Engine swap wiring

WILLIAM CRABTREE

MECHANIC
1997 TOYOTA CAMRY
3.0L
V6
2WD
AUTOMATIC
283,000 MILES

I bought the car listed above to use for my newspaper route. Ran good, drove good. I found a good deal on a wrecked 1998 Camry on an auction site. Bought it, 150,000 miles on the 1998. Runs amazing. Pulled the motor and transmission to put into the 1997. But since the computers are different, the wiring harness from the engine will not plug in properly. So, the question is, if I swap the wiring harnesses, will the swap work, or am I just wasting my time? I do not want to give up yet, especially since I have already put valve cover gaskets and a few other things into the motor from the 1998. Is there a possibility I will have to swap more things over? Sensors, maybe throttle body? I do not want to waste any more time!

1 Reply

JACOBANDNICKOLAS

MECHANIC
109,758 POSTS

Hi and thanks for using 2CarPros. Com.

Years ago, this was easy to do. However, today's vehicles are much different. If you want this to work, you will have to change everything. Keep in mind, if you only change the wiring harness which fits the new engine, most likely the the opposite ends of the harness will not work on the older vehicle. If you are really lucky and all sensors are in the same locations only with different pins and the engine is the same, you may get away with just switching the sensors and any other components which differ.

In most cases, everything needs changed including wiring harness, computers, throttle body.

Let me know if you have any specific questions.

Take care and good luck.

Joe