Fractionaly bored out versions of teh 2.5 and 3.0....same block and heads etc.

Slightly later management system which has multi lamnda sensor emission control, drive by wire electronic throttles and coil per plug spark system. The key thing is the same oil change and cambelt/tensioner intervals...

Eddy Matthews wrote on 12. Jan 2007 at 21:16:


The 2.6/3.2 engines have no mechanical EGR valve or ICV, so much less clatter on either side of the plenum and therefore much easier for DIY access. As for reliability implications of this setup, I suppose you could argue that on the 2.5/3.0 you need to remove and clean the EGR valve and ICV from time to time, but to be honest it’s not a major job anyway.

Also, the 2.6/3.2 engines have individual ignition coils instead of the traditional DIS pack and HT leads. This is setup is in principal more reliable because it eliminates problems resulting from poor HT leads, but the individual coil packs themselves are not inherently more reliable than the DIS pack.

The later engine management system is just a more clever processor and some newer software (Bosch Motronic 3.1.1 as opposed to 2.8.1), which I understand is required among other reasons because of the different injector system on the newer engines, but in essence the sensors and other general engine management functions are pretty much the same.

Drive-by-Wire is potentially less relaible being electronic, but then you don't have the cable link to lubricate etc...

Having had both the 2.5 and 2.6, I can say that the 2.6 is probably preferable simply because you get the ‘latest’ of everything: i.e. the latest engine management software, the latest cambelt tensioner design, etc… but this is normal development evolution and other than that there is no reason why there would be any major difference in reliability between the two engines.

I did around 40k miles on the 2.5 and 50k miles on the 2.6, and the only engine problems I had were typical omega ones - cambelt tensioner and blocked breathers (on the 2.5), and oil cooler (on the 2.6), so I can't really say that the slight differences between the two engines had any impact on their reliability.