Kia Sorento- engine woes

[carts]

G'day all,
A mate of mine has had some dramas with his Oct 2003 build Kia sorento. It has the 3.5L v6 engine in it. Apparently the other day he pulled up at his kids day care centre and was reversing into a car spot when the motor started knocking. He shut it down straight away and restarted it some 10 mins later. When it started it was still knocking, idling rough and the engine management light came on.

He decided to get the car towed to Kia at Penrith, where they informed him the knock was coming from the bottom end. Assuming they diagnosed the problem properly, they suggest the best course of action is to buy a new short motor and install his old accesories, including head etc to it. The quote has come in at around 10k tow in drive out.

The car in question has 140k on the clock, has been driven tame and regularly serviced. Does anyone know of any common problems with these engines? and what do people think the best course of action should be? I have suggested to him that he track down either a reco long motor or a 2nd hand donk from a wreck and we will do the engine swap ourselves over a long weekend. Anyone see any pitfalls with this idea?

Am i right in assuming the 3.5 in the sorento is the old 3.5 pajero engine? as i have been told this a couple of times. are they therefore interchangeable?

thanks
carts

[STUMPY]

G'day all,
A mate of mine has had some dramas with his Oct 2003 build Kia sorento. It has the 3.5L v6 engine in it. Apparently the other day he pulled up at his kids day care centre and was reversing into a car spot when the motor started knocking. He shut it down straight away and restarted it some 10 mins later. When it started it was still knocking, idling rough and the engine management light came on.

He decided to get the car towed to Kia at Penrith, where they informed him the knock was coming from the bottom end. Assuming they diagnosed the problem properly, they suggest the best course of action is to buy a new short motor and install his old accesories, including head etc to it. The quote has come in at around 10k tow in drive out.

The car in question has 140k on the clock, has been driven tame and regularly serviced. Does anyone know of any common problems with these engines? and what do people think the best course of action should be? I have suggested to him that he track down either a reco long motor or a 2nd hand donk from a wreck and we will do the engine swap ourselves over a long weekend. Anyone see any pitfalls with this idea?

Am i right in assuming the 3.5 in the sorento is the old 3.5 pajero engine? as i have been told this a couple of times. are they therefore interchangeable?

thanks
carts

Az , i feel sorry for your mate. 140k isn't many km's. Was it regularly serviced by Kia?
JB