97' Tacoma needs a new engine

[Colleen]

We took my husband's 97 Tacoma into an auto repair because we knew something was wrong and it needed to be fixed, but we didn't know would need to be fixed. The auto place burnt out the starter trying to start it (my husband said the starter was not in great shape to begin with, so he thought it might happen). But they, they called back and said the only way to fix the Tacoma was to put a new engine in it. This was devasting to my husband because we can't afford the engine and labor costs. To him, it was like shooting his dog. We also wanted to hand it down to our son in 10 years, but now, that won't happen.
Does anyone know of a groups or grants, or anything that helps out with this kind of thing? There may not be anything, but I figured it's worth a try to search. We basically need a miracle to save this Tacoma.
Thank you,
Colleen

 

[whippersnapper02]

What's the shop's reasoning behind needing a new engine?

 

[Colleen]

I'm not sure, they explained it to my husband, and my husband said it sounded logical based on all the problems he's had and he knew he needed to fix it long ago, but we never had the chance to do it. He didn't drive it much, but he thinks that driving it when he knew there was something wrong, probably didn't help. I believe it has over 250K miles on it.

 

[kdaily1720]

I would take it to another mechanic to make sure before I would say it was done with.

 

[Changeling]

Get it the hell out of that shop and take it to someone who is not trying to screw you.
They could be honest, but they sound a little off !!!

 

[KennyF]

The hard part is, when you take it somewhere and have the engine all apart or pulled out, it's hard to tow it somewhere else.

 

[BobbySRV]

I'm not sure, they explained it to my husband, and my husband said it sounded logical based on all the problems he's had and he knew he needed to fix it long ago, but we never had the chance to do it. He didn't drive it much, but he thinks that driving it when he knew there was something wrong, probably didn't help. I believe it has over 250K miles on it.

Try and find another mechanic, hopefully one that will give you specifics on tests that should be run to determine what this truck needs . I have a 98' SR5 which I ran as a service truck for 387K miles before it needed a rebuild on the engine