I recently acquired my fathers 93 SC400. It hasn't been driven regularily in about a year. My father told me the car had overheated (temp gauge in red) and he still drove it a few miles home. Since then it has a radiator leak that just got much worse the other day. The biggest concern is that the engine sounds a bit loud and has no power. I suspect not all cylinders are firing.

It doesn't seem to be putting out any white smoke in exhaust and oil is ok. I even drove it recently on the highway at 70 MPH.

Before I put any more money into it, I wish I had a better idea what the engine problem could be. Could it be anything other then the head or some internal damage?

I'm just getting started and plan to check the caps, wires, etc. but it also needs exhaust work, master cylinder, and tires, at least. It only has 119,500 miles though, so I'm just not sure what to do.

I don't think the exhaust would affect the power this much, though.

Thanks for any advice. It is a nice car so I hate to see it go.

 

I wouldn't spend too much money on that engine.
I rather just swap out a good used 1uz, 1jz or 2jz and call it a day

 

Agreed. There are all kinds of things that are probably wrong with that engine. It's cost just as much to just buy a replacement engine and swap it in as it would to diagnose and try to fix that engine and risk not all of the problems being found.

I went though the same situation about ten years ago with a Taurus SHO. It had BADLY overheated and I spent a month rebuilding the engine only to find that it was really too warped to really reuse and it still barely ran. I ended up buying another SHO.