Remanufactured Head (ebay), Need you all experts advise Options

[msk59]

In the near future, I plan on redoing the valves etc on the head and came across some ebay sites that sells remanufactured heads. all work done with cams etc for under $300. Engine is 7A-FE and my car is 1996 Celica ST (AT-200) with manual transmission.

What is your experience with these heads and what advise you can give me that can help me decide.

Thank You
MSK

This post has been edited by msk59: Jun 13, 2014 - 8:09 AM

[msk59]

thanks Langing. I just spoke to a mechanic who is a retired Toyota Mechanic. i am taking the car to him next Tuesday and he will check it for me i.e., compression test, leak-down test to see how big a problem I have.

I asked him about the re-manufactured head and he DOES NOT recommend it. He had bad experience in terms of some shops will weld the crack on the head etc. With luck he knows local shops who he trusts for his work to do his machine work for him.

(BTW, I do have my own garage LOL, that is where I spent most of my time anyways)

[Langing]

thanks Langing. I just spoke to a mechanic who is a retired Toyota Mechanic. i am taking the car to him next Tuesday and he will check it for me i.e., compression test, leak-down test to see how big a problem I have.

I asked him about the re-manufactured head and he DOES NOT recommend it. He had bad experience in terms of some shops will weld the crack on the head etc. With luck he knows local shops who he trusts for his work to do his machine work for him.

(BTW, I do have my own garage LOL, that is where I spent most of my time anyways)

It is good to know that you have clean, protected space in which you can do this kind of work.

That negative recommendation from an expert is helpful and certainly timely. Makes my logical reasoning look flawed.

But makes me wonder where the flaw is?

When you are interacting with him try to pump him for information like: whether his bad experience(s) came while he was an active Toyota Mechanic or afterwards; how many times did he experience such problems versus how many times he installed rebuilt heads; could that/those bad experience(s) have been isolated events or did they occur with all re-manufacturers; were there general instructions given to Toyota Mechanics NOT to use head re-manufacturers; why did he think a re-manufacturer would try to get away with doing something so obviously unethical as that (clearly, they would lose a head from the "circulation" that keeps their business going, but getting another from a junkyard ought to be cheap and easy, AND the cost of getting a bad reputation is always hanging over them if they operated this way); was "welding a crack on a head" the only problem he has seen coming from them; did they generally do a superior job of rebuilding heads, otherwise? I would be looking for other reasons to be biased against re-manufacturers, since I still have hope.

Like, what might cause a supposed expert Toyota Mechanic to favor a local machine shop over re-builders, other than what he reported to you. I know, for example, that Toyota dealers charge an enormous amount of money for their OEM Toyota parts, and do the same in charging for their Mechanic's time. They consequently seem to sell parts that are, indeed, OEM (i.e. high) quality. They don't need call-backs for any reason because they simply cannot afford to potentially be seen as providing inferior service. If I was a RETIRED Toyota Mechanic and was presented with the situation you and I are in with aging Celica engines, and I had limited funds, why would I insist on only using OEM quality parts in my personal car, unless I was still thinking like a Toyota Mechanic? I can imagine that while he was working directly for Toyota, being a well trained mechanic, he probably didn't have to think twice about charging his customers extra to cover the costs of using a local machine shop with which he developed a nice working relationship over time, and that machine shop would have good reason to do their absolute best work when a Toyota job was coming in the door. Would the same shop treat you the same? Would you know a machine shop that did Toyota's work?

I wonder if the guy who told you he shipped 70 heads per day would tell you how many heads he shipped to car dealer shops versus independent shops, and DIY people?

And remember, a sample of one isn't statistically meaningful. We need to find a number of experts who report similar examples before we can know we should write these guys off. Maybe I will visit some of the other Toyota websites looking for comments about head rebuilders and report back as to what I find.

All that said, what your Toyota Mechanic said is not good on its face!