Engine replacement on CDCA 2012 Amarok

[unclemitty]

Hi all,


First post here for me, a new member. A couple of months ago, I had a lousy run with vehicles. One week my bike blew up and the next, the Amarok. Its a 2012 CDCA 4x4 dual cab TDi 400 Rok with 235k harder km on it. I had a timing belt let go 18 months back (20k km ago) and I spent $7k AUD having it repaired and rebuilt. Given the age/mileage and condition of the vehicle, I do want to fix it again yet this time a mechanic friend and myself will swap the motor instead of a repair. I won't spend too much effort explaining the failure of the motor other than its a major failure in the top or bottom of the engine, I'm pretty confident that its stuffed and just want to swap a fresher motor from a wreck. A repair of the original motor is off the cards. I may have picked up some bad fuel and will send away a fuel sample but even then, I'll swap out the motor. The details of my ute are as follows:

2012 4x4 TDi400
CDCA motor

Note: nothing is externally obvious re: the engine failing - the serpentine belt is in situ, etc.

Given that my mate and I can pull the motor out of the truck and put a new one in, what parts will need to be replaced?
What consumables will we need to order ahead of the job?
What parts have to be retained from the original motor (i.e. I have heard that the four fuel injectors are mapped to the ECU and will need to be remapped with a VW computer if we swap injectors)?


Any advice will be appreciated. Ideally we will need to do this engine swap in a weekend as the ute is sitting in the farm shed 300km away from where we live. Whatever we will need will have to be ordered well in advance. Thanks,

unclemitty

[unclemitty]

Well aside from crickets and the eery silent lurkers out there, I have been doing some research on swapping these motors. From the mechanics that I have spoken to that specialise in this work, I have learned that it shouldn't require any calibration of equipment or computers to get this job done. I.e. it's unlikely that I will need to plug the car into a VW computer to do this job provided I swap a like for like motor (CDCA for CDCA motor). Apparently the transmissions are not relevant to swapping engines too, which is good news to me. As in, you can have a manual Amarok and use the motor, not gearbox, from an automatic Amarok with the same engine code. There shouldn't be any issue in fitting a motor that came from an automatic into my manual and pairing it to the original manual transmission in my car. Additionally, I am not expecting to need any other spares beyond what maintenance work I want to do to the motor before installation (i.e. new clutch kit, timing belt kit, etc).

I'll keep posting here as the job occurs yet at this point I haven't even got my cash together it could take a little while. Hopefully this advice is on the money but let's wait and see..

unclemitty

[tigger73]

Don't take the silence as nobody being interested in the thread. Although there's only been 1 post there's been 180 views so people are definitely taking an interest in what you're doing. Like me they are probably thanking their lucky stars it didn't happen to them and/or they haven't done an engine swap before and don't have anything to add.

Good luck and keep the thread updated. If you can remember to take some pictures along the way it's always good. It may even help to work out which bolt to put where later (always good to take pictures of all the electrical connectors also).

[unclemitty]

True, I know the feeling. That's good advice too, I always take plenty of photos of anything I pull apart. It's so easy to be staring at connectors, bolts, gaskets, etc and not know what to put where. Photos go a long way to getting these jobs done. I have benefitted much over the years from these kinds of posts without contributing so its probably time I did my bit. I would have posted this on AusAmarok yet I cannot access their forum at all so I thought here was the next best place to post.

Yesterday afternoon I called a wrecker who told me they have a motor that they can freight, inclusive of the fuel pump through to the turbo. They don't want an exchange either, its a straight sale so that is promising for me. So far I figure I'll need to budget for the following:

- Motor pulled from a CDCA wreck, $5750
- Exedy clutch, flywheel, slave and bolt kit, $1350
- Timing belt kit and waterpump, $375 (note the pumps sold in inclusive timing belt kits are of poor quality, my supplier sells OEM pumps with timing belt kits)
- Fuel filter, $40 (?)
- Air Filter, $30 (?)
- Oil Filter, $20 (?)
- 8L of Penrite 5W-30 Enviro+ full synth oil, $120

Total $7685

I will need to figure out if an air-con re-gas is due as well so could add some cost on top. My AC compressor was playing up, shearing the drive mechanism so I think I will need a replacement compressor as well... Could be in excess of $8k all said and told.

Anyway, there's my speculation on costs. I am fairly well set up with tooling and my mechanic mate will help so labour cost isn't factored in. It's always something.... When I start the work, I'll post up photos. Stay tuned.

