Engine swap

[tpro442]

My 04 Alero has the 2.2 ecotec in it, I found a rusty 99 Alero with the 2.4 Quad Four engine with 145,000 miles. Has anyone ever swapped these?

[tpro442]

And is there much of a horsepower difference?

[sleepyalero]

I would say there isnt much of a power differece. The 2.4 is super slow. If you want faster. Just buy a v6 alero. Just my opinion.

Some people like the 4 cyl cars, i myself think they are to slow. Sometimes you need some nice power to pull out into traffic.

[1970cs]

What about wrecking yard with a low mile 02-04 2.2 ecotec. or if the budget will hold a reman engine. I guess I can't see where you are gaining with a hi mile engine.

Pat

[3500Alero]

i would put another ecotec in myself, more cost effective and less headaches.

[Valley olds]

I would have to agree with keeping the Ecotec. It is actually a pretty good, reliable engine. Mine is already hitting 180k with the only major part I've replaced being the water pump (the oem pump was leaking). And that is with me always mashing the throttle. It still does not consume any oil. As far as hp, it only has like five horses less than the 2.4, which can easily be resolved if you wanted. Gas mileage is very good as well. When I try, I can get 35mpg.

BTW, if you want much more power, for less than the price of the engine swap:



Bwahahahahaha

[Koots]

I'd definitely keep the an Ecotec as well, even though the 2.4L can be made into a very powerful engine. It's just not worth the time and effort to swap in place of an Ecotec, most people are doing the reverse of what you want.

I love my V6, but sometimes wouldn't mind an ecotec version, for the aftermarket support.

[03glgold]

The ecotec can be made powerful for a lot less than a 2.4l. GM has a build book for the first gen ecotec. Factory block could handle around 800hp, if you could find a iron race block then they can handle 1200hp.

[Redog]

Yeah it's been said, the Eco can be bulit to hold more power, easier swap too, since you have to swap the wiring hardness, PCM, BCM in addition to the motor itself.

The Ecotec is a drop in deal, the 2.4 twin cam, is a lot of extra work and programming.

And both are rated at 150 HP, I forget the torque numbers

[comanche]

On the Ecotec... change the timing chain tensioner to prevent issues.
GM has had 3 timing chain tensioner revisions. You want the one that has the bump on it (3rd Gen tensioner)

Numerous issues of Ecotecs jumping time. Tensioner goes bad, chain stretches, engine needs new valves... hopefully yours isn't that bad yet.
Good engine otherwise.

On the 2.4L Quad 4, once in a while one lasts 200k.
Usually though, that engine can be placed in the same category as a Chrysler 2.7L V6.....!

[Redog]

Originally Posted by comanche

On the 2.4L Quad 4,
Usually though, that engine can be placed in the same category as a Chrysler 2.7L V6.....!

Yeah, never heard this. Never heard of a 2.4 having an opening between the coolant and oil passages to allow combining. Also never heard of the 2.4 being called the "Sludge motor" and I've heard of many going over the 200,000 mark.

Exactly where did you get this information?

[comanche]

True, different characteristics. And you are right, almost nothing could be quite as bad as the 2.7L.

Normally the 2.4L presents with a knocking lower end and shavings in the dipstick. Many of those cars used to end up on Craigslist, but these days they usually just end up at the wrecker. Some say the oil pumps have an abnormally high failure rate, some say the main bearings just weren't what they should have been. For some reason they just seem to fail all of a sudden with no prior warnings. I've replaced at least 6 myself (3 Cavaliers and multiple Aleros), once swapped in an Ecotec powertrain but that was more of a headache than it was worth.

I will say doing a timing chain on a Quad 4 is much easier than doing the chains on an Ecotec though.