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What You Need to Know About Water Pumps

May 6, 2010 By Leave a Comment

A properly functioning water pump is critical to the continued functionality of any engine. If your water pump fails and you continue to drive your vehicle while the engine is hot, you will destroy your engine – no ifs, ands, or butts about it. Your engine relies on your water pump to force coolant through its water jacket. By forcing coolant that has just gone through the radiator into the engine, you also force the heated coolant out of the engine and into your vehicle’s radiator where it is cooled as it travels through the radiator, only to come out, hit the water pump, and go through the cycle again.

Water pumps are a belt driven accessory with two main different configurations. The first configuration type involves the power originally coming from the crank shaft pulley. Some vehicles use a serpentine belt to drive all accessories, including the water pump. If this is the case for your vehicle, your serpentine belt is very important. In addition to driving the water pump, it would also drive the alternator, power steering pump, and air conditioning compressor. It does this by taking power from the crank shaft pulley which is typically mounted on the front of the engine. You can also take power from the crank shaft pulley indirectly. For example, I have a friend with a 1968 Corvette with a water pump driven by a double pulley that comes of the air conditioning compressor. The main belt spins the air conditioning compressor pulley not only rotates the compressor, but has a secondary groove with the water pump belt in it. That belt in turn rotates the air conditioning compressor.

The second main type of water pump configuration is one in which the timing belt drives the water pump. This is common in Camry engines, Honda engines, or any vehicle with an interference engine (my 1997 Audi A4 has a water pump driven by the timing belt). Here is something you should know. Any time you change a water pump driven by a timing belt, replace the belt. Any time you replace a timing belt that drives a water pump, replace the the water pump.

There are two reasons for this. The first is that both of these are maintenance items. They have to be replaced at some point or your engine won’t work (I have information on maintenance schedules below).

The second reason is that if your belt or pump breaks, the other unit won’t work. If your water pump locks up, it will strip the teeth on the timing belt. If that happens, and you have an interference engine, you’ll be calling Low Mileage Engines looking for a new motor. While we value our customers and want to do a good job for you, we prefer helping folks who have gotten a lot of life out of their original engine and haven’t had a preventable failure!

You should always follow your vehicle’s owners manual for the maintenance schedule. A General rule of thumb for vehicles made in the last 20 years are that if you have a KIA, you should replace the belt and water pump every 40,000 miles. All other vehicles should be considered for a timing belt change at 60,000 miles. Again, and I cannot stress this enough, make sure you replace the belt driving the water pump when you replace it, and vice versa.

Age should also be taken into consideration in the maintenance schedule. Personally, if the mileage to justify a change hasn’t been reached but the belt has been in use for five years, I would change it because belts can get dry rot over time. Changing a belt is so cheap compared to what could happen  if the belt breaks that it doesn’t make sense to not change it.

You should consider replacing the water pump on any used engine you install, period. As a bolt on accessory, a water pump isn’t warranted and failure could lead to overheating, which voids any warranty. This includes warantees on new engines, used engines, remanufactured engines, reconditioned engines, rebuilt engines, or any other adjective in front of “engines.”

If your water pump has failed and you find yourself needing a replacement engine, please, call the sales staff of Low Mileage Engines at 901-266-9996. We would be more than happy to quote you on the engine you need, explain what makes our warranty the best in the industry, and answer any questions you may have.

no ifs, ands, or buts

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In Light of the Toyota Recalls, Should I Replace my Toyota Engine?

April 23, 2010 By Leave a Comment

I’ve been talking to a lot of customers over the last several months asking us flat out if they should fix their Toyota. Drivers are worried about safety and investing money into a vehicle that might see a rapid decline in value.-

The fact is that whether you have a Camry, a 4Runner, a Tacoma, or any other late model Toyota, replacing your engine still probably makes sense – whether you choose to keep your vehicle or not. You have to make a decision that works for you, your family, and your financial situation. My job is to make you aware of what you need to know when you look for a used Toyota Engine.

The first question you need to ask is “What happens if I do nothing?”

If you don’t replace your engine, you will be stuck with a yard decoration that you can keep or sell. If you keep it, you’re a unique breed, and I can’t help you! If you sell it, know that you’re only going to get around 25% of the wholesale value the vehicle has with a good engine in it. In other words, a $10,000 car with a bad engine is worth, at most, $2,500. If you have a paid for car worth  $10,000, figure you will invest at most $4,000 to replace it ($2500 for engine, $1500 for installation – this is a HIGH figure). In this example, by replacing the engine, you net $6,000. Since you’re not buying another car, you net an additional $10,000. That’s right – replacing your engine just saved you $16,000.00.

