What fell off this engine?

Stallingrad

Went to view a used 206 (1.1) today, quite a few question marks but this one stood out.

At the front of the engine low down below the belts were 2 openings exposed and a loose bolt, my guess is that it was an AC compressor but the car did not have AC so it was removed, so a replacement engine?

Pic is not great, loose bolt on left, 2 openings on right.

nct tester

Stallingrad wrote: »

Went to view a used 206 (1.1) today, quite a few question marks but this one stood out.

At the front of the engine low down below the belts were 2 openings exposed and a loose bolt, my guess is that it was an AC compressor but the car did not have AC so it was removed, so a replacement engine?

Pic is not great, loose bolt on left, 2 openings on right.

looks like air con alright but an engine replacement wouldnt affect it. the air con system would be separate from the engine and wouldnt be removed with it. you sure there was no air con button in the car??

Anan1

nct tester wrote: »

looks like air con alright but an engine replacement wouldnt affect it. the air con system would be separate from the engine and wouldnt be removed with it. you sure there was no air con button in the car??

The AC compressor would be mounted on the engine, it runs off the aux belt.

Stallingrad

Deffo no aircon button. There was plenty of evidence of a frontal shunt, new bonnet, lights, overspray, no cover on the ECU, etc, which made me think the replacement engine had aircon and the compressor was removed before fitting as the car did not have it.

The car was described 'as new', 'immaculate' etc. Wasters.

Mar4ix

Stallingrad wrote: »

Deffo no aircon button. There was plenty of evidence of a frontal shunt, new bonnet, lights, overspray, no cover on the ECU, etc, which made me think the replacement engine had aircon and the compressor was removed before fitting as the car did not have it.

The car was described 'as new', 'immaculate' etc. Wasters.

new engine fitted... as new... pretty right description.

tbh i was changing engine on micra ('97 ), and sold to friend, driving 2 years now, and passing nct with flying colors, cant see anything wrong with that, that engine is replaced. main thing is it has to be good condition.

JohnBoy26

Mar4ix wrote: »

new engine fitted... as new... pretty right description.

tbh i was changing engine on micra ('97 ), and sold to friend, driving 2 years now, and passing nct with flying colors, cant see anything wrong with that, that engine is replaced. main thing is it has to be good condition.

Id never buy a car with a replaced engine, unless it was a brand new engine that was put in. You just can't be sure what kind of life a second hand engine has had, and what miles are on it.

Matt Simis

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

Id never buy a car with a replaced engine, unless it was a brand new engine that was put in. You just can't be sure what kind of life a second hand engine has had, and what miles are on it.

I slightly ridiculous statement as everything I highlighted in bold applies to an "original" engine in a Used car. The only way to avoid your concerns is to only ever buy new and totally factory fresh cars.

Motors are a mechanical thing, they can wear out and should be replaced. Thankfully our society isnt so wasteful that we just throw out entire cars when or if the mechanical heart is replaced.

JohnBoy26

Matt Simis wrote: »

I slightly ridiculous statement as everything I highlighted in bold applies to an "original" engine in a Used car. The only way to avoid your concerns is to only ever buy new and totally factory fresh cars.

Motors are a mechanical thing, they can wear out and should be replaced. Thankfully our society isnt so wasteful that we just throw out entire cars when or if the mechanical heart is replaced.

It does in some cases. At least you will have some idea of the mileage on the original engine and how it's been cared for/maintained throughout it's life. If the car comes with a service history you will be sure of the mileage on the engine. A second hand replacement engine could of being trashed throughout it's life or poorly maintained or could have mega miles on it before being transpanted another car.

Matt Simis wrote: »

The only way to avoid your concerns is to only ever buy new and totally factory fresh cars.

Now that is a rediculous statement if I ever seen one. If you can see the used car and verify it's history and see that it clearly hasn't been trashed, well that would be enough of a verification for me. But a used car with a replacement engine with a totally unknown history/mileage is a big NO NO in my book.

