Hi guys - that frozen engine is going to come out of the car and since I don't have confidence on the tranmission that is attached to it now seems to be the time to pull that out as well.
Can you remind me on if it better to pull both as a unit or separately? Hood will be off the car of course and I'll have access to an engine hoist with an O-berg tilt thingy.
Thanks!
Having just been through this, and having pulled a transmission separately 3 times, I'm going to say that if it were me, and if I had a 4 or 4A, I'd probably opt for taking the transmission out separately, but putting it all back in together. Here are my thoughts:
a) support the engine with chains from your hoist, or with a jack and wood plank at the rear or the engine sump/oil pan, and pull the transmission out of the interior. If you leave the engine on the front mounts, that rear jack is all you need to support the engine, but if you have your hoist and chains, that's a good extra backup.
You need to fully remove the interior anyway, plus the transmission cover, the gear shift, etc., and you can just maneuver that transmission out nice and easy from the inside. Have someone help when you lift it out of the car.
I believe I'd prefer this approach on "removal" in the future because I feel I have more control, and don't forget that the manual says you must remove the top cover of the transmission to remove in one piece with the engine, and you need not do that if you take the transmission out separately.
In addition, from my experience the clearances are just too tough for "me" to be comfortable removing the two in one piece, particularly given the importance of the leveling bar, the very tight clearances at the oil pan and front cross frame member, etc. All things being considered, I'd just feel better removing in two steps.
b) Once removed, I'd now feel OK re-installing in one piece, but having just done this four nights ago, here are my qualifiers. Get a good engine leveler so you really can get the angle between 35 and 40 degrees once you're over the engine compartment. Don't even try it without first removing the front bumper and protecting the front valence with some shop towels.
Get a good transmission jack that won't bump into the frame members or exhaust pipes as you lower then raise the transmission tail. You must alternate between four things: a) pushing the engine further in; b) lowering the engine; c) adjusting the leveler angle; and d) raising the transmission tail. That tail must eventually be directly below the transmission mounting bracket, then jacked up high enough above it to slide that mount back in (front to back) as it goes. The clearances here are all quite tight, so experience and confidence will help.
As a part of this process your engine mounts must be checked for good condition, and alignment, with the engine slowly lowered onto the mounts. You'll know you've achieve a lot once you actually see that the engine has cleared and is past that front frame cross member. That was not easy on my car. I rubbed and hit it a few times before finally clearing it so I could move the engine back into place. And like Randy says, keep a watch out on that accelerator bar. You'll hit it a bit, but that's OK so long as you don't bend or distort it.
c) Once the transmission is out, removing the engine is a total piece of cake. So, for me, the only reason to do the exercise "together" is to avoid having to line that transmission up to the clutch assembly and pinion crank bearing from inside the car, muscling it in--a real hassle. So you can avoid that by installing in one piece after removing in two. And once out of the car you can carefully remove the top cover of the transmission and protect it with a cardboard lid until after reinstalled.
d) If you are so inclined, you can try removing all in one piece. I'll acknowledge that a real pro might make that look easy. But for me it doesn't seem very easy removing them together, and I'd rather remove that top cover of the transmission after the transmission is out (for re-installation), than while it's in the car. Either way will work, and I know others will (or already do) disagree, but removal is so easy in two pieces that I can't see removal in one piece saving much trouble.
Good luck.
Hey there Guest!
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