5 year old KA, possible engine replacement advice

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Deleted member 11679

Deleted member 11679

Yesterday morning (Saturday), while travelling on the M69 from Leicester to Coventry, my Ford KA (53 plate), quite literally blew up on me. I had the overheating light come on and within a matter of 2 - 3 minutes I went from a warning light to a rattling beneath the steering wheel, to losing power, to being sat on the hard shoulder with steam literally coming out of every orifice.

AA man towed me home, said there was no compression in the engine and that he thought the engine was ruined (driving with no oil in the engine effectively)?

It is sat at the garage now waiting for them to have a look at it on Monday. Have been told if I am lucky it will be the minimum of a head gasket, although liklihood is it will be a new engine.

Few questions, as if the cost/benefits of getting a newer car outweigh the huge repair bill I am looking at then I am now in a position with this car where I am prepared to get rid:

- How much am I looking at (roughly) for a new head gasket?
- How much am I looking at (roughly) for a new engine?
- Would a new engine be mine refurbished or would it be a new duratec?
- In your opinion, would scrapping the car and getting a new one be the better of two evils?
- Main dealer or independent for this?

As you can imagine this is not what I need right before Christmas!!

Any advice, much advised,

...and yes, the AA man did point out to me I should have stopped as soon as the warning light came on. However, while I take full stupid mistake responsibility for this one, given that the car has had a history of small electrical glitches I figured this could just be one of them.

Thanks,

Tom
 
If I were you I'd wait for the diagnosis before you start costing things up. At the moment you don't know what's wrong.

With that said, I can't see that scrapping a 5 year old car due to engine failure would ever be a sensible option.
 
TomWilko said:
M69 from Leicester to Coventry
Tom
Click to expand...

That says it all :p

Midlands Drag strip you mean, I know I know, You came off the roundabout & took the M69, You was in 3rd & revving well then up to 4th & over the hill, Once you see the straight ahead you rattled it round to red for the big top end tester :D
This is when it went Poop wasn't it :D

Lopez is the man & he is right, Wait for proper diag before pricing crap up.
 
Cheers for the replies so far, genuinely wasn't drag racing my 1.3 0 - 60 in goodness knows how long KA.

I suppose I am trying to get a feel more than anything else for what it 'might' cost me. I know I need to wait until tomorrow and hear back from the garage, but it would be useful to know other peoples experiences/thoughts on this.

To me, if it did need an engine change, this seems like a huge job to do on a car. I know it's not a living 'thing' but it's not like it's brakes are being replaced or there is a small electrical problem; this seems like it would be a fundamental change to a core piece of the car itself.
 
Well, scanning ebay Duratecs for the Ka seem to go between £150 and £350 depending on mileage/conditon/how much the seller reckons he can get for it.

I wouldn't bother geting a brand new engine from Ford, that wouldn't be worth the cost.

As for the cost of an engine swap - no idea at a garage, last engine swap I paid for was £50 on a Sierra but that was years ago and it's a very easy swap so I can't really help you there (I'd just do it myself)
 
Did the AA advise that it was the oil light that was illuminated and not the temp gauge :)

New engine seems like the best bet if it was starved of oil :)
 
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Wow, a Ford over 5 years old. :p

Wait for the proffesional verdict instead of writing it off. Besides, a puma engine would fit.... :D
 
TomWilko said:
To me, if it did need an engine change, this seems like a huge job to do on a car.
Click to expand...

Not a particularly huge job on something as simple as a Ka. I wouldn't even consider scrapping it because:
a) It's only a 5 year old car
b) A replacement engine is likely to be available quite cheaply
c) It's a popular, saleable car. With a blown up engine it's worth a small fraction of what i would be when running. The cost of replacing the engine with a decent s/h one is almost certainly less than the amount which you would lose by not doing it.

This seems like a good deal should you need it and are close enough to get it:
4000 mile, 2006 Duratec engine for £250
 
OK, was looking on Pistonheads to get an idea of how much a Ka would cost (effectively ditching your old car and just buying a replacement) when I found this:

Ford Ka unique body kit and wheels

What a mess. It's also from a dealer! At £3.5K they CANNOT be serious!

On topic, probably better buying an engine like that and either fitting yourself (if you can) or paying a trusted garage to do it.
 
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