[Sharkie]

Consider looking for an entire scrapped Amarok at Pickles or Mannheim as you could potentially pick 1 up for less then $5K if it is a stat write-off. This will give you not only the engine but a host of other parts that may come in handy during the transplant (or later).

[unclemitty]

Sharkie, I would consider a stat write off except for the below:

- I need to guarantee that I'm getting a good running motor
- I need to match engine numbers, the auction house offers only VIN numbers (which I am aware I can request the matching engine number from VW, it's just another hassle)
- My Amarok is at may parents farm, some 300 km from me so I'd need to tow whatever I buy to the farm (currently I don't have a towing vehicle or trailer)
- I can't keep a whole vehicle for spares, I don't have an appropriate place to store it
- at $5k even, this is pretty much $5750 which is the cost of what I am (hopefully) expecting to pay for non consumable parts in this job

If I lived where I am doing the engine swap, I'd make an effort to buy a whole car with matching numbers and swap the motor then part out valuable bits but it's a bridge too far for me and I can't capitalise on having those extra parts.

unclemitty

[unclemitty]

Hi all,

I know its been a little while but things are moving now. I tried to keep my options open on the wreck/salvage idea yet all I could come up with were utes that had higher mileage (150k km plus), I couldn't be confident that they were running motors in them and then there were the logistics issues that I'd mentioned before. Anyway, a lot of these trucks had water damage, struck by lightning, etc. After not winning a couple of Pickles/Manheim auctions on the odd CDCA Amarok that I liked, I called up and asked for the reserve prices on these trucks. After finding out that it was generally around $4000 (AUD) or more, I gave up on the idea. I can't realistically sell off the extra parts too easily and with all the other variables in the mix, I decided I should just buy a motor from a wreck and get my bucket of bolts moving.

Fast forward.

I have just bought a motor from Tassie with 79k km and in good shape. I will swap it into my ute in late January as my mechanic mates has some time then. The motor came with injectors, the turbos, the power steering pump, Alternator and AC compressor (conveniently my old one is cactus so this is a win). My dad has never been able to get more than 100k km out of the Denso AC compressors in the Amarok (he has now done 4 of them over two Amaroks) but hopefully this one should give me some good km before it packs up too.

The cost of the motor was $5500 AUD + shipping (which could be expensive... maybe another $500).

I'll keep updating the post as more stuff starts happening.


Can anyone point me towards a comprehensive pdf Service/Workshop manual? I have been looking at our Saffa mates' website and found these manuals. They look good. AusAmarok is still not accessible for me so I think these are the only manuals I can find.

Amarok PDF files and recalls


Thanks,
unlcemitty

[unclemitty]

Hi all,

It's been a while and I thought I would wrap this up as I hate seeing threads that die without resolution.

By now I should have had my ute back up and running with a newer motor in it yet a couple of events changed my decisions. Firstly, when the aforementioned Tasmanian engine from the wrecker arrived, it was missing the alternator and the AC compressor had shot its mechanical drive. After calling and emailing the wreckers, they gave me some BS excuse and said they would refund me $110 each for the AC compressor and alternator as "that's what we sell them for". I disagreed and got prices around the $600 mark from other wreckers but they only said that they would meet me half way... On a side note, the motor looked pretty old. Older than a 79k km motor should look; the flywheel had corrosion on it which seemed weird as it had apparently been removed from the car after I paid for it. Odd.

As I was pretty ticked off, something inside me clicked and thought to try and find the original Gumtree listing (the only place that I had seen photos of the car advertised - and the listing had been removed the day after I first saw it). Strangely the wrecked 2011 Amarok was listed again so I thought I should get some of the details and screenshots for my own records. There were no registration plates on the wreck but there was one photo of the cabin with the key in the ignition and a calico cardboard tag and 5 digits scribbled on it.... the old rego plate details. I started searching the Tassie roads office website and married up the wreck's details and engine number but no VIN. So I did a google search and found the old Pickles auction details of the car when it was sold to the wreckers. There was this concerning 6 digit number showing on the cached google info of the wreck; 247614... but I couldn't be sure what this number meant as there was nothing to indicate specifically what it was (could be mileage, could be the listing number, etc etc).

Now, as it was an expired listing, only the info that was cached in Google would display. When I clicked on the google link, an expired listing page would open on Pickles' site. So I found a current auction listing and tried to decipher what this number, 247614, meant. Anyway, when investigating the current listing I discovered that it was indeed the km of the vehicle. Those bastards! They sold me an engine with 247k km on it and advertised it as a 79k km old engine... You can imagine all the other words I was saying at this point.


