3rd of March 2015 ... Number of Responses 1 --

If the turbo did not break up when it had failed when driving are the chances of my engine having no damage good,even though my mechanic told me i should get another engine, which i did ,and now when I think of it i may not have needed to because he only told me to do so to be on the safe side, as he said there was a slight knocking sound when you try and start it,what are the chances that my engine was ok and may not of needed much work,

The engine had a knocking sound which would suggest engine repair required. My guess is that in the interest of saving you money the mechanic did not want to end up charging you (or himself) to determine the exact issue with the engine as every hour he spent determining what needed to be fixed would be expense that did not actually fix the vehicle. Not to mention that at the end of the day, the more detailed diagnosis may have resulted in a new engine anyway. So to keep things simple, the mechanic just went ahead and suggested the engine swap. Now I make the above statement based on you having a trustworthy mechanic relationship which is what it sounds like you have. When I dealt with bad engines, the approach on repair depended on how soon the customer needed the car. If the customer needed the car sooner rather than later then an engine swap was the best approach. For customers that were in no rush (may take a few months), then an engine rebuild was an option and the car was worked on during slow times at the shop to keep the customer costs down as we could charge a lower rate for the restoration work. Mechanics unfortunately have to use their experience to make decisions on time expected to do a task and not what the actual fix may take unless the customer is willing to gamble the extra money (may cost more in the end than straight engine swap) for a detailed diagnosis. We are seeing this as more hybrid cars hit the market with battery packs that cost thousands of dollars. Will customers be willing to pay for a detailed diagnostic evaluation (that does not guarantee the car will be fixed for less - may even cost more) instead of just getting a new battery pack when the initial car diagnostics says the battery pack is bad.