Repair or recon engine?

[dan1980]

I think my bus is cursed

it's a 1.6td which I bought a three weeks ago, first I had major grief trying to get it insured with my insurance company and basiclly lost my £120 deposit, finally managed to get it insured with another company yesterday. Took my first proper trip in it today, from Cardiff to Norwich, everything was going fine until about 200miles in when the engine juddered and died instantly. I managed to coast to a layby had a look in the back to find the crankshaft pully had sheared off and so the timing belt has come off and so the engine is pretty much history and the rest of the journey by recovery truck cost £250.

Assuming the worst, would I be better off getting a decent mechanic to rebuild the engine or should I get one of these recon jobbies? I reluctant to get a recon unit as the engine which just gave up was a recon with only 10,000 miles on it.

Also can anyone recomend a mechanic in the Norwich/Norfolk area?

cheers

Dan

[toomanytoys]

Oh dear..
Insurance shouldnt have been a problem..
as for engine.. maybe you should contact the seller and see what they say..
2 options, find a good 1.9 golf/passat etc td engine and swap the "fittings" over.. (see engine swap forum for better details)
or get a recon FROM A REPUTABLE SOURCE.. but that wont be cheap..

Important thing is.. can you do the work yourself?

[dan1980]

Well I work in Cardiff during the week and the bus is going to stay at my dads in Norwich, so I'm not going to have much time to work on it. I was thinking of going down the 1.9 route, but I don't really have the time to source one, revome it and dispose of the donar car, plus I guess I could end up with another lemon.

I've been looking into the recon engines as I'm confident I can do a like for like swap myself. There seems to be 2 choices, Remtec or Vege but searching VW forums there seem to be a lot of dissapointed customers from both of these companies, and like you say, they aren't cheap - £1500.

Has anyone fitted a diesel recon from either of these companies, are they any good?

[tonytone]

Hi, I fitted a recon Vege 1.6td engine. They sent it with the injector punmp set 180 degress wrong so it wouldnt start when fitted. the mechanic had to phone them and get the right settings. started fine and runs great now. bit of white smoke under load but thats because the pump is a little out , and 1mm can make the difference.

[lambrettalee]

dan , have sent you a pm

["WEAZLECHIN"]

either way your going to have to find time to do some work on it (unless money is no object) of course. i personnally would put a 1.9 in there, its a modification most people do as a matter of course anyway, i certainly wouldnt be messing around with a 1.6 thats goosed,anyway the valve are probably all shapes now