I live in Santa Cruz and bought from a private party in San Jose. The test drive seemed fine and I even had a friend's mechanic take a look before I paid - he thought it was fine but clearly he wasn't very thorough! So I bought it (paid cash), and headed back home. It was running smooth and strong over the SC mountains. I didn't push it - was just enjoying the drive. As I neared Scotts Valley, I was traveling downslope at about 65-70. I pushed on the accelerator lightly and the car seemed to hesitate a bit, i let off and then pressed again. the car responded by hesitating even worse almost slowing. Then the engine died. i drifted for a short ways then restarted the motor. At this point I can tell you that the front three cylinders were dead, but what happened was the engine started running very roughly and a little smoke came from under the hood and it died again. after that I just pulled it over. One attempted restart later I called for a tow.
When we got it back to the shop my mechanic hooked it up to the computer, which gave the code that the cat was bad, when it was taken off later the guts of the cat were hanging out from the bottom; also the code for the V-Tech solenoid indicated a problem there. When he did the compression check, all three front cylinders had very bad compression 40psi or so (back ones were fine). He noted that the heads had been changed very recently (by an amateur, apparently, because the rocker arms were over-tightened with no gap). Apparently, most of the compression was going into the crankcase somehow. So with my permission he yanked the front head on the assumption that a bad head job had been done (here's where the labor charges started adding up). Once there, he could see fairly deep scoring on the cylinder walls in the front three cylinders. I halted work at that point. no clear determination was made of the cause. the heads were clearly brand new and the gasket was nearly perfect, the pistons were clean and undamaged. The scoring seemed to be of concern to the mechanics, I am no judge, but they were not horrible.
A gearhead buddy of mine came by to look at it. and told me that he had had a Honda engine on his wife's car create similar problems due to a bad front cat. one of his suggestions is to get a new cat and put it back together and see if it runs. If I go this route it will cost a new cat plus about $600 in labor. He was clear that it may not work.
I have been looking for an engine or a short block. they seem to be in short supply, either that or I do not know where to look. additionally the refurbished engines I have found are all more than $5000 and that is without the $1000 cat! i did locate a couple of used engines on the east coast, it seems silly to me to ship one all the way across the continent. i would like to find something more local to San Jose CA. If anyone has a suggestion on where to go I'd appreciate it.
Also, can someone help me with the proper engine #? I think what I'm looking for is a J35A6. Is that correct or is there something more specific?
Thanks for any additional input you want to share!
I live in Santa Cruz and bought from a private party in San Jose. The test drive seemed fine and I even had a friend's mechanic take a look before I paid - he thought it was fine but clearly he wasn't very thorough! So I bought it (paid cash), and headed back home. It was running smooth and strong over the SC mountains. I didn't push it - was just enjoying the drive. As I neared Scotts Valley, I was traveling downslope at about 65-70. I pushed on the accelerator lightly and the car seemed to hesitate a bit, i let off and then pressed again. the car responded by hesitating even worse almost slowing. Then the engine died. i drifted for a short ways then restarted the motor. At this point I can tell you that the front three cylinders were dead, but what happened was the engine started running very roughly and a little smoke came from under the hood and it died again. after that I just pulled it over. One attempted restart later I called for a tow.
When we got it back to the shop my mechanic hooked it up to the computer, which gave the code that the cat was bad, when it was taken off later the guts of the cat were hanging out from the bottom; also the code for the V-Tech solenoid indicated a problem there. When he did the compression check, all three front cylinders had very bad compression 40psi or so (back ones were fine). He noted that the heads had been changed very recently (by an amateur, apparently, because the rocker arms were over-tightened with no gap). Apparently, most of the compression was going into the crankcase somehow. So with my permission he yanked the front head on the assumption that a bad head job had been done (here's where the labor charges started adding up). Once there, he could see fairly deep scoring on the cylinder walls in the front three cylinders. I halted work at that point. no clear determination was made of the cause. the heads were clearly brand new and the gasket was nearly perfect, the pistons were clean and undamaged. The scoring seemed to be of concern to the mechanics, I am no judge, but they were not horrible.
A gearhead buddy of mine came by to look at it. and told me that he had had a Honda engine on his wife's car create similar problems due to a bad front cat. one of his suggestions is to get a new cat and put it back together and see if it runs. If I go this route it will cost a new cat plus about $600 in labor. He was clear that it may not work.
I have been looking for an engine or a short block. they seem to be in short supply, either that or I do not know where to look. additionally the refurbished engines I have found are all more than $5000 and that is without the $1000 cat! i did locate a couple of used engines on the east coast, it seems silly to me to ship one all the way across the continent. i would like to find something more local to San Jose CA. If anyone has a suggestion on where to go I'd appreciate it.
Also, can someone help me with the proper engine #? I think what I'm looking for is a J35A6. Is that correct or is there something more specific?
Thanks for any additional input you want to share!
Sorry to hear of your struggle - assuming this was a private party transaction I'm going to assume you can't get your money back.
