Does Replacement Engine Bother You or Effect Price?

[IDM]

I have found a car which had the engine replaced under factory warranty because of a problem with one cylinder.
They were not able to find a matching piston and so dodge replaced the entire engine.

Would this bother you as far as purchasing the car and would it hurt the resell when I go to sell it?

Also how much do minor items on carfax hurt resell value or the members here that are willing to buy.
I personally don't like it, but a couple of these cars have small rear end or front bumper repairs.


I really appreciate your help so I can make a decision.

 

[01sapphirebob]

Me personally i would probably be bothered a little bit. Enough to not buy the car...sure. Others would not be bothered at all. Specially if you plan to mod or track the car. At that point who cares. Also...(and a lot will say this) don't worry about resale value down the road. If you are gonna buy it drive it then do so. If the reselling question is that important to you then I thj k you have already answered your question. .

 

[PeterMJ]

why does it bother you? Seeing these items fixed is good, it means the past owner paid attention to the car. Way better than buying one that never got driven and you will have to deal with unknown issues. The key is factory authorized and dealer done repairs.

I have found a car which had the engine replaced under factory warranty because of a problem with one cylinder.
They were not able to find a matching piston and so dodge replaced the entire engine.

Would this bother you as far as purchasing the car and would it hurt the resell when I go to sell it?

Also how much do minor items on carfax hurt resell value or the members here that are willing to buy.
I personally don't like it, but a couple of these cars have small rear end or front bumper repairs.


I really appreciate your help so I can make a decision.

 

[v10viperbox]

Mine was replaced by Dan at about 15K miles with a new one due to a track failure by the previous owner. I had no problem buying the car with a complete replacement engine.

I did get the car cheaper though and got almost all of the modifications done to the car ~15K free as well as few people were willing to look at the car.

IMO if the motor was replaced and the car has had enough miles for to to be tested decently I have no trouble with it. Having said that my car is going to be used a good bit on the track so its going to loose some value from that as well in the long run.

 

[NI-KA]

I am not bothered. Unless are putting it in your personal museum. Other than the gen 2 gts-r the cars have not yet proved to bring collector car value.

Drive it, take care of it, mod it and enjoy it. The main thing is you don't want to buy someone else's problems.

 

[mjorgensen Woodhouse]

Arrow racing does each rebuild by hand and they are VERY good, many owners will attest that the replacement engine is even better then the factory installed at times.

 

[kblake905]

Personally it would not bother me. If you buy a car with issues, you should pay a lower price, and when you sell expect the resale value to also reflect that.
Again personally I have never bought a vehicle expecting to sell it for a profit, or even to break even, although in hindsight if I had of kept some of my late 60's muscle cars long enough I would have made money

 

[DMan]

Arrow racing does each rebuild by hand and they are VERY good, many owners will attest that the replacement engine is even better then the factory installed at times.

As usual, words of wisdom. This is why many won't mind, but those same folks will want to know who the dealer was / did the work of the swap.

Will it affect price, definitely. No matter what we say, it has to. When we talk about prices, we talk about pristine cars and justifying price because the history is spotless, an engine swap disclosure will kill many sales to "normal" people. Most aren't informed on topics of an Arow rebuild or replacement. So the audience narows and so the price drops. To the viper community in general not a big deal, for the car in general, yea it is. Would I buy a swap, yes, IF the swap part was handled by a Woodhouse type dealer so I know the quality of the work that was done.

 

[bluesrt]

all depends if a monster worked on it or a good tech worked on it, as far as r/r engine out of car... a butcher can destroy a car fast

 

[TowDawg]

Arrow racing does each rebuild by hand and they are VERY good, many owners will attest that the replacement engine is even better then the factory installed at times.