The next question you need to ask is “Would a replacement vehicle be a better option?”

If you can stomach throwing away $16,000, and need another reason to replace your engine, consider the value of “the known.” You know your vehicle, you know how you have maintained it, and you know whether or not it has a good chance of needing other major repairs. You know what you’re dealing with.

Sadly, one of our largest customer groups is people who have just bought a used car. They drive it off the lot without having a mechanic look at it prior to their purchase. A week later, boom. It could be an original high mileage engine failing. It could be due to lack of previous maintenance. Sadly, a common reason is that the engine was replace with a high mileage piece of junk by the dealership. I know that I answer calls all day long from used car dealerships looking for a $500 engine. Here’s a hint: $500 dollar engines typically aren’t worth the $500 you pay for them – especially when dealing with late model Toyota engines.

The last question you need to ask is “Is replacing my Toyota Engine a patch, or a good long term solution?”

In 2003, I replaced the engine in my aunts 1997 Toyota Camry. This is 2010. She has put close to 200,000 miles on the engine I got her. If you get a good low mileage engine, replacement is considered a “permanent repair.” Recently, I purchased a 2002 Toyota Camry with a bad 2.4L engine. The vehicle has 189,000 miles in it. I’m putting a 19,000 mile engine and a 16,000 mile transmission in it, along with a new all aluminum radiator and new struts. My expectation is to have the equivalent of a new car for used car price when I’m done

In conclusion, I would say that yes, you should fix your Toyota if you have a bad engine. You’ll save yourself a lot of money and have a good, lasting solution. By avoiding the headaches that can come with buying a used car, you can avoid stress and drive your vehicle “on the cheap” without sacrificing safety and worrying about getting stranded on the road.

If you need an engine, please, contact our sales team at 901-266-9996. We would love to help find an engine that will last you a long time – at a good, fair price!

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Replacing Your Toyota Celica GT Engine

March 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Toyota owners have lots of worrisome recall news lately–but you positively envy most of them. Your Toyota Celica GT engine is shot, and you know what that means: a big, big repair bill. Toyota’s reputation will come back. But your Celica needs some work, and that’s going to cost a lot.

Not so fast. You can save considerable money by buying a low-mileage used engine from Low Mileage Engines, and get the performance you would expect from a re-built engine, or an engine from Toyota after a few months to a couple of years of use.

How do you know? When you buy from Low Mileage Engines, you get a CARFAX vehicle history report to verify the miles of wear, and a one-year standard-parts warranty. Like any company that provides quality, we don’t like lemons, and we don’t like the companies that fool customers into buying them. That’s why we’re proud to participate in the Better Business Bureau reliability program, and why we’re proud to have the best record in the business.

Request an engine quote today on a low-mileage Toyota Celica engine. We’ll get to work finding you the best deal possible on a reliable product. We have ready-to-go products that have been tested, pre-cleaned, and certified ready to sell. We’ll show you the CARFAX vehicle report, and we’ll stand behind your almost-new engine with our one-year warranty.

We don’t want to repair the engines we sell, so we test them first. But if you have any trouble under the one-year warranty, we go out of our way to make the repair as simple and straightforward as possible.

So do the math. Toyotas still enjoy top-of-the-line resale value, but not Toyotas that don’t run.

So you can buy a new engine direct from the dealer, at a cost that rivals some new cars. You can scour the junkyards yourself, cross your fingers, and buy an engine with little to go by but the word of the yard owner, only to go through it all again in six months. You could get a towing company to take your Celica away for parts. If you’re lucky, you won’t have to pay them to take it off your hands–and sacrifice thousands of dollars over the cost of the engine in lost resale value.

Or, you can come to Low Mileage Engines, where replacing engines is what we do. We do everything we can to take the risk out of buying a used engine, from the Vehicle History report, to custom quotes, to machine-testing every Japanese market engine we sell, to our industry-leading warranty. We don’t just want to sell you an engine; we want to sell you a good engine.

With an almost-new engine from Low Mileage Engines, you know what you’re getting: a high-quality used engine with a known track record and a warranty. We believe our engines will run trouble-free for years past their warranty, and our BBB record attests that in most cases they do just that.

So whether you’re a home mechanic, a repair shop, or a dealership, if you need a Toyota Celica engine, call Wade today at 901-384-5624 (direct) for a fast, free, no-obligation quote on the Celica engine you need.

