6 Signs Your Car Needs An Engine Repair

I have decided to share this with everyone just to help someone out there who might be in the shoe i was once in.

As a lover of Manual Tranny, i missed and wanted to keep one at home to drive so i eventually got a fairly used Nissan Primera p11 (1998) quite clean and ok, but one issue, Revving the engine brings out smoke from the exhaust, not a serious smoke actually but if u are the type that know your onions, it is clearly an indication that Valves and/or Rings and starting to worn out and allowing oil into them little by little.

*Please note that i knew about this before i agree with the deal and the price the vehicle was given out was ok for me to replace the engine if i wish to.

I guess this happened due to the Negligence of the former owner and the type of engine oil he uses.

The thing is, u cant find out yourself except if someone rev the vehicle for you while u watch from the rear.

Some other days, the vehicle brings out smokes for few seconds after parking overnight.

Apart from the smoking part, i took time to check underneath the engine bottom plate or oil pan (not a mechanic so i actually don’t know what that is called) and found oil at the bottom, which actually indicates there is a leak. And d way thing look dow there, i can see that the pan hit a hard stuff and i guess there is a little crack

Now there are 3 things involved,
1. My engine oil is leaking from the bottom due to a crack oil pan
2. It sometimes brings out blue smoke after parking a long time, for instance, overnight.. then stops, i.e valve seals are bad.
3. Revving a bit higher brings out blue smokes too, visible only to people behind u.. i.e my Piston rings are beginning to go bad already.

Although the car moves well and the engine still very active, i know i v got to get solution to those stuffs before it kills the engine and probably smoking all day on with no compression later on.

Did i tell u i had to top 1L of oil every 2 weeks since it’s shortening and after a long journey?

I decided to visit a trusted mechanic and i explained things to him.

On the issue of engine, i had an option of either buying another one which costs about 130k or rebuild my existing one with new valve seals and rings which costs around 30k.

I have heard a lot of sad stories concerning ringing so i opted that one out. Some even said it doesn’t last more than 6 months.
He smiled and explained some things to me.

“A successful Ringing involves an experience mechanic and also using genuine parts, ” and that “some of the engines which is even sold to people as tokunbo are the refurbished ones, worked on with new rings by us here and resold as tokunbo”

I wasn’t really convinced at first but after some months i made a calculation..

*A new Tokunbo engine costs around 130k (I wasn’t ready to spend that on something am not even sure of the quality)

*My mechanic will rebuild my old engine for 30k

*I buy 1Litre oil for top-up every 2weeks at 2k, thats 4k for a month, apart from the regular service i do every 2 months with an oil of 4k.

So for a total of 6 months, l will use about 10Litres (10 cans of 1L) topping oil and 8Litres (2 cans of 4L) for regular servicing which makes a total of N28,000 just for the oil aside workmanship.

Now, why not put this money together and try out the engine ringing, use it for the same 6months. It’s iron cast built engine anyway so it shouldn’t be very hard for a successful rebuilding afterall, according to what i got online.

Besides, the money is not even up to what some people will give to a lady or buy drinks at a go. Even some people spend more than that to service their cars just one month.

Job started, oil pan was replaced.. New rings and valve seals done. The whole job took 3 days.

Before i went to pick it up, i read about what and what not to do after ringing an engine so i got that covered

Throughout my journey home, i wasn’t convenient driving the car as i was busy listening to any sign of somethin breaking in the engin