2005 Vue engine swap
 

I have a 2005 Saturn Vue I just bought on the cheap, because it has cosmetic damage and pretty high miles. It has 227,000 miles. The previous owners are convinced that it's been well taken care of and that they are confident in Saturn engines so they think it will make 400K before it craps, but it's only the 2.2 4 cylinder so I'm not convinced. I think it will be pretty lucky to make 300 so I was able to talk them down. I'm not super mechanically inclined, but I know how to do my maintenance and have read engine theory (grew up without a daddy.) I also have access to a shop with tools and more importantly Google & Youtube, and you fine people. It should be a no brainer, but I have to ask am I going to run into any trouble if I attempt a motor swap from the 2.2 to the 3.5 V6? The truck I bought is the 5-speed manual transmission with AWD.

So do you have 2 2005 Vues? One is a 2.2/5 speed awd, and the other is a 3.5? The 2.2 is a General Motors engine and 3.5 is a Honda engine so they will not bolt together. It may be possible to swap the entire powertrain but it will be extremely time consuming.

Trust Andy when he says these things. He is extremely well-versed in all things Saturn!

What THEY said.

You want no part of that

Okay, that sucks. I was going to buy the engine on eBay. The sellers page indicated they were not compatible, but I was hoping it was the mounts. That makes sense though. I'm really glad I checked with you guys first. I wanted to make this thing a real truck and increase it's value, but it's just not the project I thought it was.

The 2.2 that you have is a good engine with known and fixable issues. What kind of body damage do you have? Most of the panels are replaceable, the broken plastic fenders look a lot worse than a dent in a steel panel.

Oh yeaah, the body damage is really simple, no problem. 400 bucks maybe. How many miles would you expect to get out of this little four banger?

If the engine is quiet then they can run a long time. If there is any noise on the belt end of the engine it needs to come apart for timing chain repairs. I have three 2.2L engines right now, one ran out of oil and broke a connecting rod at 200k miles. I have one that broke a timing chain at 130k miles, I have repaired that engine and it runs great. I have a third engine that I purchased that runs great at 200k, and I am going to put it in the car that broke the rod. Keep them full of oil and coolant and listen to the chain.

engine swap
 

i just did a swap but it was the same 2.2 but a year newer and out of a cobalt rather than a vue. on mine i learned there was 5 dif trannys put in the 05 vue, unreal... getting parts isnt easy at parts stores cause they dont show my 05 vue with the 4t45e tranny.

Napa lists your transmission as a 4t40e not a 4t45. You might try looking for parts for that version of transmission.