Ideal Engines-Finding the right second hand engine to suit your needs

After weighing the balances between reconditioned engines and second hand engines, for whatever reason, you may have decided the 2nd hand engine was the Ideal Engine for you.
If this is the case, we will go through all of the major points you should go over after your initial purchase.
Once you find a supplier of the second hand engine that you would like to purchase from. Order the unit and have it delivered. Many suppliers have no problem delivering engines directly to garages but they may ask you for some form of identification linking you to the credit card you are using to purchase the unit. This is only done as a security check since sadly it is becoming common to have people use cards that do not belong to them to buy engines. Once the identification and purchase is sorted you can advise your supplier where you would like the unit delivered to.
The supplier should then give you an approximate date or length of time before the unit is expected to turn up at the place of delivery. I say approximate because most deliveries are done by 3rd party companies that run on their own time tables but should still be able to get the unit there in a reasonable amount of time.

Once the unit arrives, set it side by side with the original unit. Compare the two to make sure all major mounting points are in the same place. While it is nice to have an identical engine delivered for your vehicle, the reality of the situation is that many manufacturers produce single types of engines that fit multiple cars out of their range. Also there is the chance that an engine is either older or newer than the one you have in the vehicle which could have different ancillaries but the engine block and cylinder head would be identical. Another thing I would recommend is removing the spark plugs/glow plugs and placing a socket onto the main crank pulley. Then turn the engine by hand. It is not unusual for the initial movement to feel a bit sticky at first but after 1 or two revolutions the unit should spin relatively freely with no excess noises coming from inside the engine.

If the engine you have purchased has been sent “complete”(with all ancillaries like the alternator, power steering pump) I would urge you to remove these items and make the unit bare before attempting to fit the engine. The reasoning behind this is simple, these items worked on your original vehicle, the replacement engine you just bought might have been sitting on a shelf or in a breaker yard for an extended period of time so you do not know if those items work or not. Either way, ancillaries would not come with a warranty so it is advised not to take the chance of waiting until the unit is installed before finding out the alternator is bad. This could take changing the alternator from a 10 minute job when the units are on the floor to a 4 hour job if the unit is installed in a vehicle.

Another thing that should be done before fitting a replacement engine is replacement of the timing belt. The timing belt is cheap insurance against major problems if it is overlooked and deteriorated. This is another case of preventative maintenance, if the timing belt is deteriorated and breaks in 2 months it has a high probability of damaging your replacement engine to the point where it will have to be replaced again. Your mechanic should take his time and swap over any electrical connectors from your original engine, many of these connectors are sensors that allow the car to run properly, sometimes they do break or go faulty with age so if the ones on your original engine were quite old I would recommend buying new ones to install on the replacement engine to make sure they all work as intended.

The following is a list of things that should either be checked or replaced when fitting any second hand engines:

Need to be checked:
• Cooling system (verify no blockages)
• Electrical system (verify no frayed wires)
• External oil cooler(on vehicles equipped with them)
• Air filter element

Need to be replaced:
• Oil filter
• Fuel filter
• Spark plugs/glow plugs
• Thermostat
• Timing belt ( where equipped)
• Coolant hoses

The above items are all important to the lifespan of your replacement engine and are much easier to replace before the unit is fitted than if it is installed first.

Once the replacement engine has had all of the service items changed over it is time to install it into the vehicle. The process itself is fairly straight forward. Line up the gearbox, set engine in the engine compartment and onto the motor mounts and tighten everything up.

Fill the replacement engine with quality motor oil and a good brand of coolant.
Turn the key on the vehicle once all fluids have been filled and electrics have been sorted. it is not uncommon to have the vehicle be “hard to start” this first time. This is because while you were replacing the engine there is normally an air pocket that creates itself in the fuel lines. Once this air pocket is bled out naturally the engine should start.

Once the vehicle is started let it run for an extended period of time, this will allow the mechanic to look for any leaks and determine if the engine is sound or not. If it is a sound engine and doing as it should then you should be happily back on the roadways again. If there are issues or problems, now is the time for your mechanic to advise you of them so they can be caught before more damage is done.

Wayne Adams is an expert in second hand engines. You can check our social profiles at: Ideal Engines Twitter, Ideal Engines YouTube and Ideal Engines Facebook