So my opinion is that if your at 1600 and assuming blown motor you need a new engine which you will be at around 3900 with new engine. Now the problem is that you have to risk that everything else is in working conditions like trans,electrical etc.
Also forgot to mention i have sold as of today 1300 on parts that I'm not using so if you do the same you could be at around 300 for your donor
Totally true even if you buy a new engine you will still spend some time fixing little things here and there to make it run
Yeah, That is one pro of getting a nicer, or non wrecked donor. more parts to sell to offset the cost.
How could I find out? The vin is
I honestly was thinking this today and was looking into it. I think there is a pretty fair chance that's what it could be. I've got to make a decision tonight. But at this point I'm thinking I'm going to get it. For 1600, I think I could unload it and take a slight loss quickly if it's a complete mess, or part it out over time and come out about even.
Here is the build sheet for the VIN you supplied. It does have the G85 package.
Thanks for sending this. As it sits now I am the winner, and I actually got it cheaper then I thought. The reserve that the seller emailed me was set to 1250, yesterday, but this morning when I logged in (intending to accept) they had lowered it to 1050. So, got pretty lucky. I am assuming with fee's that I'll end up a little higher. I know either way, I'll end up learning a lot about engines and the build process. I'll document my struggle and create a thread a bit later once i get involved.
The timing chain is not a hard job at all. I did mine before I pulled the engine. I'll pm you my number if you need some help and pointers.Well, I picked it up yesterday. Copart was pretty helpful, it took a while though for them to load it up. I used a Uhaul vehicle hauler. Man, that thing was old and terrible but it got the job done.
When I got it home I looked over the super easy thing to rule out again, didn't find anything and it was getting dark. I remembered seeing a box in the trunk with a clutch in it, so I looked it over and noticed that the sellers info was on there. Which turns out to be a blessing. After a bit of googling, I found the guy who donated the vehicle. He was more then happy to tell me about the car, why he got rid of it etc. Ended up messaging back for a few hours. He's about my age, and was willing to chat / help as much as he could. Here is all the info I learned....
Some of the easy ones right off the bat:
He was the 2nd owner, he got the car at 40k miles and it had 136k when I got it. He had the car for 7 years.
He was thinking about trading in the Cobalt and he said it unexpectedly stopped running. At this point its trade in value was terrible so someone told him if he donated the vehicle, he could write off the suggested retail on his taxes. So thats what he did.
He said that he thinks its most likely the timing chain.
The car itself was tuned at 40k miles with HP tuners software. At this point he isn't what exact tune parameters were on it, but that he had been running it for about 100k miles, so he didn't think it was the tune. The modifications it has are lowering springs, sway bar, hard intercooler pipes, air intake, and lastly an new clutch (at 130k miles).
I'm hoping to pull the valve cover today to see if the chain was broke. I've never replaced one before. Hopefully I can get some help form someone who has. I think I'll have to pull the head to see if there is any damage to the valves. At that point, I'll likely change over the gaskets and ensure things are sound.
Any suggestions are welcome. If you live close feel free to lend a hand
I opened the valve cover and checked it out. It looks like the tensioner or the guide broke. The chain is intact. There is enough slack that when bumping the motor off with the valve cover off, i can see that its basically skipping on the intake manifold cam gear.