J20A Reliabilty??

[Remydog05]

Ive asked around about these engines and it seems people love them or hate them!

Some Suzuki wreakers hate them and say they break big and cost big!

Others say great motor and very underused! (is that a word?)

Anyone used one in a Sierra?

I know WRXzook has one in his.

[fordy1]

i had a 2l softtop vit for 4 years and thrashed it also i was young and stupid so i never looked after it, i would often do dohnuts in muddy water level with the bonnet!! and smoke the tyres on fri nights giving the local doof doofs the finger

after all that i did 1 pulley, 2 starter motors and 1 cv, so i would say they are a reliable engine

ps in stock trim the engine cuts out in seconed gear at 112Km

[Gwagensteve]

I have seen a pulley seize too, on the way to tuff truck 2000.

Steve.

[fordy1]

yeah i never cleaned under the bonnet so it was full of mud

[Liam]

My 03 has 135,000 k's on it...drive too fast, tow too much, let my wife drive, only do the log book specked maintenence, rarely check the oil, dont warm it up, rev it hard and it's never complained.

[Remydog05]

Thanks All

And anyone done the conversion??

[Impulsive]

I'm with Liam.

I treat mine really badly too, although I do warm it up a bit.

I also tow about 600-700kg without thinking about it, and it still runs a treat.

I say its all in the maintenance...

[atari4x4]

i've put about 35,000km on my 97 j20a vitara, its now got around 105,000km. in that time i've had to replaced the 02 sensor & the rear main seal, which went after a mud bath...

some days i've given it a fair bit of curry & it keeps coming back for more.. other days it just idles around doing the 9 to 5!!! if looked after i think it should hold together for a fair while

[Remydog05]

Thanks All,

Sounds like they are pretty strong and even better if I even look after it a bit! But no real problems just not as popular as G16B.

So anyone done the J20A conversion??

[Impulsive]

Yeah. I did the same J20A conversion as Atari.

We sold our earlier G16A models and bought a 97 model...lol

Easy & cheap conversion!

[Gwagensteve]

If you are talking to a sierra Remydog, I think it's a bit of a PITA for the power and parts availability you end up with.

I know an engine fan doesn't fit, the engine is LONG.

Steve.

[atari4x4]

If you are talking to a sierra Remydog, I think it's a bit of a PITA for the power and parts availability you end up with.

I know an engine fan doesn't fit, the engine is LONG.

Steve.

i've had troubles chasing non genuine parts for my j20a, some don't even list it in their books! :

found heaps of info on here after searching & posting

[Remydog05]

From what I can find there seems to be a fair amount of bits for them.

And the only thing others have said is a Timing chain issue but I havent had anyone actually say yes my chain broke and it cost me X dollars.

[TheOtherLeft]

Yes the timing chain is the most common problem, but if you use the right engine oil, as specified in the book (10W30), as opposed to what the idiot Suzuki service techs (15W40) use then the timing rattle isn't a big problem. Well not in mine anyway. After my first (and last) factory service the engine had the timing chain rattle as they used 15W40 but as soon as I changed to 10W30 the rattle went away. It doesn't rattle when it's cold either.

There's a few cases of a leaky rear main seal but it's not very common.

[Remydog05]

Thanks 8 good info.

Ive found a few mentions about rear main seal too on outers, wreakers and mechanics.