Need Advice on my 1996 Four Runner

Hello!
My name is Sarah, I am in college and my 1996 Four Runner is broken, I paid around $1K to fix it and it has the same problem. I am not sure what is wrong with it and I am pretty busy. I want to either fix it or sell it. Do you guys have any advise?

 

welcome
Very cryptic . What is exactly broken and is it something that will be throwing 1K at it every time?

 

Hello! Sorry my last message was vague. I went to the auto shop, and they told me my car had two misfires. They recommended two options:

1. replace the engine, or
   
   
2. replace the spark plugs, add heavy oil, and replace the coils.

I chose the second option, but I am starting to think the first option might have been safer.

Here are the symptoms my car has been having:
A few weeks after getting my oil changed, the oil light kept coming on whenever I was idling or driving slowly. Then the check-engine light turned on, so I decided to take it into the shop. On the way there, the car started making horrible whirling and loud noises, and that’s when they told me I might need a new engine.

I just got the car back from the shop, and I’m nervous to drive it. It was fine for a minute, but now both the oil light and the engine light are back on, and it’s starting to make a noise again—just not as loud as before.

My dad still thinks the car has good value and is in good shape, especially given its history. When I first got it, the engine was fairly new with only about 60,000 miles on it. But since he’s in California and I’m in Colorado, he doesn’t want to give me the wrong advice without seeing it in person.

 

Welcome

 

Welcome aboard.

 

Sorry to hear this. Your dad is right. Still has good value. If you can’t afford the new engine or used. Get rid of it. I’m being brutally honest with you. It’s going to leave you stranded. I have a daughter (27) that’s the advice I’d give her.

 

Welcome

 

You chose correctly. You don't replace an engine for a misfire.

 

So to really determine whether and engine needs replacing, you need to do a compression test AND a leak down test of all cylinders.

One tells you the health of the rings and cylinders and the other the health of the heads and valves.

If those tests come back all within spec then nearly anything else can be fixed or addressed on the engine. If they come back negative, especially the compression test, you probably need a new engine.

Also, you need to make sure you get printouts of that test data from the shop.

Until those tests are done, there is nothing that we can really decide here. If that shop didn't do those very easy tests first...then go to a different shop. They ripped you off.

 

If the shop won't tell you more detail as to why a new engine is needed it is best to go elsewhere and ask for a proper diagnosis. Any shop suggesting a new engine owes that to a customer. Can you share the 'history' you mention? Guessing that the 60k engine was a replacement engine and not the original.

 

To be brutally honest... If the oil light is on and you drive it any distance, the engine is probably toast. I'm thinking you have a massive oil leak somewhere. Do you check the oil every time you drive it? It's potentially got a hole in the pan or a main seal has completely failed.

It needs to be towed (not driven) to a good shop that will tell you what is actually wrong. The heavy oil is not a fix for anything. It is a trick by used car dealers and shitty mechanics to make a bad engine sound good. The plugs and coils are something to pad the repair bill.