EXACTLY! The Arrow rebuilds are more precise (and just about everybody picks up at least some power) than the stock builds. My car has 40k on it now, but only about 12k on the arrow rebuild. If I was looking at a Viper that had a Arrow rebuild under warranty (or a rebuild from one of the known, quality vendors on here), I would look at it as complete positive, and wouldn't expect to pay any less for the car. This is also assuming we are talking about a car that has been driven and not 1k mile, pristine car that you're buying to sit in the garage for re-sale someday.
Now, if it had an engine swap from some other used Viper, or was repaired by an unknown person/shop, I would definitely be wary and would expect a steep discount.
In your case, I have no idea where Dodge got a complete engine to swap, and have a hard time believing that Arrow (who does all warranty rebuilds) did not have and could not find a piston. The other thing is that even if it truly was swapped with a new engine, under warranty, by Dodge, you no longer have a "numbers matching" car anymore. That part would not bother me personally because I drive the hell out of mine and it will never be a perfect, low-mile classic going across the auction block as a collectable. I would however use that argument to get a discount on the price (after I verified the warranty engine replacement by Dodge and that it was a NEW engine).

 

[Cobraken]

If this is a factory rebuild by arrow it would cause me no concern and for me would not devalue the car.

 

[gb66gth]

From a collector perspective: It's definitely going to , and should, effect the value of the car.
It no longer has a "matching numbers" motor.

From an owner/driver perspective: It may be a better built motor than a factory unit. More precission, more power.

I say: Buy it, for a reduced price. Drive it and enjoy it. And when you sell it, expect to get less.

 

[JAY]

I recall Chrysler Canada replacing only 1 piston as a repair . In a situation like that , I would walk away ! It comes down to validating a proper repair , even if Chrysler did it !

 

[TowDawg]

Everything I've ever heard (including my personal experience) with internal engine work done under warranty, is that the dealership pulls the engine and sends it in a crate to Arrow. Arrow goes through the entire engine (not just the single problem) and then sends it back to be re-installed. I was told that the dealerships are not allowed to "open" the engine for warranty work. Now the engine has been completely gone through and your numbers still match.
Like I mentioned above, the fact that the dealer put another engine in the car in question would mean you no longer have a numbers matching car anymore, which will definitely hurt the value. The numbers not matching wouldn't be a big deal to me personally, but I would want to know where the entire other engine came from. Plus, personally, I'd rather have an Arrow rebuild than another "factory" engine.

 

[1bad540]

The car is worth less regardless of who did it. Personally i wouldnt even bother looking at the car but thats me. on the other hand if it was done right and the price is right then it may be worth it to you.

 

[Viper Specialty]

In general, it absolutely will affect value, to a much lesser degree on warranty rebuilds which still have a matching VIN- but still, an engine build is only as good as the guy doing it, not the name on the front of the building, and the prevention of associated problems and unintended damage is only as good as the tech installing and removing the engine. If you guys saw the hack-job work and collateral damage imposed by a great many shops/dealers out there, your jaw would hit the floor. Even some well known names in the market have been responsible for some of the worst nonsense I have seen come through here.

The ONLY major exception to this rule, is built engines stamped by builders/tuners as a component part of a performance package, in which case the package serial supersedes the original VIN as long as it is kept together and whole after construction. When we build a package for example, the block is stamped with the VIN of the car it is installed in, our name, the date it was built, package configuration when it left here, and serial number.

 

[Timnineside]

Arrow didn't rebuild the motor. The OP said the motor was "replaced". I guess more details would help.

Everyone else's advice is great above for value and "resale". Buy the car because you want it. Bet that a less than perfect car fax will hurt resale, but use that to your benefit to get the car at a fair price now.

-Tim

 

[AZMotorgod]

My '96 GTS had a factory (Arrow) rebuild in 2003 at @ 6,300 mi due to the front cover gasket leaking around the coolant port into the engine. The engine was pulled by the local dealer and sent to Arrow.

Arrow did a liner replacement, redecking and weld repair to both the front cover and thermostat areas. The engine was then reassembled with all new parts and then a two-hour engine dyno break-in was performed. How do I know all of this, well when I called Arrow about the rebuild in Sep. of '09 they pulled my engines file and gave me all the details, they even quoted me the engine dyno numbers of 488.6 HP @ 5,500 RPM and 545.1 TQ @ 4,300 RPM. To me that is great pride and customer service to keep those records and provide them to me. It also leads me to believe that they back their work and take great pride in these engines. Great job Arrow!

