2002 Mazda Protege; ~79k miles; bent crank arm

[Mannoia]

Sorry there's no sheet with info in the pic -- car is at the mechanic until Monday but I'll get it on there if you can keep this until then.

Bought the car ~2 months ago on the advice of my uncle and brother-in-law, both of whom own and love them. Mechanic tells me it overheated resulting in a bent crank arm and therefore likely needs a new engine (~2k). Not sure how this could have happened since temp gauge never showed warm, and it never seemed hot to me. Engine will turn on, but makes a funny sound (my wife drove it ~2 miles with the sound). Would investigate it myself but just don't have the time.

Car was otherwise in great condition -- minimal dings, all electrical works fine, interior great condition, tight suspension, alloy rims in good shape. Power everything, A/C, CD player, roof rack. Had a tune up (new plugs, wires, filter etc) and passed NJ inspection about a month ago (just before crank bent). Also had rotors resurfaced and new pads put on the rear. Would repair and keep myself but don't have time to deal with it -- bought a new car to replace already.

Looks like according to edmunds.com it would be worth ~6k with a new engine. Please take this off my hands!

No reasonable offer refused -- really! My alternative is the junkyard or donating it.

Call 917-650-0012 -- happy to do paypal or whatever you prefer, just hate to scrap it.

 

[nate0123]

Sorry there's no sheet with info in the pic -- car is at the mechanic until Monday but I'll get it on there if you can keep this until then.

Please add your location to your profile, and please get the pics w/signage up as soon as possible.

Thanks

 

[Mannoia]

Yep - Sorry - will get photo up asap. Car is in Jersey City NJ, right next to the Holland Tunnel. For those interested, it's an automatic. I can get my wife to show it Monday afternoon.

 

[Mannoia]

Updated pictures -- sorry about the lighting. If you want more I'll see if I can get my wife to take them tomorrow. Also, the weird shape in the trunk is my dog

Drove the car back from the mechanic to the garage in my apartment building (died on me partway back); it makes a repetitive clunking sound which I assume is the bent crank arm.

 

[Mannoia]

And a couple more.

 

[wassup61]

1000?

 

[prdracing]

Sounds like a good candidate for an MSP drivetrain transplant! GLWS

 

[Mannoia]

1000?

Well, based on the conversations I've had over the past couple days I think I'd like to do a little better than that... I've had a couple people offer to put a new motor into it for me for between 2-2.5k all in. 2k seems a little low to me (although frankly I have no idea), but if I could get it fixed for 2.5k and sell for 5.5k (seems reasonable based on eBay and autotrader recent sales), I could net 3k. That said, I'd be delighted to get 2k out of it, and recognize I'll probably end up somewhere between 1 and 2k. PM me or call 917 650 0012 (sorry mods if I'm not supposed to put phone numbers in here) if you want to discuss.

 

[o0n8]

too bad you don't live closer to me

 

[justanothermp5]

bent crank arm? huh?
how did u bend the crank? the FS comes with a forged crank from the factory

but good luck anyways

 

[Mannoia]

I don't know what an FS is.

Sorry, not a car guy, so I'm simply parroting back what my mechanic tells me. When you run the engine it makes a rhythmic knocking sound, and although I've driven it a mile or so to get it home, it will die after running for more than a minute or two, and the mechanic says it's not driveable. His theory is the engine temperature guage was not functioning, so it overheated and bent the crank arm. Doesn't make sense to me since my wife had been driving less than 5 min when it happened, but what do I know...

 

[nate0123]

FS is a family of engines. The specific engine code for the protege5 is FS-DE.

 

[nate0123]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazda_F_engine

 

[Mannoia]

Bump...

 

[TheMAN]

well your mechanic is wrong
if the temperature gauge isn't working, it wouldn't move at all from cold to the middle
if the temperature sensor isn't working, a "check engine" light will come on
if the engine overheated, it wouldn't be making that noise... the head gasket would've blown instead and your car be totally undrivable

what simply happened was, whoever owned the car before, abused it, and either drove it out of oil, or didn't change oil often enough, or someone screwed up an oil change and damaged the motor
the noise you described is called a "rod knock"... google has many layman's answers if you want to learn what that means

 

[Mannoia]

well your mechanic is wrong
if the temperature gauge isn't working, it wouldn't move at all from cold to the middle
if the temperature sensor isn't working, a "check engine" light will come on
if the engine overheated, it wouldn't be making that noise... the head gasket would've blown instead and your car be totally undrivable

what simply happened was, whoever owned the car before, abused it, and either drove it out of oil, or didn't change oil often enough, or someone screwed up an oil change and damaged the motor
the noise you described is called a "rod knock"... google has many layman's answers if you want to learn what that means

That makes sense to me, except we drove the car for two months and almost 2k miles with no noises and no sign of any engine issues. Oil was changed just before purchasing it, and I had two different mechanics tell me the car was in good shape. Of course that doesn't preclude the possibility that both of them were some combination of dishonest, lazy and ignorant.

Whatever the problem is, the solution appears to be a new engine, which I'm not prepared to do. Per my prior postings it seems like an engine could be put in for 2k, and the car looks like it's worth 5-6k with a new engine (you all know these things better than me), so offers are welcome, but my primary focus is to get it off my hands.

 

[Dpwhitehead1]

That makes sense to me, except we drove the car for two months and almost 2k miles with no noises and no sign of any engine issues. Oil was changed just before purchasing it, and I had two different mechanics tell me the car was in good shape. Of course that doesn't preclude the possibility that both of them were some combination of dishonest, lazy and ignorant.

Whatever the problem is, the solution appears to be a new engine, which I'm not prepared to do. Per my prior postings it seems like an engine could be put in for 2k, and the car looks like it's worth 5-6k with a new engine (you all know these things better than me), so offers are welcome, but my primary focus is to get it off my hands.

pretty sure i'll be taking care of this for you.

 

[Dpwhitehead1]

i'll call you tomorrow. but i'm pretty sure we'll be up thursday. thank man.

 

[Mannoia]

Car is SOLD

Thanks everyone!