Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: MaxV6 on 24 January 2008, 01:08:51
-
While I was out working in London, her indoors took a call today from Heathrow Engine centre (took their bloody time, I asked for a quote nearly a week ago, before I'd spoken to James.
they've quoted £1300 (possibly + VAT, Wifey's a bit vague, doesn't really understand VAT as an additional figure) ) for a full replacement (recon, not new, I think) engine, FITTED..... to my Elite....
with a transferable 5 year warranty....
I know I'm already committed to letting James have the elite as a project, but humour me.... anyone heard anything about these guys, anyone used them, ???
http://www.reconditioned-engines.co.uk/
it's one of those, "I wish they'd said so sooner " moments....
but also.... one of those "it's probably more than the car's worth" moments...
(i'm thinking actually about the same thing for a different car.... )
-
I personally wouldn't be spending £1300+ on an engine to go in a 10 year old car - when you can pick up an 03 reg 3.2 for the money you described ;)
My opinion is probably biased (I want the project :P ) - but I do geninely mean that - it doens't seem like that much of an appealing idea to me...
-
is it recon or replacement, mate of mine was fleeced badly for not
knowing the difference
darren
-
I'm with you generally James..... Wifey on the other hand, was kind of interested on the basis of 5 year warranty, and the fact we already know about the rest of the car ;)
But I've agreed the sale with you, and I'm a man of my word.... it was more of a question in general, and in case the Sintra Lump (same engine remember) isn't all that well when i finally get it sorted again....
I'm probably gonna call that geezer with the 03, (although, as some have rightly pointed out , that in itself is something of a gamble.... and it may well need more work to it as well....... )
that said, I did check out the list at Witney auctions earlier......
;)
nice beemer 330 tourers :D
or a couple of Met-Plod estate Meega V6's/.
probably going to be too steep for me right now though, from my vague recollections of such things many years ago.
anyone kno what sort of prices Plod motors are fetching at auction these days?
-
Another one bites the Dust!!!
-
I've heard variable reports about Heathrow engines. Can't remember the details but someone was not too happy with them. :-/
My take on it is that few people can build an engine as well as the original manufacturer, and given that V6's rarely fail, I'd rather have one out of a scrapper for a couple of hundred quid than take a chance on a re-cond one.
Kevin
-
Max, you need to let me have a play with that Sintra ;)
-
I take it this is the car I will be picking up for James? lol
Whats wrong with the poor thing? I agree, if your talking about a new engine at £1300 then there are much better alternatives!
-
I take it this is the car I will be picking up for James? lol
Whats wrong with the poor thing? I agree, if your talking about a new engine at £1300 then there are much better alternatives!
The garage diagnosed HG failure, and pulled the heads off. They now want to charge Max silly money to fix it, so I'm probs gonna put my other 3.0 lump in it :)
-
Oh bit of a bugger for max as most likely was just oil cooler...but now the heads are off there is little else you could do but change the head gasket, cam belt and so on!!! morons!
-
That would be silly money to spend on a car that age. I just bought a facelift manual estate for £1200 with a year MOT. Ok had to do cam belt and might need to do rocker gaskets, but still more viable than just buying a recon engine that might have a warrenty thats not really woeth the paper it's written on.
-
Clarification
DEFINITELY not the oil cooler. (that was sorted by Mark last year), or breathers, or transfer pipe, or anything else minor.... they've ALL been done
the thing is leaking coolant from the rear Near side corner of the Passenger side Head/block seam.
it's been thouroughly dried off and inspected, it is actually the gasket joint seam that is leaking, it's not trailing in from anywhere else.
heads are on, but NOTHING else is....
Max
-
I feel a "throw it together and drive it home" plan falling into place very soon ::)
-
Possibly a core plug leaking badly. Either way, probably easier to put a 'known good' engine in
-
I have to agree, a know second hand engine is the best bet :y
Oh and don't buy one from the bloke that supplied Tunnies engine ::)
-
I missed out on whatever befell tunnie.... please do illuminate by day by sharing :D
-
This should take you a while ;)
http://www.omegaowners.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1200247020
-
If Heathrow Engines are who I think they are you want to stay away.
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&t=348255
-
If this is the same Heathrow engine centre that used to be located at twickenham trading estate, then the terms Barge, touch, Would'nt come to mind. This firm allegedly were caught steam cleaning old units and selling as recons without doing anything to them at all. When they did do anything the engines failed after a few thou, and then would not honour the Garentee. ALLEGEDLY. :o
-
Note to self 1....
don;t buy engine from scrappy.
Note to self 2
Don't die
Note to self 3.
hang on... i've got breakdown cover..... on my car insurance.... what does it cover?/
-
I can't remember the name of the programme, but a year or two aqo a firm was featured, in something like watchdog, who took vehicles in to repair or recondition engines and then blatantly stripped everything out and did nothing. When owners finally chased them they were completely hard faced and demanded more money to return the vehicle, whether work done or parts replaced, or not.
Even trading standards people seemed powerless to stop them or get recompense and they literally got away with it repeatedly. Most owners just gave up, leaving them to dispose of the vehicle/parts as they wished. It was unbelievable, but quite true apparently.
I'd have burned the place down.
-
I can't remember the name of the programme, but a year or two aqo a firm was featured, in something like watchdog, who took vehicles in to repair or recondition engines and then blatantly stripped everything out and did nothing. When owners finally chased them they were completely hard faced and demanded more money to return the vehicle, whether work done or parts replaced, or not.
Even trading standards people seemed powerless to stop them or get recompense and they literally got away with it repeatedly. Most owners just gave up, leaving them to dispose of the vehicle/parts as they wished. It was unbelievable, but quite true apparently.
I'd have burned the place down.
Yes, there's a link on that Pistonheads thread to a watchdog article but sadly it's not on the BBC website any more.
-
Note to self 3.
hang on... i've got breakdown cover..... on my car insurance.... what does it cover?/
That'll be like the AA won't it? Roadside assistance rather than a mechanical warranty as such.
-
yeah I know....... sadly.......
Roadside + Relay + homestart, doesn;t get Heads sorted at the side of the road ;)
which I think is a bit of a shame ;)
-
Did you know, they can fix 99.8% of breakdowns at the side of the road?
That was what my mate got told when he specifically asked for a recovery truck.
The call centre droid was adamant that he didn't need a recovery truck.
He then proceeded to list the engine parts that he could see lying on Maidenhead high street, underneath the sump, in a puddle of oil. It wasn't pretty. Included bits of bearing, bits of bearing cap, bits of piston, bits of sump, etc...
Eventually he must have been put through to someone who knew that these bits weren't going to go back together ;D
Kevin
-
Not sure ... but I think Heathrow Engines got some VERY bad press from watchdog a while back ??
edit .. done a google ... READ THIS !!
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=heathrow+engines+watchdog&btnG=Google+Search&meta=
-
Sorry, Note to self 4
avoid heathrow engine centre
-
Did you know, they can fix 99.8% of breakdowns at the side of the road?
That'll be because 99.8% of breakdowns are a flat tyre or flat battery! ::)
-
You could of course buy this http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Vauxhall-Opel-Omega-spares-or-repair_W0QQitemZ280194572253... whip the engine/box out, and sell the rest. That way you get a fairly new engine with 100K on the clock for not a lot. OK, a slight pain fitting it, but with a decent hoist it should be OK.
Ken
-
nearly sure heathrow engine center was featured on watchdog 4/5 years ago for dodgy workmanship...sure there warranty is only valid if they service it....
-
Made the right choice - your new one looks very tidy :y