Last year I was kicked out of 2nd year eng and this year I'm trying to get back in. One of the things recommended is to say identical courses in your reinstatement application. Has anyone tried doing this, I find it difficult to find college courses that are similar in educational value to those I had in eng. Any general advice in terms of trying to get reinstated?

I don't think they have to be very similar to your courses. I think to get reinstated to engineering you have to take courses from other faculties and try to get a high gpa in them. They don't have to be exactly related to your courses.
Just a note here: i don't think it's a good idea to take courses from other faculties that are not related to engineering. You are familiar with engineering courses, so taking courses from other faculties, even if they are known to be easy, might not guarantee high grades because of the difference in abilities and other factors. (I've seen people taking commerce/economics courses and falling short of the reinstatement cut-off. That is why it's good to stick to engineering courses if trying to get reinstated, and specifically college level courses).

You can do 1 year of engineering at a college and get reinstated to engineering if you get a really good gpa.
Talk to your academic advisor and ask if you can do one year of engineering X at say college Y.
The idea is to improve your studying habits. So when you go to college, you have to work really hard, improve your time management skills and get high grades to get reinstated. Don't take it lightly in college, work really hard and you will get good grades.

So, ask your academic advisor if that program in college (the one that you want to go for) will be okay for reinstatement. If they say it's okay, go for it and try your best!
Best of luck