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Toyota, China, and You

December 1, 2009 By Leave a Comment

In the US, the first fuel crisis prompted the creation of the CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards. These standards have changed over the years in the US, getting tighter and tighter – the government is demanding more fuel economy, and recently made huge leaps in demands. The basics of fuel economy boil down to engine displacement, vehicle weight, and engine efficiency. With our current levels of technology and all other things equal, lighter (smaller) cars will always get better fuel efficiency than heavier cars.

Enter China. They have 4x as many people as the US, and next year they are projected to surpass us in the size of their auto market. And they seem very concerned about emissions and fuel economy. The Wall Street Journal reports that China is putting a large tax on vehicles with engine displacement greater than 3.0L. The article further goes on to say that Toyota is moving fast to provide smaller engines – fast.

What kind of vehicles does this affect? If this were the US, the six cylinder Camry would be taxed – it has a displacement of 3.5L (the six cylinder Toyota Camry engine from 1992-2006 was a 3.0L engine). The new Ford Taurus engine that has been receiving so much attention because of its efficient 3.5L EcoBoost engine? Yup! Taxed. Heavily.

Japan has had multiple tax tiers for vehicles based on their engine displacement since before I was born. Europe has focused on smaller engines with turbo chargers for different reasons.

This leaves the US and Canada as the only nations in which big displacement vehicles for daily drivers are the norm. As the biggest market in the world for vehicles, this didn’t matter in the past. With China surpassing the North American market and with the US government pushing for higher efficiency standards, I wonder how long we have left to enjoy (or tolerate, depending on your disposition) large vehicles with large engines in the US. Certainly there has been and will continue to be a respite in our desire for large displacement engines. Most likely, only an alternate fuel source can revive the American love relationship with big engines.

If you need an engine, please call us at (800) 709-9233. We carry a full lineup of used and remanufactured engines, and take the obligation we have to provide great customer service to all who contact us seriously.

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Toyota Tundra Used Engines

July 22, 2009 By 3 Comments

The Toyota Tundra was first sold for the 2000 model year. Even though they’re produced in Princeton, IN and San Antonio, TX, the Tundra is still considered to be an import. Noteably, it was the first full sized import truck sold in the USA. With the model getting close to reaching the ten year mark, we’ve seen an increase in demand for Tundra used engines. We have experience with all four engines offered in Tundra’s to this point, those being the 3.4L 5vz-FE, 4.0L 1GR-FE, the 4.7L 2UZ-FE, and the 5.7L 3UR-FE.

3.4L 5vz-FE 6 cylinder engine

The 5VZ-FE is one of the most widely used Toyota engines of all time. In addition to the Tundra, it has also been used in the Toyota Tacoma, Toyota 4Runner, and Toyota T100.The actual displacement of the engine is 3378cc. We’ve sold a number of these engines for other applications, but rarely get calls on them for use in Tundra applications. The 5VZ-FE was used in the Tundra from 2000-2005. We would rate this engine 4.5/5 on reliability.

4.0L 1GR-FE 6 cylinder engine

The 1GR-FE was first offered in the Tundra beginning in 2005, and was also used in the Toyota 4Runner, toyota Land Cruiser, Toyota Tacoma, Toyota Tundra, and Toyota FJ Cruiser. Using 87 octane gasoline, it is rated at 236 horsepower. This 4.0L engine has a 94mm bore and a 95mm stroke. I would rate reliability at 4.8/5.

4.7L 2UZ-FE 6 cylinder engine

The 2UZ-FE engine has been used in Lexus GX 470, Lexus LX 470, Toyota Land Cruiser, Toyota 4Runner,  and Toyota Sequoia. This engine has an actually displacement of 4663cc and is a 32 valve, dual overhead cam. In our experience, this is the most called on engine in the early years. We’ve found these to be good, solid engines. The most common reason customers who call us need one of these engines is that they’ve run them without any oil. The 2UZ-FE was used in the Tundra from 2000-2005 and is produced by Toyota. We would rate this engine a 4.5/5 on reliability.

5.7L 3UR-FE 8 cylinder engine

We assume the 3UR-FE engine is very reliable. Why do I say assume? Because it doesn’t seem like many people are looking for them! This engine has also been used in the Toyota Sequoia, Toyota Land Cruiser, and Lexus LX 570. With a bore of 94mm and a stroke of 102mm, this engine is rated at 381 horsepower. We give this engine a 4.9/5.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this cursory look at the engines used in the Toyota Tundra. Thanks for reading!