Wikipedia reports that the 06 is a J35A9
You've got a couple choices:
- Cut your losses at an extreme loss (I doubt you'd get more than 4k for it in its current condition)
- Have a different mechanic work on it (the quotes youre getting a pretty ridiculous)
- My personal opinion: it would be better to sell the heads and get a remanufactured long block at the price above and install yourself. With a cherry picker included and the few hundred from the heads, you could probably do it for around 2k or less. Changing an engine is a lot easier than going inside an engine. If everything's ready to go it's literally unplug and support the transmission, pull out, line up, and reinstall. If you go this route, it's wise to replace the radiator on an 06 (look up SMOD on the search in the forums) and it would make the job easier to pull it out. Hell, you could remove the front of the truck and make this super easy on yourself. Then you have a nice vehicle with $10k into it and hopefully no problems in the near future.
I'm sorry you got truly screwed by this - it's a shame that people are willing to do this stuff to others. It sounds like you aren't financially destroyed by it, so I'm happy to hear you're still surviving.
PS Welcome to the forums, even amidst the circumstances. If you stick around I promise this is the most welcoming and supportive car forum I've been a part of.
Wikipedia reports that the 06 is a J35A9
You've got a couple choices:
- Cut your losses at an extreme loss (I doubt you'd get more than 4k for it in its current condition)
- Have a different mechanic work on it (the quotes youre getting a pretty ridiculous)
- My personal opinion: it would be better to sell the heads and get a remanufactured long block at the price above and install yourself. With a cherry picker included and the few hundred from the heads, you could probably do it for around 2k or less. Changing an engine is a lot easier than going inside an engine. If everything's ready to go it's literally unplug and support the transmission, pull out, line up, and reinstall. If you go this route, it's wise to replace the radiator on an 06 (look up SMOD on the search in the forums) and it would make the job easier to pull it out. Hell, you could remove the front of the truck and make this super easy on yourself. Then you have a nice vehicle with $10k into it and hopefully no problems in the near future.
I'm sorry you got truly screwed by this - it's a shame that people are willing to do this stuff to others. It sounds like you aren't financially destroyed by it, so I'm happy to hear you're still surviving.
PS Welcome to the forums, even amidst the circumstances. If you stick around I promise this is the most welcoming and supportive car forum I've been a part of.
I'm very sorry to hear of your situation. It's truly a terrible thing. It's obvious there was something very wrong with the truck, the original owner tried to get it fixed, had the fix be botched and then sold it off for an unsuspecting person to buy and deal with. It likely experienced the dreaded cylinder #4/5 issue and required a new head. For all three front cylinders to be low on compression, it means that they were starved of oil and the rings were fried. You could try having the block sent to a machine shop to be bored, but that would cost nearly as much as a new block.
If everything else about the truck is in good running order, it's likely worth it to just put in a new engine. The quote of $8000 is astronomical for that work. The engine itself (rebuilt or new) should run around $3500-4500 and it would take two days to put in. That equates to about $1500 in labor. There was a recent thread here about a member using the block from a Saturn Vue (same engine as used in the earlier Pilots). Check it out here:
http://www.ridgelineownersclub.com/forums/7-1g-under-hood-performance/201841-vue-motor-rl.html
In my years here, it's the first time I've seen a successful transplant of a J-series engine from another vehicle into a Ridgeline. You could also shop around at some junkyard sites or even on Ebay to find a complete Ridgeline engine. It must be the J35A9 for the smoothest installation possible. If you go this route, have the timing belt and water pump changed on the new engine before it goes into the truck.
Best of luck. I'm sorry your entrance into the ROC has to start this way, but we will all do what we can to help along the way.
If everything else about the truck is in good running order, it's likely worth it to just put in a new engine. The quote of $8000 is astronomical for that work. The engine itself (rebuilt or new) should run around $3500-4500 and it would take two days to put in. That equates to about $1500 in labor. There was a recent thread here about a member using the block from a Saturn Vue (same engine as used in the earlier Pilots). Check it out here:
http://www.ridgelineownersclub.com/forums/7-1g-under-hood-performance/201841-vue-motor-rl.html
In my years here, it's the first time I've seen a successful transplant of a J-series engine from another vehicle into a Ridgeline. You could also shop around at some junkyard sites or even on Ebay to find a complete Ridgeline engine. It must be the J35A9 for the smoothest installation possible. If you go this route, have the timing belt and water pump changed on the new engine before it goes into the truck.
Best of luck. I'm sorry your entrance into the ROC has to start this way, but we will all do what we can to help along the way.
This is the second report on this forum of a Ridgeline engine failure which _may_ have been due to disintegrating catalyst material being pulled back into the engine. This _could_ happen via the EGR system, which pulls exhaust from after the first catalyst and puts it back into the intake. I'm fuzzy as to whether this material could enter _only_ one bank or the other, rather than both at once. Perhaps it can (it's been a bit since I looked at EGR routing).
Very sorry to hear of the trouble, OP. I hope you find a more reasonable price for any work you decide to do.
Very sorry to hear of the trouble, OP. I hope you find a more reasonable price for any work you decide to do.
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
