A friend of mine has a 190D I believe it’s an 83to 85 and it jumped a tooth on the chain and toasted the motor. I’ve repaired cars before, installed greasecar kits, radiators, and do all the work on my cars (98 Jetta TDI). How difficult and expensive would it be for me to drop in a new motor in my garage. I’m thinking that it shouldn’t be that hard, but I’ve been known to bite off more then I can chew from time to time. Does anyone have any idea how much the motor should cost me from a junk yard, what to look out for, how long it should take me to replace it. I know the 190D’s are slow, but it’s a pretty nice car and the price seems right.

Thanks for the help.

First I would establish if the original 190 motor only jumped the one tooth. I think not but can be wrong. As for changing out the motor it is well within your capabilities. Just go at a sensible speed and pay attention. Your real problem becomes getting a really good used motor. Fortunatly you are in a prime part of the country for that pricewise as well as availability perhaps. I will not buy an engine out of a car used unless somehow or other tremendous faith in the seller is established. I want to hear it run and totally evaluate it first. It is a no brainer to have to change an engine twice when fairly easily avoidable. Too many people out there will say whatever it takes to sell something on far too many occasions. The actual engine change is the lesser and most managable component in my opinion. It should go pretty quickly and easily as well.

Also looking at the foll. web site will give an idea how much to buy for another engine

www.car-part.com