Topline? Plastic thermostat housing??

[normburns]

Okay folks, the head is off, and I have a plan. It has a burned exhaust valve in the number 2 cylinder, and the rings on that piston are galled, hence the low compression. This is pretty much what I expected to find. I did NOT expect to find a plastic thermostat housing!

I am getting an engine rebuild kit from falconglobal for about $330. I can get a new water pump for about $25, a Topline.
I am getting a reman head from Odessa, with cams and head bolts.
I have not pulled the trigger on either of these deals yet.

What can you folks tell me about topline? Any good? I cannot even GET an oil pump through my local supply chains, and a reman water pump is $57 exchange. So I am thinking that if Topline is any good, this is the way to go.

I will not say there is no one who makes a reman motor for the Aveo, but I cannot find one through Advance, Auto Zone, Oreilly, or NAPA. NAPA is a "sort of: They contacted both Jasper and Grooms, and neither of them remans this motor. The folks at Grooms have an assoc that remans these, $2700 with a 3yr/100k warranty, but I am not real excited about going to a 3rd, or 4th party source to get it.

I know my mechanic has built some good motors, both import and domestic, so I am going with him.

Does anyone have a better source for the parts?
How about non-plastic thermostat housing and water hose ports?

I appreciate the information I have gained here. Normally, I would not put this kind of money into a 7 year old car, BUT... she loves her car, and the rest of it is pristine. She is not likely to get rid of it until it cannot be feasibly repaired any more. I figure for the cost of the rebuild, I can not buy her another car as good as this one will be again. It would be something unknown, with his mileage.

[Aveeo]

You can contact several local GM dealerships and get a quote for an engine. Ive never heard of the Topline brand. There are metal thermostat housings available for the Aveo, but the only place I know you can get it is from Ebay. There are other businesses you can buy it from, but I don't know where.

[MatLax]

Wouldn't it be cheaper to just buy a used engine in a scrap yard? Find one with low mileage and you are good to go and you can do the swap yourself in a day or two...

[normburns]

In a word, no. You are in Quebec. There maybe a lot of these in scrap yards in Quebec, but not down here. Went through my local junkyards, and they are talking 1200 and up, for motors with not many miles less than on this one, and NONE of them local. That means that every one of them would have a shipping charge on top of the purchase price. Found one on ebay, for 1800, with 104K on it. I DON'T THINK SO. This is also the car my wife drives, so I want it "right". I figure we will get another 6-7 years out of it this way, and she will be in the car she loves, so it will be money well spent.

[petrified.rabbit]

What year is your aveo? I am assuming an 04-05 with a throttle cable from the prices your quoting.
You can use the 06-08 engine with little work in swapping parts and possibly a relearn on the computer (which you would probably need anyways). Save a ton of money for the "hassle" of transferring the throttle body.

I have seen rebuilt heads on ebay, how much is odessa asking?

If you have a burned valve, that most likely causes the compression loss, how much work are you doing yourself? to check the rings, and possibly save a lot of work ad money, i would do a wet compression test, and a cylinder leak down. You came in here with a plan that is good, but also need to list why you came to that conclusion.


Topline is sold by ipp. (importperformanceparts.net) they also would sell a kit for your aveo i believe, but it would be the vauxhall reference number. Most likely a european type of company based on what parts they have available.

There IS an GM remanufactured engine with some miles and documentation for sale locally to me for $800 obo.. its a 2004.

[normburns]

thanks pr, I appreciate the heads up on the local engine, y the time I either came and got it, or had it shipped, it is more expensive. Can you send me a link on it? I can show it to the wife...

Yeah, did the wet compression test, did the leak down test, and it is a combination of valve and rings. The head from Odessa in FL is $585, with a 1 year warranty. That is with new bearings, and a fresh valve job.

What can you tell me about the difficulty of pulling the engine? According to my mechanic, it is a bear.

[petrified.rabbit]

i dont see it being hard to do, probably a 10 hour job, start to finish. Doax posted a thread where he pulled his, but the head was already off. Its about the same procedure. And he was doing it alone, in his spare time with "limited" tools help.. A shop should make it easier.

2004 chevy aveo

this is the link, he has had it for a while. his description has faded over time. If you want it, i would be glad to help you out on this end, as i want the rest of the car. i could pull it for you etc. I might even be able to help with delivery, or shipping.

For $585 i would suggest looking locally to getting your head done, i just had a performance head redbuilt for $400. (VW though)

what were the compression test numbers? it should have gone up wet, but what were before and after?

[normburns]

Link is dead. numbers were 125/125/25/125, after squirting oil into the cylinder, all were 125. This one might have been workable, depending on the miles. I am just not willing to spent high dollars on a high mileage motor.

The best machine shop around here, has no solid info on an Aveo. His best guess will put me over $500 on a head, and I would still have to get the head bolts. Around here, the head bolts are $96-98. That makes it cheaper to replace the head. According to the Service manager at the stealer, there is a TSB calling for replacing all of the valves, if one of them is burned. Since she will be driving it for a few more years, I figure I will just repair the best I can.

[petrified.rabbit]

the thing about that though suggests that the oil might have sealed the burnt valve as well..

valves are like 8 ad 9 bucks a piece, so $10 with shipping would be $160 for parts. plus valve stem seals, head gasket kit, and bolts. depending on the seats, etc, it could be just labor to install them. but lapping them at least would be like $150 or so..

i honestly have to issues with a used engine or rebuilt head, but it sounds like your leaning toward rings as well, so a used engine would be the easier of the two. and about the same price.

[normburns]

yeah, but working with what I have to work with down here... we'll rebuild. I will have about $1600-ish, in what amounts to a new engine.