Morning All,

As you can see from the title i finally scratched the Copart itch... the car has arrived and pretty much is as described a 2015 RRS guessing a autobiography by the seats that has the dreaded 3.0 sdv6 in (just before adblue) that wont run.. so even before it had arrived i ve pretty much resigned myself to the fact i will be buying another engine or a full rebuild if its hasn't span it bearings.

The car arrived late yesterday looking very sad, sat very low like not a puff of air in the suspension, im hoping this is due to it being parked for so long. also very randomly the upper console has been ripped out and not with the car, this is either vandalism or leak from the roof. this I'm also guessing why the car wont lock or unluck with the buttons on the keys.

in better news the electric side steps seem to work and the keys allow the ignition to throw the starter however you just get the dreaded click and after further investigations with a long bar and a socket on the crank i can see why she's solid.

let the games begin , i suppose the first thing to do is get it plugged in to the scanner and report back with a list of error codes. I haven't bought this to make money or start a youtibe channel just really fancied seeing if i could bring something back to life, however i may need everyone's help. I've changed a few engines in my time but never anything with this many sensors or electrics

any help or advice or even where to start would be greatly appreciated, thanks

Does look like a good project see if you can turn the crank by hand as a starter to give your self an idea if it's seized or not.

Yea had the bar on it won’t budge, and from the look of the oil level she’s full to the knickers either full of water or fuel. Will investigate further tomorrow to bloody cold

Should be interesting to see how you get on with this. Was this car an insurance write off due to whatever is wrong with it?

Not really sure… just found it on copart at the right money and hopefully get it back on the road for a few grand

Mines a 2015 model Autobiography and yours it too by the looks of it. They are great cars. Hope you get this one back on the road without spending mega money. If the engine is Kaput there are companies on EBay and the like fitting re con engines for around £4K but you sound like you know what you are doing so I’m sure you can do it cheaper.

Yea I’ve had a good long trawl through eBay. It’s mental I reckon 90% are in and around Essex I’m confident of taking it out but actually rebuilding the engine is prob way above my expertise, so will be looking to use a profesional.

Will keep everyone posted wish me luck

I Love a project like this, just wish I had the space to do it.

Will follow closely

Good luck and Have fun...

Paul

Kristian1 wrote:

Yea I’ve had a good long trawl through eBay. It’s mental I reckon 90% are in and around Essex I’m confident of taking it out but actually rebuilding the engine is prob way above my expertise, so will be looking to use a profesional.

Will keep everyone posted wish me luck

Great thread!
Looking forward to how you get on
Always looking on copart for RRS/Porches/370zs
Just wish I had a nice farm style double garage and get some ramps installed!

Be following this with excitement - maybe do a few walk round videos and upload here or youtube??

Very interesting project, I shall follow Your progress!
Just one question: why the strong "the dreaded 3.0 sdv6 in" statement in Your first post? FYI I have a 2015 RRS autobiography, with this engine - and 240.000 kms driven without any serieus mechanical problem (touch wood).. 😇

How have you got on with this ? I was hoping to do the same at some point , and being in the NW you have a few engine part places close by too …

Have you gone for a replacement engine or a re-build ??

Do it Vice Grip Garage style Always listen to old people or when they die you will live on in ignorance.
The avatar is a picture of the man with a big cock.
Learned to 4x4 on 100 mile beach and Frazer Island QLD
Dont spend money on old cars you will never get it back

Morning all,

Sorry haven’t updated much however…. Here we go.


So the engine was shot, about 3 weeks ago I started the process of removing it, far easier than I thought to be fair. There isn’t much on the internet about the 494 engine out. It’s all vids of the older ones with bodies off etc.

So my plan, was dedicate the weekend and get it out. I was Guna lift it stright out the top was toying with the idea of bumper off rads out so I had that little bit more room, but I held off as thought get the engine loose and if we need to then I can do that after. After removing all the undertray and plastic gubbins it was pretty striaght forward, about 4 hrs some bloody knuckles and a few choice words she was out. (However without my ramps and workshop I’m not sure I would have attempted)








So the next bit was the bit I was concerned about, breaking down the engine and seeing the damage….
1. For the costs associated
2. For I’m happy with a spanner in hand taking engines out, however taking them apart with springs and bits and bobs and need to have proper tolerances ain’t me - I’m the guy who builds an ikea flat pack and have spares left at the end.

Now remembered this was a copart project to which all the information I had at the time of buying was does not run. I always figured engine was shot, but whilst removing the engine there were positive signs or so I thought, nothing had been undone prior to me like the fact no one had even investigated. Obviously if you own or do your research your pretty confident if engine has gone on one of these it’s crank related. Any how I decided I needed to see inside and when I saw the damage I could make an informed descion and box her up and send it to someone who was more capable than me. Well this is what I found..








Obvs when you see that kind of damage even I know it’s prob going to start to get expensive and should I just turn the car into a desk like the recent Instagram video that my mates keep sending me.


However I did trawl the internet and find a company, visited them and there workshop to see them prior to sending the engine. And I did also call by on a few occasions to check on progress.
















So after a new block, new sump, new pistons, crank, oil pump valves turbos etc and basicaly anything else you can think of she arrived back late Wednesday. I followed pretty much the same process to put it back in and she’s now running like a dream.

Will be doing and oil service in about 400/500 miles and fingers crossed no major issues.
However, the project is far from over I know need to work out the electrical side replace the overhead console, to which there must be a million variations, currently on my 3rd from eBay for the correct amount of plugs vs buttons. Send off for a log book, new brake pads, and clean up disks and then possibly peel the wrap off.

Would I buy another one or another car off copart…. YES however not if I wanted to do it to make a profit and sell, the favourite quote of everyone is you could have bought one running for what you’ve spent on it. And yes 100% correct I could have you can get a 2015 for around £14k however my response to them is simple. I bought it as a project for me to do with a beer in hand of an evening or a weekend which I wouldn’t have got if I’d of bought a running one, and secondly these are so prone to fail what’s to say if I’d of got a cheaper one ran it for a bit it wouldn’t have done exactly the same and I’d of had to go through all this anyway.


Illl post again soon and keep you updated on the locking saga

Wow, well done so far. Dare I ask how much the engine rebuild etc cost??