Ivor Searle Ltd Reviews 

I bought an engine for my MGB last summer . It was fitted professionally and has been driven for less than 1500 miles , lovely engine , water leaks started to appear between the block and the head . I contacted The MG owner’s club who I bought it from , they requested the head come off to be inspected . My garage found a fault made on assembly .easily rectified in five minutes Searles deny this could be the problem . Requesting the engine back to inspect at a cost of £1000 refundable only if a fault is found . Plus the cost of removing and refitting The cost of replacing the gasket and remedying the cause would be £400 . Being pragmatic I will have to take this route . I would have thought a goodwill gesture and good PR of maybe half this cost would not have hurt and avoided my negative review.

I bought a new Mitsubishi Warrier L200 pickup back in 2004. The engine blew up at 41k on the clock in 2010, and Mitsubishi refused to do anything because it was out of warranty. My local garage, ACC in Farnborough, fitted an engine from Ivor Searle. I came across the documentation yesterday, and it is now May 2026. I want to say that the engine is still running perfectly well, with a mileage of 93k on the pickup. I guess I am quite happy to give a 5-star review here!

Our local garage fitted a new engine from Ivor Searle in November 2024, the engine had a few minor niggles but in Oct 2025 it started to develop a serious engine knocking. Our local garage took the car in and agreed there was a problem. They spoke with Ivor Searle and it was agreed the the engine should be removed. The engine was then returned to Ivor Searle who after looking at the engine said there was not an issue with it! The engine had done less than 7,000 miles and had a very bad engine knock which was recorded by us and the Garage. There was something very wrong with the engine but Ivor Seale refuse to honour their engine warranty! I would suggest that anybody thinking of using this company thinks twice as I would not recommend them.
In response to the reply from Ivor Searle, I have copied my email reply to an email from the company;
Thank you for your reply, which I have read with great interest. I have a couple of points I would like to raise in reply. I have listed these below;
Your engine was out of its warranty period, however we agreed to pick it up and look at it anyway.As the engine was supplied on 25th November 2024 and your warranty period is 12 months from fitting, this means the warranty ended on 25th November 2025. The fact that my garage raised the initial warranty complaint with you on 28th October means it was still within your warranty. So your statement is factually incorrect, which undermines the rest of your arguments.
When an engine goes through a warranty inspection........I would be very interested to read this "full comprehensive report", please supply this to me by return. I am interested by your comment "There was no fault with the engine returned, that does not mean we are denying any issue with it" as this admits that there was an issue with the engine. As you have admitted there was an issue, I feel that your company should also be covering the labour cost of the garage for the fitting of the replacement engine as per your warranty.
 I am fully aware of the number of moving parts in an automotive engine being a qualified vehicle mechanic. 
I feel that my review on Trustpilot was fair and correct.

Recently purchased a remanufactured engine for my Spitfire 1500. Great experience with Ivor Searle. Good communications during transaction. Engine was available on the shelf and delivered the next day. Now in car and running smooth. Process for return of donor engine and deposit refund was easy and no drama.

Never ever use EASTLAKE ENGINES or IVOR SEARLE

PLEASE READ ALL REVIEWS (I wish I had)

I have never written a critical review ever before but am compelled to do so regarding these two companies.

I bought a replacement Ivor Searle engine through Eastlake Engines for my Sprinter Van and it lasted forty (yes 40) miles.

Being told that there was no provision to have the vehicle recovered mechanics had to come out to me to assess the situation. Having spent some considerable time trying to identify the problem EASTLAKE ENGINES advised me to return it to the main supplier IVOR SEARLE and they arranged its collection.

After a week they admitted liability and said they would honour a warranty claim.

A replacement engine was sent to me and was fitted. However that arrived with parts missing and we had to source them from a dealer 40 miles away in order not to loose any more time.

The additional costs to me were £2255.00 and a detailed invoice was supplied.

Almost by return both parties stated they would only pay £965.00.

By this time I had been loosing weeks of business time without the vehicle but I recognised that could not be claimed form and I was simply looking for my direct out of pocket expenses.

They stated that the terms of the warranty had been supplied with the engine. No one claims to have seen them as they were supposedly sent in hard copy form with the unit and never directly to me as the customer. All other correspondence had been by email.

Now they have ceased all contact.

I understand that as a small time customer I am insignificant to them but to all small time customers who may thinking of using these dreadful companies be very, very careful. While both Eastlake Engines and Ivor Searle may have been around for many years certainly the current management of both companies care little for the customer.

I had a Ivor Searle engine fitted in my Vauxhall van 5 years ago, it's been excellent, I still have the van, and still going strong 5 years on, - as it should be !

Update.
We fitted an engine from another supplier called Vega, it's been on the road for over 2 months now with no problem,all the same ancillaries , runs perfectly well and no oil consumption.
This proves the fault was with the Ivor Searle engine .
After using this company for over 20 years it saddens me to say "never again"
They do not honour their warranty.
I'm now left several thousands of pounds out of pocket.
The measure of a company is how they deal with a problem, their answer is to try and apportion blame to the customer.

Update ,I have now given up with this company and ordered an engine from a different company.

They claim that it's abnormal combustion and they agree it uses oil.
The engine has done under 300 miles , the engine was also fitted with a new egr valve ,new injectors and new turbo charger.
We also analysed all data and found that everything is as it should be.
The dpf is also working correctly.
The problem with the engine is excessive crankcase pressure .

The gearbox feels ok but I sometimes have trouble getting into third when down changeing, not great!!!

very efficant prompt replies to emails deliveries and collections