car has not been drivin in a year, been on jack stands. finally finished replacing DS axel shaft and control arm etc. and the test drive went great. next day car makes it 3 miles and dies, coolant bubbles, car cranks over very slow. swap battery, still slow crank. take into shop pull plugs and they are dry, go further and find the crank is extremely hard to turn.. call junkyards, they laugh and say good luck finding an engine and be ready to pay $2500 for it.

F****, what are my options here, what do I do, toss the car?
its a 95 RS with 180k on it

I also hear these engines are in high demand and complete garbage, true???
thanks

Forrest

If the engine is garbage, how did it make it to 180K miles? After sitting for a year did you change the oil in it? Oil tends to get pretty nasty after sitting a while. You might have lost oil pressure and killed things.

My Blog

Check the oil level and condition. Couldn't hurt to change it. Maybe even pour a little Seafoam into each cylinder and let it sit over night before cranking it.

A seized crank will generally not turn at all, imo. Should a bearing or rod cap be incorrectly placed or installed, it can bind the crank up. This would be in line with a spun bearing, which is likely if you're talking about old oil like that, but I suspect you would have heard some kind of knocking before it shit the bed on you.

These engine blocks came in:
> Dodge Neon
> Dodge Avenger
> Chrysler Sebring
> Mitsubishi Eclipse
> Eagle Talon

Too bad you never see any of those around.

If you really need a new engine, try car-part.com. If you can afford some down time and have a couple buddies who can help with a simple rebuild, check out prices at partsdinosaur.com. I suspect you could get away with new rod bearings, piston rings, and a hone. Hell. For $2500, you could have a fully built bottom end and still have $500 left to spend on hookers and rotgut.

Junkyards are a nice place to find our engines.

Although granted on your location you may not be up for some outdoor hunting.

-Ed

'95 Eclipse RS-T
'91 Laser RS (Sold)

be patient there will be engines from part outs for cheap especially 420as