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Toyota RAV4 Engines in Different Years

July 19, 2009 By 3 Comments

The Toyota RAV4 is a great small SUV that was released to give Toyota an edge into the market occupied by the Honda CR-V and the Chevy Tracker. For the number of RAV4′s that are on the road, we really don’t see many requests for quotes on these; in every year, the RAV4 has always had a truly solid engine.
When released in 1996, the RAV4 used the 2.0L 3S-FE engine, a mature engine platform that Toyota began using in the late 1980′s in the Camry and Celica. In 2001, Toyota began using the 2.0L 1AZ-FE engine in the RAV4. This engine was only used in the RAV4, and it was only used 2001-2003. In Australia and Eurasia, Toyota began using the 1AZ-FE engine in the Aurion version of the Toyota Camry in 2006. That continues to this day. In 2004, Toyota upgraded from a 2.0L 1AZ-FE engine to the 2.4L 2AZ-FE. The 2AZ-FE has been a truly cross-platform engine: it’s been used in the Scion TC, Scion xB, Toyota Camry, Toyota Highlander, Corolla XRS, Pontiac Vibe, and other platforms around the world. I think Toyota got their money’s worth when they paid the engineering team that designed that engine.

Of the engines used in the RAV4, I must again reiterate that none have really been super problematic.  The one thing that I’ve heard reports of from a few customers is reports of headbolts breaking on 2AZ-FE engines without the headgasket blowing. I’ve not seen their original engines myself, so I can’t verify this, but having spoken with their mechanics I do believe it to be true. I do know one thing:  those customers were glad they bought a used RAV4 engine from us, since the dealerships charge over$10,000 for a new RAV4 engine! We’ve saved customers well over $7,500 on every RAV4 engine we’ve sold, compared to dealer cost, and given them a comparable warranty to boot.

As always, if you need a used engine, please feel free to call us at 901-266-9996 or fill out an online request for a free quote.

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Used Toyota Camry Engines

July 18, 2009 By 1 Comment

Toyota Camrys “run forever.” In fact, we’ve sold Camry engines to more than one customer who has gotten more than 400,000 miles out of their original engine. Note that these results are not typical; folks getting those kind of miles are maintenance freaks, and  I say “freak” with every intention of it being a compliment. You can maintain till you’re blue in the face unless the design is good. Camry’s have excellent design. The cars just last! If you find yourself in a situation where you need an engine for your Camry, you would probably do well to replace the engine if the rest of the vehicle is in good shape.

We recently had one of our installers in Middle Tennessee put an engine in a really sweet lady’s1999 Camry. She was from Northern Missisippi; our guy picked up her car and hauled it to his shop. I say “our guy” because he is a shop that we have a fantastic relationship with, but he isn’t employed by us. We were able to drive the Camry, motor knocking like crazy, onto his truck. He drove and, I guided. We pulled the oil dipstick on the engine, and it was as as black as a freshly paved road. We of course pulled the transmission dipstick shortly after. Holding it up there were metal flakes that looked like fools gold. This car had been “rode hard and put up wet.”  We offered to install a transmission for the customer for only the cost – our cost, no markup – on the transmission.

For this particular customer, we installed a 2.0L replacement engine. Her Camry originally had a 2.2L engine, but we’ve had excellent results with 2.0L replacement engines. There is virtually no power difference between the engines, and we get the 2.0L engines with normally between 30,000 and 50,000 miles. It really is a great solution for our customers. The install went great. The customer had to go out of town, and wanted the car delivered back to her in 8 days, so the mechamic was able to take his time and put some miles on the car after the engine install. In fact, he drove it back to her. There is no better way to test an install than to road test, and the road test verified that our customer had a great Toyota Camry used engine in her vehicle.

If you need a Toyota Camry used engine, or any other engine, please feel free to contact us. As always, you can reach us by phone at 901-266-9996 or you can submit an engine request online. We’ll give you one of the best warranties in the industry and help you save money!

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Toyota Replacement Engines (Used Engines)

June 18, 2009 By 4 Comments

Over the past 25 years, Toyota has consistantly offered an excellence in quality that has pleased consumers and made a Toyota a worthwhile investment. Because of their excellent quality, Toyota’s hold their value well. Because they hold their value well, the vehicles are less likely to be “totaled” – literally declared a “total loss” - out in an accident (keep in mind that insurance companies use formulas which compare the value of the vehicle against the damage to the vehicle to determine whether to junk or repair a vehicle). Since they’re less likely to be totaled, the ratio of used parts available vs. the number of vehicles on the road is smaller. That’s the bad part about the excellent quality of a Toyota.

