Hi from MA

I just purchased about a week and a half ago a 2004 Aveo Sedan (check my garage) with only 83K miles from a guy in New Hampshire. He had bought the car with an engine skip, and after reading a lot of stuff all over the internet, he delved in and bought a new head, coil packs and a bunch of other items and basically overhauled the whole top of the engine.

Unfortunately, the skip didn't go anywhere. After spending well over $1k on the car he gave up and I bought it from him.

Upon receiving the car, my mechanic reset the ECU, skip was still there. He compression tested it and the compression in #2 cylinder was between 30 and 50 PSI.

The compression came up slightly with the oil test, and when he put penetrating oil in, the compression went to zero.

He thinks it is either a: Cracked Block, Bad ring, or bad piston.

I say $$$$$$ that I don't have!

A mechanic friend of mine told me that I could pull the head, drop the oil pan, turn crank until the #2 piston is at the bottom, unscrew the piston from the crank and push/pull it out the top. Inspect the cylinder walls for discoloration, replace the piston and rings if needed, then put it back together.

MY mechanic told me that was impossible, that in order to properly do the job, you need to pull the engine out so you can torque and set the piston properly.

Has ANYONE had these issues? What is the route you took? I am at my wits end, and almost out of money. I have $470 to my name. Attachment 10633

Sorry to hear of your bad luck Darsen.

You can rebuild an engine in a car. Is it ideal? Probably not, but its definitely doable.

My mechanic told me that for this type of job, you HAVE to take the engine out. To properly torque down the bolts and stuff. He said a mechanic in his shop did it like this one time.. they took it for a test drive and within a mile of the shop, the crank shaft went through the side of the motor. They had to buy a new motor for the car.

I have called all of the vocational schools in my area to see if they would do it and all of them told me they do not do major engine work. My dad who went to voc school to be a mechanic gagged on his food when I told him that. They did EVERYTHING.. boring out cylinders, superchargers, transmissions, even repairing starters and alternators.

I am trying to see if I should fish or cut bait with the car..

Sometimes I feel a hear a skip at a cold start but it goes away. you could easily buy a used motor and easily swap parts over For less than 350. I did that with the manual transmission recently.

Piston/ring issues on these engines is very unusual. Is there any smoke coming from the tail pipe while it's running? Before considering any repair, I'd advise you to get another compression test and a leak down test if the compression reads low again. The leak down test should be able to pinpoint the problem, and that will tell you what level of repair would be required.

Regardless of a 'new' head being installed, IMO it's more likely to be a problem on the top end, rather than below, provided that you're not seeing it smoking while running. The replacement head could have arrived with a problem. or perhaps it was not not installed completely correctly.

It doesn't make sense to me to bail on this Aveo before knowing exactly what the actual problem is.

We did the oil test, the compression came up slightly. When the mechanic put in penetrating oil, the compression went to zero. He unhooked the cam shafts and closed all the valves in the head, compression was unaffected.

Also, my mechanic said there was evidence of a bad overheat. On the dash board in front of each vent, the plastic has been bleached white in a weird air blown pattern. Looks like some super hot air blew out and fried the color of the dash and he said he saw signs in the engine bay too.

What at type of damage would a bad overheat to to this engine?

I normally don't criticize a professional mechanic's work, especially since I'm just a DIYer, but frankly some of the stuff he's doing sounds hokey to me. I don't understand why he wouldn't just do a standard leak down test, which should be able to pinpoint the actual problem. Even after everything he's done so far, you're still throwing darts. What a complete waste of time and money it would be if you ripped the engine completely apart and it turns out to be a bad head gasket. I'd suggest finding another shop to see what they can do, but I understand your funds are tight. Older used vehicles are really tough to deal with, and I hope this eventually works out ok for you.

Find another motor. Stop throwing darts ��. motor reassembly install drive

Motors for this car are crazy expensive!! I can get a Civic motor (SOHC) for $700, I cannot touch a decent Aveo motor for much less than $1k

Mechanic did what I thought was a leak down using motor oil in hole where the spark plug was. The compression came up slightly. He did the same with penetrating oil and compression went to zero.