Expert: Sean Halliday - 6/5/2006

Question
i own a nissan 200sx s13 (1991) ans i have a rattle coming from the bottom end of the engine. it starst at around 2-3 thousand rpm but goes if i accelerate hard. could this be my big ends? if so is it a job i can do myself?

Answer
by a rattle you mean a hard knock?...then yes with the year of the car being 1991. but whats your milage?..im thinking in the 100 ooo s,,,best thing to do is get a used motor,,,theyre available from a lot of junk yards some come with good warranty and low miles such as 50 000 ,,i have bought several of these engines and its the cheapest fix by far,if youre inclined to rebuild this engine then unless youre pretty experienced its a huge undertaking and you will need a lot of know how to remove your engine and do this.personally i dont rebuild engines ,,i leave it to the machine shop as its not a simple job.remove the head,,bore the cylinders renew the pistons,,,bearings,,rings,,seals,,gaskets,,,valves ,,everything that comes in contact with the oil basically.as far as fixin the big ends i wouldnt recommend doing this alone as you will be wasting your time unless you repair all the above at the same time.you can find lots of good used motors on the web search engine part finder .