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Turbo has just gone on my 07 1.9cdti Vectra, killing the engine in the process. Its a good car with a new clutch and gearbox and was driving very nicely in the few months I've had it.
Looking on ebay I can get an engine and a reconditioned turbo for £550, ive been told I will then just need a cambelt and various gaskets which shouldnt cost a lot. A friend has said he can swap it all over for me and should be able to do it in a day.
So, is it worth trying to go down this route? Seems like a good idea in theory as the rest of the car is sound and if I spend another grand or two on another car there is just as much chance something major will go on that.
If I swap the engine out will all the electrical gubbins work or is there a fair chance im going to have a nightmare with ecu not recognising new engine/parts?
Model year for model year should be good but likely some sensor swaps to be had.
I can't swap seats from an 07 Subaru into an 08 as the airbag sensors are different and will show a fault light.
Not like the old days that's for sure.
You can keep all the old electrical ECU / bcu
Shouldn’t be insurmountable. Bit of a gamble on the life the new engine has had but it’s a gamble worth taking IMO. Sensors/senders/ecu/ancillaries can all come from your car anyway.
Engine im looking at supposedly has 81000 miles on it which is about 50000 less than mine. Doubt they have any proof of this though its guaranteed for 3 months. In all fairness though if I bought a whole new car there is no guarantee what sort of life that car/engine would have had either.
I wouldn't personally, the car isn't worth enough for the hassle and expense IMO but others may disagree.
Check the oil lines are clear of gunk/mayonnaise on the replacement engine and find out if it's worth while replacing such items as the water pump/ timing belt tensioners before you fit the engine, if you want to be really pernickety then drop the sump on the replacement engine and check the pan for oil deposits/carbon build up. Give it an oil change/filter change with semi decent oil then do it again after 500 miles, and make sure your air filter is changed as diesels rely on good air - also may be worth your while cleaning out the intercooler as bits of turbo and old oil may be clogging it up.
If it's a straight swap like for like with no immobiliser issues then the pair of you could easily do an engine swap inside a day.
30k on an eleven year old car? Sell it and buy a petrol. You're driving the wrong vehicle.
30k? I have only had the car for 4 months and put about 5k on it in that time. Its got about 134k on it, replacement engine has done 81k.
Due to where I live there isn't an awful lot of second hand cars about and you tend to have to pay more for them, hence im considering fixing mine up instead of just getting a new one. I think it will be cheaper and at least im pretty sure the rest of the car is in good nick with new clutch, gear box, good service history and went straight through last mot with no advisories. Just a bit of a gamble either way I guess.
Your maths is terrible Cougar.
Can't be too hard my mate used to have an ex taxi with that engine that had the milage written on the sun visor......for each of the three engines it had had.
That said unless I was doing it my self* and didn't really need the motor in a hurry. I would not be paying good money to have IIt swapped.
*it's the sort of thing I do for fun.
For £550 it will most likely be a bare engine so you will have to swap all your ancilliaries and sensors from the old enging to the new one. Don't underestimate how many gaskets need replacing and how much they cost. With a cam belt kit they could add another £3-400 to the bill.
If the new engine has the same engine code as the old one it will be a simple swap.
It is easy to do and worth it if the rest of the car is in good condition.
I'd do it, people write off a £1000 repair bill but then go and finance a newer £12k car, who is actually better off afterwards?
Just do your research on the Vauxhall forums to spot if there will be any unexpected issues.
If I could do it myself them maybe but the car is over 10 years old with a lot of miles. How much else is worn out? A new clutch really should go in as well when you change an engine should it not and how much will the car be worth afterwards?
I've done it on a 08 Passat about 18 months ago. Kept the ECU and as much of the original as I could. Make sure you get exactly the same engine code. It's been fine since, only problem (touch wood) has been a coolant leak somewhere which I've not yet managed to track down. Took me two weekends - one to strip the old engine out, the second to put the new one in. With two people it would be much quicker, especially if one of them knows what they're doing!
tjagain
If I could do it myself them maybe but the car is over 10 years old with a lot of miles. How much else is worn out? A new clutch really should go in as well when you change an engine should it not and how much will the car be worth afterwards?
