Pennac

I have a 2004 A4 Quattro, 1.8T AMB engine(VIN: WAULC68E74A.....). The car has 205,000 miles on it.
I needed an engine, so I viewed, then purchased a used engine from someone who sells parts from salvage cars (1.8T AMB engine, 89,000 miles, VIN: WAULC68E14A....). The engine was purchased and delivered to the VW dealership where my car has been for many weeks. My engine was swapped out but VW can not get the replacement to work in my car as they say the problem is that it came from a car with an automatic transmission and my car is 6 speed manual transmission. The engine can not be returned nor do I want to have it pulled, and another purchased and installed.
I was told by the seller, when I had inquired about the engine, that it did not matter if the transmission was different and VW did not tell me I had the wrong engine when we delivered it. Apparently, there is an issue with the flywheel lining up.
I need an Audi guru (something I am not), to advise (and in detail) how to rectify the problem, in the least number of billable hours and parts, since I am already into this repair for over $5000 already. If you are not sure regarding this model and platform, please save your opinion. Experienced with answers only please.
Please no scolding about the merits of buying a different car vs. repairing this one. This started out as a car supposedly only needing a head gasket, and is quite the saga, with consistently growing repairs and costs. Thank you.

gtiryan

I work at an Audi dealer in upstate New York with 11 years experience. I hope I can help you. Is there a way you could send me the VIN's for both cars, so I can run them in ETKA and check it out? I'm thinking if it was really a transmission issue, then the difference of course would be to replace the flywheel with one for a manual.

Pennac

Sorry for the delay - I had checked for a bit to see if someone replied - then I gave up. Thanks for taking the time. It has turned out to be a question of an engine coming from an automatic rather than manual. This was determined by the VIN. The dealership thinks the answer to this is to 1) shim the engine so the crank sensor is in position ($1600 additional) or $2500 (additional) for replacing the crankshaft. Correct me if I am wrong - not being a mechanic, but I think they are not addressing at all the other end (flywheel vs. flex plate). I would like to know if there is a visible difference between a 2004 1.8T AMB engine automatic vs. manual engine.
Also, do you, at your job, have a protocol in place for checking parts before they are installed. I feel the mechanic should have checked and realized the difference before it went into the car - can't one see the difference between a flexplate and flywheel?

jschick

the difference is the crank shafholt, the manual has a larger hole for the clutch bearing. which will not fit in the small hole in the Auto crank. so your option is to have your crank machined, or get a different engine.
I do know someone made some sort of conversion kit but never seen one myself.

You can take a Manual engine/crank and put it in a auto car but you can not take a Auto engine/crank and put it in a manual.

gidvizz

I dont see that it has got any thing to do with the engines flywheels yes that has to be changed but if your car is manual you shouldnt have a problem putting in a auto engine take your flywheel of your engine and put it on the new engine it should work just fine

Pennac

Thank you - I am no mechanic, but as to what you are saying, I believe you are on target. I have read that pilot bearings and the configuration down at the flywheel end are different, with pilot bearings or not and the need to install or remove, depending on which direction you were going (MT to AT or AT to MT).

I brought this up to the service manager (before you had posted back to me)and they said this was not the issue, that it was more about the location of the sensor in relation to the crank. Their solution to "fixing" my car - getting the sensor to properly read the crank, was to shim the engine or replace the crank. Their reasoning centered solely on the sensor being off by 3mm, no mention that there would be a problem with connecting the transmission to the car. I was confused that they took the flywheel off my original engine and replaced the one on the automatic engine as they never said that there was issue there. Also, they put in a crank sensor that does not match the part number that I was able to locate, as indicated for my car. Is this prudent - to put one in for engines other than AMB (they used replacement part #071-957-147.)They used a number of parts that appear to be for other years/models and not parts that are coming up as listed for my year/model.

Needless to say, my car has been towed off to get fixed by someone else and I bought another engine (from 2003 A4, 61,000 miles, with flywheel) - got it for $1800). I had bought the previous engine (89,000 miles with all extraneous parts: A/C, P/S, turbo) - so these parts will get moved over and the long block sold. The car will be quite the Frankenstein by the time we are done and I am going to have to keep good records as to the age of all parts.

I had put so much (time, money) in at this point, that I was committed to having the repair done to this car. Work will start this week. I will try to sell the "wrong" engine once the transplant is complete. It is a shame that there is no adapter that allows the mating of the MT transmission and the automatic engine. I never intended to own one car and so many engines. Thanks again.

Pennac

Please read JSChick's reply, posted same day as you. I believe he is correct. Also, I have seen some threads, DIY and bits and pieces of information that confirms that there is a configuration issue that needs to be addressed in this kind of swap. You need a clutch pilot bearing, coming from crankshaft to the flywheel, if you want to go manual. The dealership did just what you suggested - swap the flywheel and the car does not run. They think the issue is strictly with the crankshaft sensor.

Thanks for your response - be careful though - this is how I ended up with the wrong engine in my car. What a headache this has been.

Pennac

I got my car back today and it sounds great. Lots of research later, my mechanic has installed the engine from the automatic car in my 6-speed manual transmission car. It came down to putting in a pilot bearing to account for the larger opening. Everything else turned out to be the same on the engines except for this one difference. The pilot bearing can be removed to go the reverse direction.