my 08 cooper S just died last week... dealer found a exhaust valve is chipped and isnt holding any pressure on cylinder 4

they quoted me $10k to put a new engine on and the shop that I called quoted me $6k to put in a high mileage engine. Neither one seems to be a good option to me so I just want to sell it... but I am not sure how much does it worth...

the car has 110k on it but everything is fine other than the engine. the tech at the dealership actually checked a whole bunch of stuff for me before they found the engine is dead

any thoughts?

 

Is the compression good in the remaining cylinders? Is low compression in number 4 the only problem? I would try getting a quote from an independent for a valve job..

 

So just replace that valve? As long as the cylinder wall isnt screwed up, at worst you have 4 valves to replace and a piston. Or just rebuild the engine, new pistons, rods, and a ported head. 6k sounds high to me though, especially for a high mileage engine. New engines from way are somewhere around $5k i think.

 

The report only shows #4 is dead... but before I brought the car to dealership another shop told me both #3 and #4 have 0 compression. The dealer said they used a boroscope to look inside and found the cylinder wall scoring. I dont know much about engine, but I do not think they can fix the wall easily without replacing the block?

 

Kind of sounds like you're getting two different stories? Doesn't look good. Anyways, in answer to your original question. You know it will cost between $5-10k to replace the engine. Subtract that from your asking price (pre-blown engine), that's pretty much where you have to start. Your pool of potential buyers is going to be small, so you'll probably have to do a steep discount. The perfect buyer would be a DIY're self person willing to take it on as a project..

 

Just curious, has there been any success in transplanting engines other than original that may provide better reliabily and performance?

 

There isnt exactly much room to play around with an engine swap. Only thing i can think of that's reliable with performance that might fit is a civic engine. Be curious to see i an SI engine would fit.

 

110k mile 08s, probably around $10k if you are lucky, with a working engine. Blown engine car is probably $3k. Same as what my insurance offered me on my last mini after i totaled it for the buy back, and that was on a 40k mile car...

 

How much would it cost to have his engine rebuilt with very high quality internals better than stock, that's what some have done when their engine died. Just buy a GP2 already as my local dealer has three of them!

 

I am planning to ask around and ask for quote to rebuild the engine... The only thing I do not know is if it will be cheaper than replacing the engine.