Hey all,

Real tough decision we (wifey and I) have to face.

We both have Astras:
Me: MY7.5 SRi 2.2 with 175,000kms on it (all from me).
Hers: A "last off the line" 05 TS Classic (with some bells and whistles from the Opel parts bin). It has just over 230,000kms on it, and owned since 30,000kms

Suffice to say both our cars are much loved, have shared many adventures with us, and have significant sentimental value.

Alas wifeys car is currently at the mechanics (we know and trust them very much).

A while back she'd had issues with the car temperature creeping up, and we found the coolant bottle had cracked. That was replaced and all good. Then the sump plug was replaced as it was leaking oil everywhere.

About a month back I heard the lifters sounding like a tractor, checked oil and it was bone dry. She mentioned the car temp had been getting up again. After giving her a bit of a talking to and putting in 4L odd of oil, we started it back up and it blew some white smoke, but that cleared and it was all good. Lifters quiet and we figured it was one to keep an eye on.

Since then it's been chewing oil and there's a bit under the sump, but its not dropping anywhere. She'd also noticed just in last week coolant level dropping quite quickly.

So mechanics check it out:
1. Radiator leaking and needs replacing.
2. J pipe and gasket/fitting need replacing as sheering off.
3. No oil leak noticable externally so mechanic is going to do a leak test, as it's not dropping the oil but burning it somewhere at quite a rate.

They currently suspect that one or more piston rings are gone... which means new engine time Click here to enlarge

Options therefore would be:
1. Second Hand motor - unknown kms and possibly just end up with same issue in the future.
2. Reconditioned motor - get mechanic to rebuild the motor with mostly fresh components (assuming block is intact, and cams/pistons/heads aren't damaged). Pretty much 0km engine right?
3. Replace the car, and get whatever we can from wreckers for whats in the car (looks like about $200 which is sweet FA).

Repairs all up I'm guessing are going to be around the $5000 mark, and we are not flush with funds at the moment (quite the opposite).

Tricky call really :\

Out of interest if we couldn't find a good 1.8L motor (ZX18E?) but could find a 2.2L do they drop straight in, or is there brake / clutch / gearbox upgrades required?

From what it looks like the 2.2L motors are almost double the price though.

Appreciate all thoughts on this one.
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