So where does this leave you, the used engine consumer? It means that you must be even more careful when shopping for used engines. When supply is limited, many used engine suppliers lie on miles. A 100,000 mile engine becomes a 50,000 mile engine, a 140,000 mile engine becomes a 70,000 mile engine, and on and on. That’s where CARFAX becomes important on USDM engines (a USDM engine is “United States Domestic Market – vehicles sold here in the United States originally). At Low Mileage Engines, every engine we sell from the US Domestic Market comes with a free CARFAX which we use to verify mileage. We know we have competitors who don’t provide CARFAXes. Why don’t they? That’s simple – would you provide evidence to a potential customer that you were misrepresenting a product? If you were selling an engine as having 70,000 miles, would you give your customer evidence that it in fact had 140,000? Of course not. You could sure sell that engine cheap though! Unfortunately, for you and your family, getting ripped off like that on mileage is not a good deal.

Thus, CARFAX. If you have a late model Toyota with a bad engine and you’re in search of a replacement, Low Mileage Engines will provide you with a free CARFAX to verify the mileage on the engine as long as it comes from the US Domestic Market (we do sell some Toyota engines that are from Japan).

As always, if you need a quote on a good, used engine, please feel free to call us at 901-266-9996 or fill out an engine request form so we can contact you with quotes on several used engines.

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What type of oil should I use in my European Vehicle?

January 24, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Many people love the fuel efficiency they get from smaller European engines. European engines have traditionally had a smaller displacement than their American counterparts largely for fuel efficiency reasons and European road conditions (it’s hard to drive a Hummer through the streets of Prague or Paris, for example). Though European engines were smaller, Europeans had just as much of a desire for good performance as Americans did. Thus, European automakers were some of the earliest innovators in turbocharged engines.

Here’s the bad thing about turbo chargers: they get oil hot -really, really hot. You can get your oil so hot that on many Volkswagen, Saab, Audi, and Porsche vehicles you’ll void your warranty if you don’t use fully synthetic oil. So, when you’re changing your oil, you need to make sure to ask for synthetic. Please note that at many quick lube places, they will try to upsell you on a “synthetic blend.” Many consumers think this is synthetic oil, and go for it. It’s not! You want fully synthetic oil only.

Personally, I use Amsoil European Car Formula 5W-40 in my 1997 Audi A4 (it has a 1.8L Turbo engine in it).

Many people ask me about extended interval oil changes. In any vehicle that doesn’t have a turbo, they’re fine. In my Toyota and Honda vehicles, for example, I use Amsoil extended interval synthetic oil and an Amsoil extended interval filter. Because of this, I only have to change the oil every 25,000 miles or 12 months, whichever comes first. Such is not the case with my turbocharged Audi engine. I change the oil and filter on it every five thousand miles.

You might be asking what can happen if you don’t use synthetic oil in your turbocharged vehicle or try to change your oil at an extended interval. Remember when I talked about turbochargers getting really hot? Many mechanics I talk to say that this can almost literally “cook” the oil. I think they just took the term “coke,” dropped the “e”, and added an “o,” because we’re dealing with the problem of oil coke. Coke is the residue left when oil burns off. You can read more about it by clicking here– and it’s not pretty. An engine with a lot of coke in it is commonly referred to as  a “sludged up engine.” Toyota calls it “oil gel,” and in some years their luxury brand, Lexus, will extend your warranty if your engine has an “oil gel” problem.

If you have a turbocharged European vehicle, you’re effectively nuking your engine if you don’t use fully synthetic oil. You’re clogging up the oil lines in your turbo, the oil lines leading to your head, and probably even clogging up your oil pickup tube. The result is oil starvation to the critical areas of the engine, even if your oil level is right where it should be. It’s like your oil is in a reservoir, and the dam isn’t letting it out.

Synthetic oil is great because it was originally designed for applications in jet engines. Flat out, it withstands the higher temperatures turbocharged engines subject their oil to. I’m not an Amsoil rep, but if you have a Turbocharged vehicle, I can heartily recommend my Amsoil rep to you. Of course, you can always find a dealer in your area, and any fully synthetic oil is going to be better than old style oil in any turbocharged vehicle.

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