Fried my trusty 6cyl engine in my 92 camry that I've owned since new. I keep seeing super cheap import engines on the web and fleabay for like $600-800 but wonder how good they are. Supposedly they have 35-45k on them and are leak tested before shipping. My fathere-in-law, who knows everything, said they're crap because the Japanese never change the oil because oil is so expenseive in Japan and they're used for nothing but stop and go driving....no highways I guess according to him in Japan. Other than this sort of option I'm not sure what to do that's cost effective. Engine has 152k on it and probably would have gone another 100k but my rad broke and it fried something like the head gasket, head, cylinder block, etc. Tried a $60 bottle of stop leak to no avail. They want $2400 to rebuild an engine in a car worth maybe $3500. Doesn't seem worth it to me. Any bright ideas? Anyone know anything about these Japanese import engines? newbie thanks all in advance. Dennis

 

mine blew at 90K, so far 10K into the JDM engine that my mechanic found and installed its been good i guess.

 

I have a 2jz from a jap. supra in my is300 and i've had no issues at all with it. I've had it sense 03

 

It would be nice if you could get compression test readings on the engine you are interested in. That will tell you alot about the engine.

 

heres the thing...you buy something over seas...you don't know what your getting...and if something goes wrong..then what are you going to do...find something local...

 

Hi ..
here in the GCC we import most of the used engines from japan ..
they are good but when u buy the engine u gotta do some stuff to it,
i.e. change the water plugs,
change the valve cover gaskit,
change spark plugs,
timing belt & all the oil seals that can be easly changed while the engine is out,
water pump,
also dont forget the oil pump seal [&:]
then u clean the engine & u paint it with the color u like if u wanna a diffrenet look for it.
after installing it, make sure that it works fine,
flush the oil,
add the oil that u wanna use for ur car plus adding any brand of theose engine treatment, i.e. engine restorer or mos2 from liqui moly or MOA from BG products ... etc.

i know u have to put some mony but that will really save u alot from re-building ur old engine.

all the best

 

Dont the jdm engines have a higher rev point? Its not much but i think its usually an extra 1x rpm resulting in slightly more hp and tq? maybe im wrong.

 

Here's the deal. it's been a while since i lived in Japan, but from what i recall, every 4 yrs cars need to have a major inspection where they do an engine teardown, this costs big bucks so most cars end up in junkyards or sell them to US servicemen stationed there. the only cars older than 4yrs that you'd see are high-end like skyline GTR's and such. There arehighways, but most traffic is on local streets. it is against the law to drive with unfixed accident damage even if it's cosmetic. it's bs that oil is too expensive as gas was 4x more expensive than here. cars get minor inspection every year, if you didn't changeyour oil, it would run like crap and not pass. mass transit is so advanced, most people don't "need" a car, but to support the auto industry cars are "disposable". sucks for them, but good for us.