03 ALH engine replacement

blakeb

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 4, 2012
Location
Tulsa
TDI
2003 Jetta
My dad's alh ran away on him awhile back and I picked up another and refreshed the top end on it. He lives about 5 hours away from me and in a very rural area. So I want to make sure I have all my ducks in a row before I head up there to swap his engine over a weekend. I have new mounts and bolts, new intake and exhaust gaskets. New coolant, oil, filters and I was going to purge it after I get it running. I think I have everything I am needing but I wanted to double check.
 

afterthisnap

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2012
Location
Mountain West
TDI
Jetta wagons, ALH/CJAA
Degreaser. Rags.
Small picks/screwdrivers for the electrical plugs.
The fancy spring clamp pliers if you're feeling luxurious.
 

blakeb

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 4, 2012
Location
Tulsa
TDI
2003 Jetta
Degreaser. Rags.
Small picks/screwdrivers for the electrical plugs.
The fancy spring clamp pliers if you're feeling luxurious.
I finally picked up one of those Fancy spring clamp pliers and I wished I did sooner. makes all the piping around the turbo a lot easier.
 

blakeb

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 4, 2012
Location
Tulsa
TDI
2003 Jetta
How's the clutch?
How many miles on it?
He had his trans and clutch replaced a few months before it ran away. He had an axle break and cracked the trans. Can't remember how many miles are on his car, but the one out of a parts car I picked up has about 330k on it
 

300D

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 8, 2018
Location
New England
TDI
Mk6
These are absolutely not ‘needed’ but helpful to do with engine out(but will add time):
Everything to do with the timing belt.
New seals for the coolant hard pipe.
Front and rear main seals.
New serpentine belt tensioner.
Vacuum pump gasket.
Pull the oil pan to do the rear main seal, makes the rear main seal easier, gives you a chance for a looksee under there, and a reseal of the pan is always nice.

And just in case you haven’t done one in these cars, pull it out the front rather than out the top of the engine bay.
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
I'd be concerned with the WHY it ran away in the first place, so you are certain it won't do it again. I got an ALH towed in here once that ran away and blew a hole in the block. No obvious reason as to why. I swapped the engine [longblock] over, checked the turbo closely, and there were no signs of excess oil in the charge air tract. Reused it, reused his injection pump. Had a tough time getting it primed, but it did start. Pump sounded a bit noisy, but seemed to run and idle OK in the shop. Took it for a quick test drive, as soon as I went to accelerate, it ran away, and within about five seconds tooefed the engine. Turns out, the injection pump was the culprit.
 

jokila

Vendor
Joined
Dec 3, 2004
Location
Houston, Texas
TDI
2003 Jetta GLS, Manual
Depending on what you are keeping of the old engine and the year model the replacement engine is coming out of, some of the electrical connectors may be different. VW went to the "D" connectors at some point (2001?) so things like your 3rd injector and other components may require some swapping.
 

blakeb

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 4, 2012
Location
Tulsa
TDI
2003 Jetta
These are absolutely not ‘needed’ but helpful to do with engine out(but will add time):
Everything to do with the timing belt.
New seals for the coolant hard pipe.
Front and rear main seals.
New serpentine belt tensioner.
Vacuum pump gasket.
Pull the oil pan to do the rear main seal, makes the rear main seal easier, gives you a chance for a looksee under there, and a reseal of the pan is always nice.

And just in case you haven’t done one in these cars, pull it out the front rather than out the top of the engine bay.
Timing belt was recently done from PO, I also picked up a thermostat kit, the side flange, vacuum pump gasket and rear main. I was meaning to grab a pan gasket and a new tensioner.
 

blakeb

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 4, 2012
Location
Tulsa
TDI
2003 Jetta
I'd be concerned with the WHY it ran away in the first place, so you are certain it won't do it again. I got an ALH towed in here once that ran away and blew a hole in the block. No obvious reason as to why. I swapped the engine [longblock] over, checked the turbo closely, and there were no signs of excess oil in the charge air tract. Reused it, reused his injection pump. Had a tough time getting it primed, but it did start. Pump sounded a bit noisy, but seemed to run and idle OK in the shop. Took it for a quick test drive, as soon as I went to accelerate, it ran away, and within about five seconds tooefed the engine. Turns out, the injection pump was the culprit.
It either ran away or he hydrolocked it. He said went through a massive puddle, heard a clunk started revving up and couldn't get it to shut off. I have a complete engine from the donor and it started and ran just fine even on the pretty old diesel that was in it. It had a bad auto and the interior was complete trash, PO left the sunroof open for awhile.
 

blakeb

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 4, 2012
Location
Tulsa
TDI
2003 Jetta
Depending on what you are keeping of the old engine and the year model the replacement engine is coming out of, some of the electrical connectors may be different. VW went to the "D" connectors at some point (2001?) so things like your 3rd injector and other components may require some swapping.
Dad's car is an 03, donor is an 02, I kept the harness in case some connectors get broken
 

300D

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 8, 2018
Location
New England
TDI
Mk6
If the donor car is an automatic then the IP will be an 11mm. Nice little upgrade, just be prepared for a lumpy start and work to immediately turn down your fueling with VCDS followed by a hammer mod to get the fueling range sorted.

2003 has a few differences. The injectors will have the d-connector on the third one. The harmonic balancer could be different too. There are two styles that look pretty different, and use different bolts. Work the same though.
I think there might be an oil pan gasket available, but the factory method is just sealant. There is a VW specific one I used that has worked great.

I am not sure I would trust a PO timing belt on the donor engine with the description you gave for the donor car. Timing belt and associated bits are not expensive and almost zero labor to install at this stage. Timing is tricky with engine out and no transmission. I timed with a wooden dowel down in cylinder #1 to find TDC.
 
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