Need a New Car? Nope, Just a New Engine!
Engine Repower is a new service that gives car owners the option of replacing their old, worn out engine with a rebuilt engine of the same vintage instead of simply buying a new car or repairing specific problems. When a first saw this page, I was very interested, as I am a proponent of keeping your car as long as possible to reduce wasteful manufacturing processes, even in the face of promises of lower emissions made by newer cars.
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Here’s what Engine Repower has to say about their service:
Technology and auto manufacturing have advanced dramatically in the past two decades. Cars and trucks last longer. Paint is better. Bodies are more corrosion resistant. Interior materials are more durable, and even suspension and other components last longer. So when an engine “dies,” it does not have to be the end of your vehicle. When a car or truck suffers major engine damage, the first response and reaction of many consumers is to buy a new or used vehicle. Sometimes disposing of your current vehicle might make sense, but often it’s simply not necessary.
Obviously, being an advertisement, they are very high on themselves, but they do make some good points. When cars die, it seems it is most often due to accidents or blown engines. Very rarely do cars rust so badly or generally devolve to a point of undrivability before the engine begins to have trouble. Also, one of the biggest issues with emissions from old vehicles is that those vehicles have fallen out of spec and are no longer getting the best fuel economy or releasing the least emissions.
The Engine Repowering Council seems to focus on domestic vehicles, but using their find-a-shop feature, it’s likely that you can find someone to rebuild an engine of almost any make. These engines almost always come with warranties and, in my opinion (as someone who has worked at a shop in the past), will be rebuilt as carefully as anything else coming from that shop. So, if you’re considering this, pick a shop you know and trust, and that offers a good warranty.
While the service is certainly not ideal (you can’t just put a newer, cleaner engine in an old car), the ability to put life and reliability back into an old car is about as close as you can get to recycling and reusing in the automotive world.
Image source: motoringfile
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Engine rebuilders have been around forever, they typically advertise in the little weekly papers.
I don’t understand what this is beyond an ad for this company. Oh, and you can put a newer engine into an old car. It may take some modifications, but that’s nothing new either. A 305 with cats in a 1962 Buick is certainly more green than the original.
Do you really think those cars that claim over a million miles haven’t either had their engines swapped or rebuilt?
Ummm… not such a new idea here…
I’ve owned the same car for 18 years and have installed new motors over the years.
I also have a 78 chevy pickup with 360K on the original motor.
its called maintenance people…
and no the new motors are no “greener” then the one’s they replace, hippy.
Nice idea.
This would be great especially for all those great old cars that are just not produced.
Personally my favorites like the 1991 Mercedes SEC 560.
Its a great car, very safe, but to buy a new car with its size you are looking at $65,000 minimum.
But with this new engine idea, just buy a old one in good condition for $5,000 and get a new engine and youll save at least $50,000.
Makes sense…but its horrible news for car companies (oh well they been screwing us forever…about time we get back at them)
Actually, this is something that I’ve considered for my ‘94 car. I was informed however, by several garages, that since the electrical system and computer on the car were so difficult to work with, it would be about $5K just to replace the engine.
Also, replacing the engine is just means replacing the ENGINE BLOCK. They would put back the same old water pump, alternator, AC compressor, and such. Unfortunately “replacing the engine” sounds nice, but it’s only the one big piece.
Finally, being an old car, I also have breaks that need replacing, old tires, an old suspension system, original muffler system, original transmission, breaking down interior, and 170K+ miles on the chassis in general. Kind of hard to justify a new anything on it considering that it’s probably worth $1000 in good shape on Kelly Blue Book.
i have an obvious question though, why refurbish an old car that is less fuel efficient and creates a larger carbon footprint than a current model car that is? It may prove cheaper than buying a new car but how does this serve the environment?
This really doesn’t apply to diesel vehicles as their engines are overengineered to deal with high compression used in its combustion process. The engine on my TDI passat will be the LAST thing that fails (after all the future electrical problems).
this all goes back to King Gillette (inventor of his namesake disposable razors).
marketers have us believing that even cars are now disposable objects - i like the logic behind your post…we should stop viewing cars as disposable.
advertising is making us waste so many resources.
i’m going to promote the heck out of this article on SU, my circle of friends, anywhere. I love this ideas.
not true, my parents got rear ended and the other insurance company tried to say it was totaled. Once they were shown that it was a new rebuilt engine, we got the full amount. I definitely remember because it was my beater when I turned 16.
Clever marketing idea.
This kind of service existed a long time before it was very expensive to buy a used car.
I mean this service is just a simple repair of your existing car.
Interesting story. I believe this is probably not a brand new idea. For instance, used engines come into the US from Japan all the time particularly for Japanese models.
When we have electric cars that have practical range then some of this will be reduced because an electric car will be less expensive and easier to maintain in the long run. Also, there are fewer moving parts and an electric motor is far simpler than in internal combustion engine.
Better battery power and capacity is coming. I read an article that mentioned that nanotubes used in Li-On batteries increase charge capacity by 10X which is incredible. Now we will see how long it is before that technology is affordable. Also, we will see how long the oil companies can keep pressuring congress and the government to avoid alternative energy and keep us all hooked on good old nasty but high power content petroleum.