Ok, i have an official 96, not a 4th Gen 95 sold as a 96.

Blew a timing chain on the back cam.
Got a 95 VQ for $325. Went to Advanced and ordered a shat load of gaskets to rebuild this new Used engine.
Then i relised a few minutes ago, that when i was asked if it truely was a 96 i told them yes.

Aside from doing VIN research, what can i expect the differences in the engines to be?

Thanks, Mike

 

The engines ARE identical from what I know

 

Absolutely nothing, only changes made were to the emissions equipment.

 

i have a 95 and its an obd II guy at autozone wanted to argue with me about it...prove him wrong

 

it may have a 96 motor in it.....

 

Your timing chain broke? Were their any signs before it happened? I thought they were supposed to last the life of the engine...that makes me kind of worried.

 

95-96 should be the exact same motor.
I recently just put a 98 motor in my 96, only thing I had to do was transfer all my vacuum hose and items like that over to the 98 motor.
One note, though, when purchasing gaskets and seals I had to purchase them for the 98. I know for a fact, that the rear main seal is different on the 98 then the 96.
Ifound out the hard way.

 

any signs of the timing chain going? did you have the tensioner clank? i thought that sound was just annoying and not harmful! I have the noise right now and have been lazy to replace the tensioner...hope mine doesn't go!! thought they lasted the life of the engine too!

 

It was just a high shift @ 6500 into second.
There was a horrific sound from the front of the engine, and the car died. Dead.
I tried to start it again, but only more grinding.
Then a compression check. Comp was ok. ???
So tried and tried to start it; it turned over, backfired a couple of times, then the engine would just stop turning over. With a clank.
Towed it to the stealership, and sure enough, my electrical was good. I thought that maybe it was the crank or cam position sensors. Not the case.
Internally the igniton was off. With means wither my pully just went to hell or my timing chain jumped a link.
The UDP checks out without a hitch, while the exploratory surgery of the timing chain is left to be discovered after the engine swap.

 

So the jury is still out on whether the timing chain broke or it was something else. Let us know when you find out.