A few months ago I acquired an’07 Cobalt (vin 1G1AK55F277107005) which had a cracked engine which resulted in the wiring harness being damaged. The car still ran, however. I have been having trouble getting a used replacement engine with the correct wiring harness - after two unsuccessful attempts. The wiring apparently is not interchangeable from one model to another.
What are my options? Can I find out what other models (vin nos.) have the same wiring harness? I haven’t been to find anyone to offer any solutions.
Thanks
Get a replacement engine, and swap the original wiring harness to the new engine, fixing the damage as you go. (I’m assuming this is a repair-only swap and not a “as long as I’m repairing it I may as well make it faster” swap)
Two reasons you always want to do this if you can: First, it eliminates a lot of guesswork if the new engine won’t fire - you KNOW the harness is good because it was just working 5 hours ago when you drove the car into the garage. Second, it keeps the connectors the same between the engine and the rest of the car - sometimes manufacturers will go with a different connector in different years, which means the new harness might not mate up to your old car. Swapping harnesses eliminates this.
shadowfax,
thanks much. even though the original harness is damaged I can give it a try and if it works, buy a replacement.
looneybob
The Cobalt had three possible engines, a 2.2 litre, a 2.4 litre, and 2.0 litre turbo. Are you sure that the used engine and harness is an exact match for the one in the car?