Hi, I’m new to the group and looking for some advice please?
I have a much cherished 2008 2.0l NC which is in need of a new engine.
Can anyone recommend a reliable trustworthy garage/person who could fit, or supply and fit, a (used) replacement engine for me at a reasonable cost, preferably in the Worcestershire area (where I live) or in the Shropshire area (where car is currently) or anywhere in between?
Any suggestions on how I should go about sourcing a good used engine would also be much appreciated.
Unfortunately I’m working on a really tight budget (having already forked out a shedful of money to be told the engine is shot ), and as I’m a complete novice with cars/engines and don’t have anyone who’s able to give me advice on this, I’d really appreciate some pointers on the best way forward?
Maybe some have used Bloomsbuy Garage (MXheaven.co.uk) in Shropshire. They seem to be a general type of garage wh does MX5s. You need someone who generally knows these cars, as contacts in trade to get a good, running engine. Some of the second engine supply outfits can be absolute sharks. I assume your engine is beyond repair.
Sadly yes…to cut a very long story short, it went in to a local independent garage for a service and came back misfiring and juddering. Cylinder head and all pistons damaged after it seems a foreign body found it’s way in.
I think it’s a case of who’s to blame for the engine failure. If you didn’t put the foreign body into the engine before it went into the garage, surely it was the garage
A reputable breakers is possibly your best bet, there is Prestige in Rutland area and i suppose fleabay. (There’s a 2.0 on there at the moment but i have no affiliation to it ).
Mine has 127k miles on it but it has a replacement engine with 28k miles . I got a good one and i think there are still good one’s out there.
I would be wanting to go get the head off to see what this so called foreign object is that has done the damage. Did they do new plugs and was it running ok when it went in ? just wondering if something fell inside whilst plugs out.
I eventually took it to the local Mazda dealership for them to check it out as the original garage kept saying he didn’t know what was causing it. The dealership removed the cylinder head and found the piston damage but couldn’t find anything in there although they said that something had probably been dropped in there when the plugs had been changed.
The original garage had changed the plugs during the service and the guy told me at the time that they were corroded - but without evidence of something in there I don’t know how I’m going to be able to prove he was at fault. I was leaving that battle for another day as I’m just trying to get the car back on the road at the moment as it’s the only one I’ve got!
By the sounds of it, he needs more than a cylinder head.
Going rate for a used (not recon) NC motor from a MX5 breaker is £900-1000. Unless you can have a go at fitting it yourself, you are in for a bill approaching £1500-1700.
Another place to consider, if you can get the car there, is Sam Goodwin in Nuneaton (otherside of Birmingham).
The other alternative is to join the MX5 Owners Club, and possibly there might be someone with the mechanical skills to at least fit an engine for you, for cups of tea.
aye, missed the bit he said pistons damaged, I thought it was only the head for some weird reason.
I do wonder though as long as nothing went into the crank - if he got a used engine, take the head pistons and cylinder block. polish the cylinders fit new rings he’d be giving that car a new lease of life?
There is 2.0 engine with an eBay breaker, think it was 66000 miles, up for £1375 or offers though. Not too far away at Much Wenlock Shropshire. It’s a tough call to spend prob around £2k on a 2008 car.
Having read all this and I get your point of your only car and all that…,
But, based on the fact it was working fine before you took it in for a service I would be having a very strong polite chat with the owner of the garage to fix it at their expense.
Also get a loan car while they do it.
Clearly, whoever worked on the car has done a shoddy job and damaged it.
Just an opinion.
Very odd this, i used to have a small garage back in the 80s/90s before ecu’s and laptops overtook my knowledge of distributers and carbs. dropping something into a sparkplug hole by accident isn’t an impossibility, I cannot remember doing it myself but I had a couple of close calls over the years, but the odd part about this is if a screw or nut accidently dropped down a plug hole it wouldn’t damage all 4 pistons, that would need something in every cylinder. As for getting out of the situation i’d say look towards one of the big salvage breakers it will be a bit dearer but they will give some kind of warranty and also as they tend to deal with accident damaged cars it was probably a decent runner not a worn out knacker your average scrap yard tends to get. I used the big one just outside Nantwich a few times [cant remember their name on the A51 I think opp the ice cream place] i don’t remember having a problem with them.
A fair distance from you: Roddisons Motorsport Sheffield S9 1US 0114 244 5300,
ask for Paul, arguably the most knowledgeable person to contact in the UK.
It seems to me that if the engine was running fine when it arrived at the garage,
and was wreckage when it left the garage, then the reason and the responsibility
rests with the garage.
Personally, I’d tackle them for complete payment of costs to rectify.
I wouldn’t trust them in any variations of repair, supply or fit engine or replacement engine.
Just full settlement of all bills arising out of it all.
), and as I’m a complete novice with cars/engines and don’t have anyone who’s able to give me advice on this, I’d really appreciate some pointers on the best way forward?
