Frequently Asked Questions

Model year, model, the ZIP code the engine is going to, whether you would collect it or need it freighted, how soon you need it, your name and one way to reach you. Everything else on the form is optional. Trim, engine code, transmission and VIN all make the answer faster and more certain, but none of them stops you asking.

Yes, and that is the ordinary case rather than an awkward one. Working out which engine a vehicle takes from the year, model and trim is the first step of the process on every request, not something you are expected to have done before you arrive. If your details leave a genuine ambiguity, you get a question rather than a guess.

No. It helps, because a stamped code describes the engine actually in the car right now rather than the one it left the factory with, and on a car that has already had an engine it is the only reliable source. But if you cannot get to it, cannot read it, or the car is not somewhere you can open the hood, send what you have.

Sometimes identical, often a different variant of the same family. Engines built for the Japanese market were specified for that market, so a unit wearing a familiar family code can differ in compression, cam profile, intake, sensors or management from the North American version. Which of those differences matter to you depends on the engine and on whether this is a repair or a swap.

Imported used engines are pulled from vehicles that came off the road in Japan, and mileage claims for them are estimates rather than documented histories in the way a car odometer is. Treat a mileage figure as a description of grade, not a certified number, and put your weight on what you can verify: compression and leak-down after it arrives, the physical condition of the unit, and what the seller states in writing.

That varies more than most first-time buyers expect, and it is the single biggest reason two quotes for "the same engine" differ. A long block is the block and head assembly. A complete engine adds accessories such as the alternator, intake manifold and sensors. A front-clip assembly is a much larger piece of the donor car. Every quote states which one it is for.

Any warranty or return terms come from the seller and are stated in the quote you receive. This site does not set them, does not underwrite them and does not publish terms on the seller’s behalf, because a warranty summary written by a third party is exactly the kind of thing that turns into a dispute. Read the terms in the quote before you pay for anything.

Often, and people do it constantly, but it stops being a parts purchase and becomes a project. The engine is the start of the list rather than the end of it: mounts, transmission and bellhousing, axles, harness, ECU and immobiliser, cooling, intake and exhaust routing all have to be resolved. Say in the notes that it is a swap rather than a repair and the conversation starts in the right place.

It depends on the engine and on the car it is going into. Some combinations run on the vehicle’s existing management with no change at all; others need the matching ECU, and where an immobiliser is involved the key, the immobiliser unit and the ECU may have to be treated as a set. It is worth settling before you buy rather than after the engine is in the bay.

Because a published count of used import stock is wrong within days, and a wrong number is worse than no number: people plan around it. Availability is checked against a specific engine code at the moment you ask, which is the only version of that answer worth having. Pricing works the same way, and moves with variant, condition and what is attached.

Usually the better option, and worth asking your shop about first. A shop typically has a forklift or a dock, somebody present during the day, and staff who know what a freight delivery involves. Some shops decline deliveries of customer-supplied parts, so confirm with them before the shipment is booked.

Your request is stored, given a reference and passed to the seller who fulfils orders. The engine your vehicle takes is identified from what you sent, availability is checked against that specific engine, and you get a quote covering price, condition and what is included. No response time is published on this site because none has been measured.

No. Sending vehicle details and receiving a quote costs nothing and is not an order. Any payment terms, deposits or conditions are the seller’s and appear in the quote, at which point you decide. Nothing on the form creates an obligation to buy.

No. This site identifies the engine your vehicle takes and refers the request to a seller who holds stock and fulfils the order. The quote, the sale, any warranty and the shipment are theirs. This site earns a commission on sales it refers, which is stated plainly on the about page rather than buried.

The engine reference data on this site covers Honda and Acura only, so identification for another make is not something it can do well. You are welcome to ask, but it is fairer to say up front that a different make may not be something we can help with rather than take the request and go quiet.

Stop before anything is unbolted. Note it on the delivery receipt before you sign, photograph the pallet and the engine, and tell the seller the same day. Do not begin the install and do not swap parts onto it — an engine that has been worked on is a far more complicated conversation than one still sitting on the pallet as it arrived.