jessee340

I bought a 2000 1.8 Turbo Beetle that the motor is bad in. It dropped a valve and beat the crap out of the #1 piston. At least that is my deduction from all the aluminum chunks on top of the intake valves. Timing belt is okay. What would cause this, is this a problem for these cars?
Anyways, I bought another engine and am in the process of removing the old one. What is the easiest or best way to pull the engine. I was told out the bottom was the only way, and it looks that way. Drop the engine and transmission together, separate, slide new engine in, put engine back in car. How do you get the car up high enough to get the engine out. I do not have a lift.
The engine I bought is an APW, the engine in the car is an APH. Will this work or am I going to have problems?

Thanks.

mhalliar

I had the same thing happen to my '01 Turbo!!! It started with a clatter and then BOOM!! I looked into getting a used engine to replace it and to put it in, I was looking at over $5000 in labor!! I hate to break it to you too, but you might want to check with a professional about the APW and APH... depending on the type of tranny you have depends on the engine type... you can find out by calling an engine dealer and give them your VIN number... but to answer your question, no, there's no way to pull the engine without having to drop it thru the bottom... stupid, I know. I pulled an engine out of a 66 Impala in an afternoon when I was 17!!!... I'm 'in the same boat you are, bud.. so if you find something out, let me know too!!! Good luck!

jessee340

Hi, thanks for the reply. I did the engine swap myself with a little help. It's not that bad to do, it just takes time. I used 2 larger floor jacks, 1 under each side of the frame behind the tires. Set emergency brake and blocked wheels. Jacked car up high enough to get a 8x8x16 concrete block plus a 4" solid block under each front wheel. It is very important to turn the webs in the 8x8x16 up exposing the holes to the tire. Then sit the 4x8x16 block on top of it. This is the only way the block is structurally strong enough to support the car. Turn the block sideways with the holes facing outwards and the block will crush.
It is easiest to drop the engine and transmission together then separate on the ground. You have to have the triple square bits for the axle bolts and a long 1/2" extension, 18" long works great. You can get the bits at Autozone in a 4 pack. You will need the other sizes for the clutch. Once on the ground you can slide the engine out from under the car. It helps to have help here. Reverse the proceedure for install.
Plan on taking several days to do it right. It took me a week total and I have a lot of experience, just not with Beetles. They have a ton of hoses and wires that are a nightmare. Don't wait around on getting it apart and back together. It's easy to forget where everything goes.
The AWP in the APH worked fine other than the check engine light came on for cam timing. The APH doesn't use the electric solenoid on the tensioner and the APW does. I didn't swap them out but suspect that swapping them might have solved this problem. It ran fine and didn't have any other problems other than that.

Option 2 on swapping the engine I have found out is to take the whole front off of the car. Apparently it isn't that bad of a deal. Plus, you don't have to jack the car up very high. You do need a set of jack stands for pulling the axles off though.