Which engine?

[Noclue]

Hi everyone.

I have a T25 High Top 1985 1.6TD, left hand drive van. I am looking at replacing the existing engine as i have been told by my mechanic that it is shot (belt had fallen loose and overheated/melted) and would be a lot cheaper to replace then fix. He asked me to source a replacement engine.

I am a relative novice when it comes to these things and was asking to see if you could recommend engines which would be the easiest to replace without complications. I am looking at replacing the van in the near future so want it up and running.

Any advice would be gladly taken.

[Oren Kipnis]

The easiest, and will be more reliable is the 1.9 litre turbo diesel AAZ.

You will need to use it as a "short", and transfer some items from the old engine.

[Noclue]

Thank you. 

I now this seems very basic and i apologise for my ignorance but in terms of the model/year etc what are the limitations. Will it just be engine code AAZ 

[clift_d]

I’d say replacing it with another JX would be the easiest, but here’s some info on the AAZ from wikipedia

1.9 R4 TD 55kW

identification
parts code prefix:??? ID code: AAZ, ADE, ABL

engine configuration & engine displacement
inline four-cylinder (R4/I4) turbodiesel; 1,896 cc (115.7 cu in); bore x stroke: 79.5 mm × 95.5 mm (3.13 in × 3.76 in), stroke ratio: 0.83:1 – undersquare/long-stroke, 474.1 cc per cylinder, compression ratio: 22.0:1

cylinder block & crankcase
gray cast iron; five main bearings

cylinder head & valvetrain
cast aluminium alloy; two valves per cylinder, 8 valves total, timing belt-driven single overhead camshaft (SOHC)

aspiration
Garrett turbocharger

fuel system
timing belt-driven Bosch mechanical distributor injection pump, indirect fuel injection into whirl chamber

EWG-rated power & torque output, ID code, application
55 kW (75 PS; 74 bhp) — ADE: Volkswagen Industrial Motor (04/94-01/02)

DIN-rated power & torque output, ID code
55 kW (75 PS; 74 bhp) at 4,200 rpm; 150 N⋅m (111 lbf⋅ft) at 2,000 rpm — AAZ

applications
Audi 80 (09/91-07/95), Volkswagen Golf, Volkswagen Transporter (T4), Volkswagen Passat, SEAT Ibiza Mk2 (02/93-08/97), SEAT Córdoba (09/93-08/97), SEAT Toledo (05/91-04/97), Volkswagen Vento

There’s also info on the JX on the same page.

[Noclue]

Any recommendations on the best place to source a AAZ second hand?

[Aidan]

AW Engineering in Darwin perhaps - they have a listing on Ebay, without a core to exchange you would be looking at £2,700
Ebay link

finding a good used one would be a case of buying a car with one in and driving it and testing it for compression and oil pressure, and then doing head gasket and timing belt before fitting it to your van - trying to find a well maintained 20-30 year old vehicle is needle in a very big field after the grass is cut job

Cheapest I could find is a T4 spares or repair on Ebay for a grand starting price listing in Daventry, says it starts first time - you are looking for old obsolete thing - easier to go petrol 2.0 AGG or similar, and even they are hard to find now.

I didn't trawl through the breaking listings

Scrapyards aren't like they were 20 years ago, depends where you are what is available locally