Engine replacement on 2008 HHR with a 2.2 Liter 4 cylinder
 

My brother in law to be recently purchased a 2008 HHR. Within a month after buying it the engine basically took a crap on him. Car itself was well taken care of but had high miles on the motor. Cost to replace his 2.2 Eco tech engine with a remanufactured one is well over 35 hundred dollars. So, he has opted to look for an engine of the same size that would be compatible and swap out with little problem. I have found an engine with less than 50 thousand miles on it out of a 2010 Cobalt. It is a 2.2 Liter EcoTech engine and I would like to know if it would work as a replacement. If there is a chart I can use as I resource I would appreciate using it to cross reference the engines that will work in the HHR that are out of other GM vehicles. The 8th digit in the VIN for the 2008 HHR is the letter D. The engine I am considering buying has a VIN of F. Could it be swapped with only swapping out external parts?
Thanks,
Yogi

It should work,provided your harness is identical and not a flex fuel motor. I upgraded my hhr to accept flex fuel.i had to change the entire wiring harness and ecm. I got mine from a junkyard.

Engine replacement
 

you can definitely swap out an engine easily.provided it's the same motor.look at it closely.il go for it.how about removing the entire subframe,the engine will drop out the bottom remove shocks brakelines ,engine mounts,control arms,hoses and wires.it will roll right out.make sure you raise the car up high enough to clear the engine,also, make sure the head is the same. If you have vvt make sure your replacement has it also.the blocks are the interchangeable, but the head is not.good luck and keep me posted

You will have an issue because the 2010 will have vvt spots and the 08 usually does not, depending upon when it was manufactured. I just did an engine swap on a 2008 and the 2009 cobalt would not work . .we had to return it.