Engine failure - help!

johnnyroper

Lum wrote: »

Swapping an engine is a much simpler job than actually taking the engine apart and fixing it. It's the kind of job that two people could do on a driveway in a day if they were well organised, whereas actually opening the thing up requires a lot more skill to get it right, especially if something like, say, a head skim is needed.

Personally I'm happier replacing engines with ones that are second hand, but unopened, than getting them repaired, and have had better results from doing so.

Given the kind of monkeys often employed at main dealers, I'd apply the same logic. Enjoy your new engine which will have zero miles on it, much better than having your old engine with 16 months of driving on it taken apart and maybe not put together correctly again.

Also get documentation as to the mileage of your car when the engine was swapped so that you can tell any buyer how many miles the engine has done.

couple of points in reply to your post

how do you know the second hand engine has no problems?personally i would rather strip my own engine a repair what was wrong at least i know its history including mileage and sevicing.as it goes i have my 1.9 205 lump in bits at present waiting the bits to arrive so i can put back together.

not all main dealers employ monkeys i worked for vauxhall several years back and we had no problems doing head rebuilds after cambelt breaks,also changed short motors and done bottom end overhaull with new bearings etc aswell as stripping gearboxes to change individual synchros etc so they do not all just change components.
you will probably find there is a known defect with the 1.4 tsi on certain chassis range they assessed info in germany to confirm and authorise the engine change.I seriously doubt it will be a brand spanking new engine either probably a vw recon unit.

Lum

You don't know a second hand engine has no problems, just that in my own experience and at my level of ability regarding engine work, it's the lower risk option.

As for dealer techs. I've never dealt with Vauxhall but a while back I had to have the cylinder replaced on a company Audi, under warranty, and from that point up until the end of the lease I was putting in a litre of oil a week.

I've not used main dealers so much outside of my few years in company cars, but when dealing them regarding company or private cars I have always found them unhelpful, lacking knowledge and generally tedious to deal with. I certainly wouldn't trust them with complicated engine work. The one exception to this is the parts desk at FRH Volvo in Swansea who are really good, to the point that I went to them over Cardiff even though Cardiff is nearer.

ratedrk

darich wrote: »

Does the garage/dealer know you drove the car a number of miles with the engine warning light on?
Doesn't the handbook say that if the light comes on, to stop driving and have the car seen to by an expert?

If the garage don't know the above then keep quiet - if they find out then they may well use that as an excuse for not replacing your engine at their cost.

says to drive slowly to nearest dealer.