I've had my 2000 AP1, which I bought from a dealer with zero maintenance history and 139,000 miles, for four or so years now with the knowledge that if I kept it for longer than a few years, I would end up rebuilding the motor among other things.

About three months ago, I was driving from Auburn, Alabama, to Mobile when I noticed a knocking sound coming from the engine bay above 3000RPM. The car has roughly 159,000 miles of spirited driving and constant maintenance. I took it to my general mechanic who told me to swap it for another new or used motor, but I wasn't sold on spending a couple thousand on a "new" motor.

My question is, what should I do and how should I do it? If there are any relevant threads about rebuilds, swaps and whatnot, please copy and paste links along with a comment.

Much thanks dudes,

sneakypete

 

Could be a lot of things. It would be nice to see a video clip of the problem, even that is difficult to diagnose properly with all the noise and interference. If you have no mechanical inclination and you want to get it fixed right there are a few forum members that can take care of you all the way. First I would eliminate all the simple stuff first, compression, leak-down, oil pressure, maybe do an oil sample analysis to see what kind of wear metals you're dealing with. It could be something like loose valve clearance, or timing chain tensioner, or it could be a rod bearing problem, for that you would have to drop the oil pan and have a look, with luck you can just replace the bearings and save the motor.

Depending on how bad the damage is, it might be cheaper to save the motor, that is if the damage hasn't been done already.

 

I went through this late last year, except my issue was piston slap.

To make a long story short, it's much easier and less expensive to find a good used replacement motor.

compared with $3200 for a remanufactured F20 longblock from a place in Tacoma, WA (can't remember the warranty) I found a good used 88K mile 04/05 F22 longblock (with all the accessories still on it) for $2100 on craigslist. It took a lot of searching around to get that deal, but they're out there. the "going rate" from salvage yards was more like 2500-3000 plus shipping.

Then it was just drop in and go.

Rebuilding costs even if I got off light were much higher considering there are very few places that will bore or hone FRM sleeves. Re-sleeving is half the cost of my new motor alone. Then you gotta buy pistons and rings, crankshaft and block machining, assembly, etc etc god knows how many misc. expenses.

Just my two pennies

 

I would make sure the motor is really gone before you go replacing it. Find out for sure what is wrong, and why it can't be fixed.

A noise, even a nasty noise, could be a lot of easy things to fix.