GM Ecotec engine

The Ecotec, codenamed L850, is a family of inline-four engines of between 2.0 and 2.5 litres that General Motors built as its global four-cylinder. The name began in 1994 with the new generation of Opel's Family II engines, but the architecture was substantially re-engineered for the Ecotec produced since 2000, and it replaced the Family II, the GM 122, the Saab H and the Quad 4. Development began in 1994 by an international team from Opel in Russelsheim, GM Powertrain in Pontiac, Michigan, and Saab in Sodertalje, with much of the work done by Lotus Engineering. It is a DOHC four-valve design with a lost foam cast aluminium block and head, aluminium pistons, iron cylinder liners and twin balance shafts, and the first Gen I engine, the 2.2 litre L61, was introduced in May 1999. Turbocharged and supercharged versions followed, and blocks and heads are cast at Saginaw. The name was confusingly also applied to Holden Buick V6 engines.