I would never have got to this point had the wreckers not ripped me off on the alternator and AC compressor but wow, how lucky was I to find this out before ordering consumables and swapping engines.


Ok, the short of it is that when I confronted the Wreckers they didn't deny that the engine had 247k km on it but rather said it was a mistake.. among other bs. So they agreed to refund me and pay return shipping of the motor. I wore the $500 it cost to get the motor to me and cut my losses after being refunded the $5500. I guess I can consider myself lucky rather than be upset.


So at that point I re-assessed the situation. Is it worth dealing with more snakes, pay close to $10k (rego, insurance, engine, clutch, etc) to fix my Amarok or is it worth wrecking the ute and buying another car? Well, I settled on a new run-out MQ Triton 4x4 in auto with a towbar included for $29,990 drive away. With an ARB bullbar and Safari snorkel it was $34k so I pulled the trigger on it. I am now waiting for it to be delivered, should be next week sometime. One of my brothers bought one in manual for a similar price late last year and the seed was sewn in my head.

Is it better than the Amarok? No, they're different. The Triton is smaller, lighter and a generally rougher ride. The price difference is appreciable though and I could no longer justify to myself why I should fix a car with 235k km on it, deal with all the niggling issues of the job and lump $10k or so upfront when it would be worth about $13k if I sold it running tomorrow. Sure, I loved that car more than it loved me and it was really well set up for what I like doing but it had lived hard. Had I replaced the timing belt prematurely in 2016, I am confident that the Amarok would be ticking along beautifully still. Unfortunately it failed early and the truck was never the same again - many small issues cropped up and other repairs followed on. I still think the engine failed the second time from damage imparted from the first engine failure yet I don't have any evidence as I didn't pull the motor down.

Amaroks are really nice trucks but I am looking forward to having something Japanese and more "spanner friendly" again. I will be sorry to see it go but this became a financially motivated decision and it makes sense to have something less tired in my life. Plus, the misses can't drive a manual so it'll help us in that regard.


Apologies to anyone reading this expecting what initially promised however the crooked wreckers in Tasmania have actually done me a favour, in some respect. I think this will be a better outcome for me long term.

So, the moral of the story: don't immediately trust what someone is selling you if their claims (i.e. the mileage on a car) cannot be proven. This would have been very easy information for the wreckers to provide me at the outset yet they cunningly sold me a story, verbally, and made up a story as to why they couldn't prove to mileage on the car with a photo or sales documents from Pickles. With trust and naivety I accepted their explanation and only some luck in them trying to rip me off with the alternator and AC compressor upon delivery did I start looking into the matter. If it were a $1000 motor, well, that'd probably be tolerable but this was big bucks for me and I should have been more diligent. There are times you can trust people and other times you should only accept proof, especially in matters like these.


Rant over. Thanks everyone,

unclemitty

[unclemitty]

The mod, Transporter, raised a good point about the my first engine failure due to a failed timing belt. The belt failure at ~200k km on my Amarok was the second genuine timing belt (full kit) and water pump in the ute. Nothing had seized in the Cam drive train, by the book it still had 40k km of life left on it yet exposure to dust and sand killed it prematurely (did the Simpson desert twice, the Canning Stock Route in WA once and several trips in the VIC deserts). Unfortunately for me it was 18 months old and outside the 12 month parts warranty.

So I guess my point is, replace consumable parts more often if you're using them outside their design. Cam belts don't like dust, sand, mud and water and I found out the hard way. The flow on from that failure led to a top end rebuild, the diesel return lines needing replacement, an electrical wire being fried (I never found out where it was, I only could ever smell it), AC problems - maybe unrelated, and plenty of other consumables that I elected to replace or repair earlier than required. All in all, over $8000 AUD. And still there was scoring on top of the pistons from the valves hitting them and presumably further damage elsewhere. Had that belt not failed or I replaced it early, I'm quite confident that the Amarok would still be running sweet as a nut and not failed a second time. Sure, I can't be 100% certain of that but it had been very reliable up to then.

I'd recommend thinking about how you are using your vehicle and replace what is seeing more wear than it should; are your air and cabin filters getting dirty quickly, are you operating your car in extreme temperatures, are you going offroad frequently... Anyway, that would have saved me a few headaches, I hope it helps someone out there.

Unclemitty