I used to swap engines in and out of cars for fun, but I'd be wary these days unless I could be sure all the electronic gubbins matched up. That's the sort of info you'll get from an enthusiasts forum, and there's bound to be one for your car.
If your car is a known quantity, it makes sense, because it's not really a question of how much it's worth afterwards, but if you will get your money's worth out of the engine swap.
However, at that age of car, scouring the adverts is likely to come up with a low mileage one owned by an old codger, and that may be cheaper than fixing your own once you have sold yours for spares & repair.
If you do it, you have to send the V5C form off to DVLA to be updated with the new engine number - no charge. I didn't tell my insurers though, as I understand it's like-for-like replacement, just like changing any other component, rather than a modification (e.g. putting a more powerful engine in). I'm not 100% sure on this though, and expect some insurers would kick up a fuss if told.
If it's diesel, don't you need the ECU calibrating to the injectors? Might be a simple as putting a code from the injectors into the ECU but might be easier if you get the new engines ECU as well.
I'm not a diesel expert the only engine I've ever taken out had carburetors!
I would say budget to replace everything (cam belt, pumps, gaskets, clutch) it might add up to another few hundred quid but unless you do those yourself in the future then the cost of the parts and DIY whilst the engine is out and it's easy is probably less than the garage price for any one of them.
When I had mine out someone suggested doing the big end and main bearing shells! I drew the line at that.
"If it’s diesel, don’t you need the ECU calibrating to the injectors? Might be a simple as putting a code from the injectors into the ECU but might be easier if you get the new engines ECU as well."
That's easy. Just keep the old injectors and fit them to engine.
I'm more worried about the new ECU not being coded. To immobiliser . For obvious reasons those are not always easy to pair up.
On the 2.2 dci engines the fuel pumps also coded and can be hellish to match up.
And that's with me having opcom.
That’s easy. Just keep the old injectors and fit them to engine.
I’m more worried about the new ECU not being coded. To immobiliser . For obvious reasons those are not always easy to pair up.
At that price it will be a bare engine ie. block, head, sump and internals only. You almost certainly won't be getting the ecu, injectors, fuel rail or anything else.
All the bits will need to be swapped from your old engine. There will be no issue with ecu coding etc as they will all be original bits. Just make sure the engine codes match.
If the original lunched the turbo ensure there is no swarf in the inlet system before fitting to the new engine.
FWIW, I had two vectra's, actually liked them and got a fair few miles out of them. However they died at 142,xxx & 146,xxx miles respectively.
Their major design fault, as I understand it (was explained by my mechanic) is that the ECU is very near the engine and, heats up / cools down - this leads to condensation in the electrics which then leads to various components dying around this sorta age.
If your at ~130k miles you around their usual death age. By all means, buy another one but having owned two, I wouldn't be putting a new engine in an existing one.
That would about tally up with my mates experiNce.
He seemed to get about 150-170 k out of an engine going by the sun visor tally.
It died in a spectacular* fashion just south of Kinross on our way to the trannent sprint.
*Not really....all the coolant fell out the radiator in a cloud of steam and the engine stopped , we coasted to a halt in the hardshouler..
Mr aa man came along .asked what happened put his hands on the engine and said that's ****ed and gave us a lift home.
Your maths is terrible Cougar.
Sorry, I misread "less" as "more." Ignore me.
you need to code the injector correction codes to the ecm. i believe you can do it with an obd tool.
covered above.
Not sure about Vauxhall but in VW land you can read the coding for engine parts with VCDS and re-apply them. There are changes to engine wiring and such even within model years with the same engine code. Not many, but some. So definitely keep the engine ECU, but you need not keep the rest AFAIK.
My neighbour did it to a somewhat older Honda, and he had no diagnostic tools until I told him he needed one. Just bodged it in, and it worked too.