So my sister drove to school today and went through a huge puddle which was pretty much a pond. As she saw this, she decided to go through it thinking she can plow through it because everyone else could. Well went through and the CAI sucked water into the intake and died and left her stranded in the puddle. Luckily a cop was behind her and called a tow truck for her and she got the car towed to Nissan in College Park. The guy called and said motor is seized and wont crank or anything and would need now long block which is $13k

What are the options?

1. Call insurance and have them look at it and very likely totaling out the car since its only worth about 14-16k
or
2. Finding another motor to swap
or
3. have it towed to a shop and have them rebuild the motor?

The Z is a 06 with a little over 45k on it.

 

Can you say TT build!!!!!!!!

BTW: smack sister in the head!!!!

 

The motor might be OK, if it's just that one or more of the cylinders is full of water (and no con rods are bent). Pull the spark plugs and see if it cranks. Then a few oil changes, etc., and keep your fingers crossed. Unlikely, but it;s worth a try.

In any case, a $13K long block seems a bit excessive, and the motor could very easily be rebuilt for much, much less.

 

Hey Chen! Funny enough I had very similar experience. My engine was once filled with water and actually caused a bent rod. Dave Shiroma from Function:Tuned did a shortblock swap for me and it ended up causing me about 3.5 - 4k including parts. He used another parts from stock block that he had in the shop. You could think about that option.

PS: I did not drive into the puddle on purpose...

 

You can buy a built block for cheaper

 

Expect to pay $3.5-5k for used longblock swap including labor. For 13k I'd expect a fully built 1000whp capable engine ready for some massive turbos.

 

Ethan, Va is a tab bit far to tow the car.

Is there anyplace around here that mainly work on Z's thats semi local? Nissan tried cranking the motor and what not and said its completely seized.

 

Since they want to charge you $13K, they may not have your best interests at heart. At the very least, they've got to pull the spark plugs, then crank it. Ask if they did that.

 

Hills or elite.

 

thats what I was thinking. Other dealers quoted me about $7800 for a new long block and about 12-17hrs of labor.

 

Hills Garage?!

 

I'd fish for quotes from both elite and hills. I'd say with elite you'd get a slightly better price and much faster turnaround. My rule of thumb is Elite for smaller stuff, or anything needing quick turnaround and Hills for longer term projects, custom builds, ect. Both are great shops. Elite did a longblock swap along with SC kit removal for a friend of mine, and the price was right.

 

i talked to the lady at hill gonna have a chat with her tomorrow.

 

Hills has a complete longblock ready to go in the car...

 

if you're in Bowie, go to Hills. I would also give PFS a call, they're *roughly* in the area. You might only need a shortblock and can possibly reuse the heads. Don't ever take the advice from the dealership because they quote you the highest job possible so the tech gets more money out of it (they don't get paid hourly, strictly by jobs.) However, I would take the quote they gave you and give that to your insurance so you can have 13k cash in your hands to play with.

 

Hopefully you didn't bend any connecting rods. It's cheaper to get a new sister.

 

Call Frank Hill!! He has a brand new engine sitting on an engine stand as I write this. (Unless he already sold it) You could have it towed there and have him look at it. He can tell you exactly what you have and what your options are. He is the best guy around. I cant recall what he was asking for it but it is a Rev-up.

Oh yeah, and smack your sister again. Just to make the rest of us feel better. Tell her to buy a truck for that sh*t!

 

Sorry to hear this man. That just plain sucks and one reason why I don't like CAI set-ups.

Let Frank at Hills check it out for you (he's closer by far than VA)...13K is an absurd amount if you ask me and others are right on on par with 3.5-5K depending on the condition and mileage of the motor you choose to purchase....there is no need or benefit to pay for a brand new one imo.

Mostly likely it is seized but to what extent who knows. The first step would be to scope the cylinders to see how much water is in there and get it out and see if you can spin the crank manually. From my understanding I am pretty sure most insurance companies do not cover this but I've never had it happen and had to really dig in to it.

Good Luck and get it to someone you trust as damage estimates like this can vary GREATLY depending on the honesty and ability of those doing the work.

I remember E10's as I had never actually seen that much water just sitting in cylinders before and his wouldn't even crank manually.

 

Chen,

I know exactly where that dealership is and after some seriously rude treatment i hauled azz and never went back again. I'd recommend anyone in our area to avoid them. Extremely unprofessional and horrid customer service. Keep us posted on the details and GL....

 

+1 It would normally be covered I would think by comprehensive, however the issue is that it happened because of a mod you did. It's pretty rare to lose the engine to hydrolock with no other obvious water damage with OEM intakes. Insurance companies are pretty keen on things like that these days unfortunately. Worth a shot though YMMV