It was kind of expected; about three years ago I stalled it in a deep flood and stupidly restarted it, although in my defence the river had broken its banks and was rising fast. Since then, apart from a bit of smoke on startup, its ran fine for 20,000 miles or more.
The car is currently stuck in a french garage - luckily a VW specialist - where I'm awaiting the results of a quick look-see to confirm whats happened. But as even second-hand spares in France are horrendously expensive, I am looking at buying a used engine over here and trailering it back in two weeks time.
The vehicle is a B5.5 estate with the 100bhp/74Kw engine, about which I have the following questions:
1. What engine type should I be looking for as a direct replacement as the handbook mentioned two derivatives (I've even seen a couple more mentioned on eBay) and I'm not sure of the difference? There are ATDs, AUQs, AVFs and AWXs mentioned...
I mean are there likely to be engine mount issues of I get, say, a Golf motor?2. Any major issues in getting a 'short engine' and having the technicians transfer the turbo, alternator, injectors etc..? There are a couple of reasonable looking ones on FleaBay at decent prices including one that claims to have had the timing belt done very recently.
3. Just a blue-sky question to finish - can I fit a 130bhp easily and, if so, would it require the relevant ECU as well?
If anyone knows of a decent VW breaker that I could talk to that would be even better. I'll be in Wales (Carmarthenshire) when I get back next week but would travel a reasonable distance in Southern UK for the right thing?
Any help much appreciated...PAUL