Hey, bought replacement motor for my 2016 WRX only to realize that it is a JDM. What all do I need to change out to make this work? I can find tons of information for this swap on an EJ but not for this FA. Please and thank you. I appreciate any help i can get from the community.
ChampionsResolve
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Well that was wasted effort. The pans are the same. The sensor does not go into the pan. There is a hole in the block above the pan. And I thought it looked like there was a freeze plug in place of it on the JDM... no it's solid. They must machine it out at the factory. Time wasted. If you don't want to drill a hole in the block zip tie that sensor and forget about it.
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Not possible without drilling into the block
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I’m doing this same swap on Monday. The engine is out of my customers car and the JDM engine is here Monday morning. I will tell you how it goes.
I zip tied it and its fine as long as you don’t want to use the oil temp on your triple meter, there are no issue and no light….about 3,000 miles in and its rock solid and no lights and it pulls hard. My new JDM only had about 36,000 miles and it runs like the car was new.
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I don't have it plugged in and there is a light but it is running fine. I had to change the wiring harness, the ecu, and the alternator. I don't know if you need to switch the a/c compressor but I did so that I didn't have to mess with refrigerant (pulled mine off to the side during engine swap) changed my intake manifold though I'm not sure it was necessary as the JDM had TGVs as well
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I had to swap the phasers from the US engine over to the JDM engine in order to eliminate faults for all 4 cam sensors. The reluctor rings ARE DIFFERENT between JDM and USDM. The Japanese ring notches are indented while the US ring notches stick out. I also deleted the oil cooling system below the oil filter and grounded the oil level sswitch wire. Full harness and intake swap.
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On an FA20?
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Yes. I imported an FA20. It is in the car running.
I have a 2020 wrx that blew the motor at roughly 29000 miles. The dealership sold me a lemon and the original owner modded the vehicle that voided the warranty. And I had idea about these mods as they weren’t disclosed to me at the time of purchase. Regardless, I also purchased a JDM fa20. The company that imported the motor told me that I had to swap the intake manifold, cam phasers and exhaust manifold, and a crap ton sensors. The JDM motor has about 24k miles on it. My question is what exactly did you swap to ensure the motor as least runs. I don’t care about the CEL or any other light as I can deal with those later. I have been without a car for about 6 months and desperately need it running. I am planning on going back to the dealership and trading it back in for my mustang. Also WTF IS A CAM PHASER. I am new to the Japanese car scene and just want to go back to good ‘ol American muscle.
Cam phaser is for changing valve timing. Vtec by bean counters. All "american muscle" has these now, other than dodge probably. The days of carbs and simple 2 valve engines are long gone.
The CELs are more than lights, they can cause engine damage. The dealership will screw you on your trade-in if there are CELs because they might have to do an engine out to fix everything (if they can) before it will pass inspection.
The CELs are more than lights, they can cause engine damage. The dealership will screw you on your trade-in if there are CELs because they might have to do an engine out to fix everything (if they can) before it will pass inspection.
My mustang is a 2 valve. It’s a 2004 GT 4.6L. I understand the CEL’s could mean something bad, however if the light is on for something stupid, like a bad o2 sensor, or if I didn’t tune the car for a passenger to be in the car. I just need this thing running and I’ll solve the CEL or another lights before I trade it back in. I just need a car that runs.
Do you happen to know if the JDM alternator was causing issues? or did you just swap it before hand? I'm only getting one CEL when trying to crank, and it's the crank position sensor circuit. No CELs for CAM position like everyone else says. Car won't turn over, just cranks infinitely.
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I changed the alternator out because the plug was different. If yours isn't im guessing that you didn't change the wiring harness which I was told was mandatory.
Exactly, that's old enough to graduate college or be in a museum.
These engines are extremely sensitive to tuning and sensors. I appreciate the that you want a working car but it will take a lot less time and effort to swap everything while the engine is out of the car instead of chasing faults after the fact.
I already completed the swap with no CEL’s. I did the swap maybe 3 days after my post. Took my about 15 hours between 2 days
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Rude2v,
What all did you have to transfer over from the USDM Engine. I've done research and keep finding people saying different things. I plan on swapping a jdm f20 into a 15 WRX after the usdm motor decided it had enough. Trying to get some answers before I start tearing this apart.
I swapped quite a bit of stuff over tbh. Mostly because my old motor had shinier parts. I swapped the AC compressor bc the ports are in a different spot, intake manifold, the oil line on the turbo(the JDM hose doesn’t have a sensor), a lot of sensors and hoses(due to Japan importers cutting the sensors wires and hoses), the ECU because the motor was originally an automatic, the reluctor wheel and clutch ring spacer, the 4 tiny reluctor wheels on each cam gear, the OCV valves. That’s all I can really remember. If I remember more I’ll let you know.
I just did this swap on my 2018 wrx and all I did was the cam gears, ocvs, and crankshaft position sensors. I now have p0016,17,18,19 car runs fine or at least it feels fine but I don’t know if I’m missing something and with emissions due in about 3 weeks I’m on a time crunch
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hey i got the cel for the cam position sensor does anybody know how to fix that?
Any luck on figuring this one out? I have a customer car doing the exact same thing
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