When I bought my car in '09 at @ 8,200 mi my feeling was that I would rather have this car then any other, since I can now be assured that the engine is strong and secure. That is much better then having the cover leak issue sometime after me owning it, and since it is a low mile car and way out of warranty, maybe it not being covered, who knows. I asked my awesome local viper tech about the rebuild prior to purchase (during the pre-purchase inspection) and he put my mind at ease when he enlightened me about who Arrow was and what they did. He even verified for me that all of the numbers matched. (Awesome, thanks Eddie!)

To me this car was better then new when I bought it and I could not be happier with it.

 

[IDM]

Thanks for the awesome advice guys, I am so impressed with the contributions of the forum members here. Thanks again I think this has helped me make my choice. I trust that it's right, but will probably search for another car unless I can get it at the right price.

 

[Dom426h]

Specifically talking about Gen3's:
On a scale of 0 - 10 : 0 being the least desirable to me. 10 being the most desirable to me.

0 - Viper with and engine that was rebuilt or replaced do to some undocumented failure buy some undocumented shop
2
3 -
4
5 - A Gen3(especialy03/04) with a arrow rebuilt motor or warrenty replacement
6
7 -
8
9 - A Gen3(especialy03/04) with a arrow rebuilt motor or warrenty replacement that included the revised 180bearings included in the 05/06/07 motors
10 - An 05/06/07 Gen3 Viper


I'll add that any early Gen3 viper with a past owner history that i wasnt personally confident in would be closer to 0 on my scale simply because i am scared of the common oil starvation/ bearing failures that i have read so much about on these forums as well as others. However, If a repatable shop could drop a pan and inspect then internals for a fair price then that would certinatly ease my mind.(Viper Specialty might be able to chime in on the possibility of this) Sure its not a problem/concern for most owners putzing around once a month, but me, i drive often and hard, on the street, and track. I would not want to spend 40+K on a car then have the worry about the possiblilty of an expensive rebuild/replacement. On the flipside. If i was in the market for a Gen3 i wouldnt mind buying one with a shot motor for the right price so that i could rebuild or replace to my liking. ...and then some

If you didnt follow. The point of my post with regards to the OP is that a Viper with a rebuilt or replaced motor done the right way is valued Higher or = to a "clean" record Viper in my book.

 

[SoCal Rebell]

I had to get the Arrow rebuild due to the cylinder wall issue on the first 200 2000 model year builds. My car was burning a quart of oil every 150 miles, did it under warrant, took 9 weeks but the motor was better then new.

 

[AFL in NJ]

My car came from the factory with chaulk marks on the passenger side of the block saying something like "ARROW xx-xx-2001" and since I know this date was prior to my build date of my ACR, I have to assume the engine didn't pass QC at the Connor Ave plant, and was sent to Arrow for re-work. I have to assume that the engine then came back to the plant and was installed in my Viper.

I know Arrow does great work and I've heard of many arrow engines having more power than engines assembled at the factory. For me, I don't care either way and to me it doesn't affect the value of a Viper for the situation my particular Viper has. If the engine was replaced by your dealer and it arrived as a sealed Viper motor from dodge, I wouldn't worry...it may actually be a motor like mine, that went to Arrow for something amiss and comes back with some extra oooomph!

I had my Viper at BadBoyzzGarage earlier this year and we had the oil pan off while doing my clutch and rear main seal, (still dry at 75k miles) and Toddy was surprised how clean the internals were and mentioned that the engine felt really strong despite being completely stock.

Regards,
Aaron

 

[ViperGeorge]

No issues at all for me if the engine was replaced with an Arrow motor. I replaced the one on my 06 with a new Arrow Engine with full forged internals. Who wouldn't want an engine from Arrow with forged I-beam rods and forged pistons? I think it would add value.

 

[98intrigue]

I just got my '06 back Friday after being down for 4 months having the motor rebuilt at Nelson Competition. They are one of the most well known race engine builders in the country (Sal and Lee both had their motors there). It definitely wasn't a cheap rebuild, but hopefully the shop's reputation will add a bit of peace of mind to the next buyer...whenever that may be.