RTS wrote, "I have a 95 Geo Metro 1.0 L 3cyl. It burns oil. I have a lead on someone selling a good working 96 engine. I won't put it in myself, but I would like to buy the engine and hire the job out.
My questions are: 1) Will a 96 work in a 95? 2) Is there an issue if the engine comes from an automatic car to be installed in manual?"
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You don't say how many miles the engine has, but oil consumption is often merely a valve guide seal failure, rather than a call for total engine rebuild/replacement. Also, I agree with another poster regarding the feasibility of putting an unknown engine in a vehicle, and thus dealing with (fighting with) the inevitable, inherent compatibility issues... versus simply performing the necessary repairs on the existing engine, which is still intact, servicable and correct -- while possibly not spend much more than you would buying the other (read "wrong") engine. Remember, any and every discrepancy between the old and new engines will have to be dealt with, $$$.
As an aside, IIRC back in the old days, when most cars had carbureted V8 engines, you would sometimes see two similar cars and engines -- and the one with an automatc would have a different cam and manifold combination versus a car with a stick
Many modern engines use a different EGR depending if the application is an automatic or manual trans, which could cause problems in your case vis a vis how it interfaces with the ECM, you could have a check engine light come on all the time, etc... that's just one example. I try to avoid stuff like that wherever possible. Why borrow trouble? It's always best to just repair the extant engine, when it is still intact and servicable..