[CREWZIN]

Welcome to the forum Animal.

If that's a friend, stay really clear of your enemies. Hard to say anything with the little information you gave us. There's a number of reasons why if could of overheated and if it overheated bad enough, the head and gasket could have warped/blew but that can be fixed without dropping in a new motor. In fact the only problems that have come up needing a new motor are the guys who are pushing 300hp and blew the thing up.

Now, did the engine overheat because it ran out of fluid as your "friend" told you, or did it overheat because the fan motor burnt out (common problem with PT's) and it blew the water out (happened to me)?

Is there any modifications done to the engine? When was the last time it was tuned up? "Won't start" could be a dozen different things. Are there any fault codes from the computer?