And as for engines wearing out and having to be replaced well that usually isn't the case. Usually there is an issue with the original engine that the owners think warrants it's replacement when usually a rebuild is the better/cheaper option in the long run.

nct tester

was the picture taken looking in at passenger side or driver side of car?? did i see a battery terminal as well??

nct tester

Anan1 wrote: »

The AC compressor would be mounted on the engine, it runs off the aux belt.

the pipes would hardly be removed though.

JerCotter7

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

It does in some cases. At least you will have some idea of the mileage on the original engine and how it's been cared for/maintained throughout it's life. If the car comes with a service history you will be sure of the mileage on the engine. A second hand replacement engine could of being trashed throughout it's life or poorly maintained or could have mega miles on it before being transpanted another car.



Now that is a rediculous statement if I ever seen one. If you can see the used car and verify it's history and see that it clearly hasn't been trashed, well that would be enough of a verification for me. But a used car with a replacement engine with a totally unknown history/mileage is a big NO NO in my book.

And as for engines wearing out and having to be replaced well that usually isn't the case. Usually there is an issue with the original engine that the owners think warrants it's replacement when usually a rebuild is the better/cheaper option in the long run.

You could get the service history with the new engine as well if you really want it to verify the miles, if it has one that is. Same as a used car really.

Just because a car has a service history doesn't mean it hasn't been trashed. I have seen some fairly bad cars that had a service history.

One was even clocked back from 250k miles to 90k. Other times an engine can just be a total piece of crap so you just pop a new one in there and away you go.

I take it from your posts you wouldn't buy a car without a FSH either?

JohnBoy26

JerCotter7 wrote: »

You could get the service history with the new engine as well if you really want it to verify the miles, if it has one that is. Same as a used car really.

Just because a car has a service history doesn't mean it hasn't been trashed. I have seen some fairly bad cars that had a service history.

One was even clocked back from 250k miles to 90k. Other times an engine can just be a total piece of crap so you just pop a new one in there and away you go.

I take it from your posts you wouldn't buy a car without a FSH either?

I know but never said that was the case. My point was if you could get a decent car with a service history on it's original engine it's better imo than a decent car with a replaced engine because you don't know if that engine has being maintained or not.

However as you say you could get a service history with the replacement engine and that's all well and good, but im talking about buying a car that has it's engine already changed by someone else and with no history, which is usually the case in my experience.

As for buying a car with a fsh, I am by no means saying that just because a car has one that it's going to be perfect. Yes I would much rather buy a car with one if at all possible, but id also of course factor in the condition of the car and wouldn't be buying no lemons like the examlpes you posted above:P

JerCotter7

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

I know but never said that was the case. My point was if you could get a decent car with a service history on it's original engine it's better imo than a decent car with a replaced engine because you don't know if that engine has being maintained or not.

However as you say you could get a service history with the replacement engine and that's all well and good, but im talking about buying a car that has it's engine already changed by someone else and with no history, which is usually the case in my experience.

As for buying a car with a fsh, I am by no means saying that just because a car has one that it's going to be perfect. Yes I would much rather buy a car with one if at all possible, but id also of course factor in the condition of the car and wouldn't be buying no lemons like the examlpes you posted above:P

But then isn't it the same as buying a car with no service history? The car may look nice but you have no idea how often it was serviced.

So really what you are saying applies to both.

Odds of someone getting a service history with an engine are quite low though so it's a non point really.

JohnBoy26

JerCotter7 wrote: »

But then isn't it the same as buying a car with no service history? The car may look nice but you have no idea how often it was serviced.

So really what you are saying applies to both.

Odds of someone getting a service history with an engine are quite low though so it's a non point really.

yes you have no idea how often it was serviced but you will have some indication weather the car was thrashed or well cared for by it's condition. A car with a replacement engine could be a nice clean example in good condition but the replacement engine could be out of a rough scrapped car that was thrashed it's whole life.

Yes I agree finding an engine with a service history is very slim