Piston Slap: At Liberty to Go There? You Know...

Sajeev Mehta
by Sajeev Mehta

TTAC Commentator cc-rider writes:

Hi Sajeev- I am a huge fan and advocate of TTAC. I have a co-worker and friend in dire need of some good advice from the best and the brightest. She has a 2002 Jeep Liberty with 110,000 miles. Last week her car had to be towed to her mechanic. She found out the engine is toast.

Turns out it is a victim of engine sludge. After the fact, it seems that this is a fairly common issue with the Jeep 3.7 V-6. It seems that a new engine would be $3,000 in parts and at least another $2,000 to be installed.

In my opinion, it seems pointless to spend that sort of money on a car that’s maybe worth $4,000. She doesn’t have a lot of money to spend on another car- maybe $2,000 at most. She doesn’t put many miles on in a year and goes mostly to and from work. I am very familiar with the Nissan SR20 engines and am partial to them. I was recommending she find a used 1st generation Infiniti G20. They seem to give a huge bang for the buck at that low price point.

I’d love to hear everyone’s take on her situation. By the way, she is in the NYC metro area for anyone with a cheap ride for sale.

Sajeev Answers:

So she’s just a “co-worker and a friend.” And you’re only “partial” to SR20 mills? Uh-huh.

I call shenanigans! The first-gen Infiniti G is a wonderful car that’s over 13 years old. When a dude recommends an ancient ride to a girl that (probably) has no feelings for it, there’s more than meets the eye. Recommending an old car makes you an instant caregiver: you probably enjoy that person’s company, and they’ll occupy more and more of your time quite soon.

Sorry to bust chops: I won’t recommend my favorite cars to my…uh…friends who happen to be women. And nothing more than that, of course. But if a girlie rolled up in Fox Mustang (Fox anything, for that matter) and wanted my digits, I wouldn’t show her the door. Word is Bond.

Ok, seriously. The Liberty is a goner because of the reasons you correctly stated. Unless she really loves the beast: get a used motor from a junkyard (like LKQ or car-part.com) for about $1000, and spend another $1000-ish for labor. It has a warranty, low miles and probably won’t sludge up: if you run a motor flush and religiously change synthetic oil from here on out. There are 3.7L motors that run fine with proper upkeep in brutal urban traffic, I’ve seen that personally.

Otherwise, yes, dump the Liberty and seek alternative transport. You should help her make that decision, yet narrowing down the field doesn’t mean recommending antique Nissans. Once that’s done, find a clean example of whatever ride she likes and buy her dinner to celebrate her new set of wheels. And if someone finds out they are “partial” to more than SR20 engines after a few sips of vino, so be it!

(Send your queries to mehta@ttac.com)

Sajeev Mehta
Sajeev Mehta

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  • 7th Frog 7th Frog on Mar 30, 2010

    I had a 2001 Sentra SE with the sr20 motor in it with a 5 spd. The thing was reliable as the moon and a blast to drive. It cornered flat and the breaks were excellent. Bought it new and kept it for like 6 years/88,000 miles. Only ever had 2 issues with it. A window regulator went and so did the distributor but both were after about 5 years of ownership.

  • Johnster Johnster on Apr 02, 2010

    This was a surprisingly apt response to cc-rider's email. More astute than anything the "Car Talk" guys would come up with, though they would make a good effort, as would the current Ann Lander, the Dear Abby, or Annie's Mailbox. Carolyn Hax would offer similar advice, along with a recent popular novel and/or self-help book with a title along the lines of "How Your Creepy Co-Worker is Trying to Keep You Dependent on Him." Cary Tennis would digress. Your advice was more in the spirit of Dan Savage. Well done!

  • ToolGuy "Honey, someone is trying to cross the moat again"
  • Rochester "better than Vinfast" is a pretty low bar.
  • TheMrFreeze That new Ferrari looks nice but other than that, nothing.And VW having to put an air-cooled Beetle in its display to try and make the ID.Buzz look cool makes this classic VW owner sad 😢
  • Wolfwagen Is it me or have auto shows just turned to meh? To me, there isn't much excitement anymore. it's like we have hit a second malaise era. Every new vehicle is some cookie-cutter CUV. No cutting-edge designs. No talk of any great powertrains, or technological achievements. It's sort of expected with the push to EVs but there is no news on that front either. No new battery tech, no new charging tech. Nothing.
  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
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