Hey,

I am in the middle of replacing the oil pan gasket (profuse leakage - rookie mistake with RTVing the snot out of it when I put the last one in) - Anyway, I have read a number of accounts of how to jack up the engine to replace the gasket without removing the pan (I have an M6) but I cannot get the fricken through bolts out no matter what I do. To confirm, these are the two 5 or 6 inch bolts that go right through the motor mounts from front to back.

I removed the nuts on the end of the bolts and tried jacking the engine up very slightly (on the crank snout just in front of the timing cover) to take some of the weight off the through bolts - no help. I was able to use a punch to get the passenger side bolt part way out but it won't go any further - it also looks like the bolt will hit an air conditioning hard line before I get it all the way out.

On the driver's side, as soon as I got the bolt part way through the mount by turning it with a ratchet, the holes in the mount go out of alignment and I can't get a punch or anyting in there to move it along - and turning the bolt does not move it out any further.

What am I missing here?

This sounds so easy when I read everyones' description of how to do this but I am running out of options.

Thanks for the help.

 

I don't think you should be removing both at the same time. I know you can remove the oil pan with the motor in the car by jacking up one side of the motor. I have never tried this before, but if I were you I would put the passenger side bolt back in and try to get the driver's side out only. You may also have to turn the crankshaft some in order to get the counterweights out of the way to move the pan.

On another note, I noticed that the felpro pan gasket has some great little alignment "screws" that stick into the holes in the engine while you tighten the pan up. They make sure the gasket doesn't move out of position. Also, make sure you put some RTV in the corners of the pan and don't forget the metal pieces that run along the side.

 

My concern is that I have so much RTV around there that I will need to get the engine as high as possible to allow for proper scraping of the sealant. Speaking of which, what have other people done to get rid of the RTV remnants that will undoubtedly end up inside the pan (even if you are super-careful)? I thought I could try to vaccuum out the pan with a long hose fed down into the pan from the side - or perhaps spray some brake-clean down into the pan to wash the crumbs out the drain hole (or you might do the same thing with some oil?). None of these sound very satisfactory - sounds like an oil and filter change would be a good idea soon after buttoning this thing up.

In one of my earlier searches I found a detailed post from "elisowski" that gave a whole procedure for doing the pan by removing both through bolts - but I still can't see how to get the pass side bolt out. Are people jacking up the front of the engine a tiny bit or what? There must be something I am doing wrong. Would loosening the trans mount and tilting the engine forward (lifting a bit from the transmission end) help any in removing those *%#$@ bolts?

If I didn't have all that RTV to clean up, I would try to do the pan gasket without lifting the engine - but the only reason I have to do the gasket at all is because of the fricken RTV (I think).

THX

 

you might have to rent an engine lift man, If you take both mounts off i dont think a jack is going to do it for lining it up to put it back

 

Since you're lifting from the very front of the engine, the pivot point
is at the tranny mount, so naturally, the "front hole" of the engine
mount will come up first, followed by the "rear hole".

You will want to tilt the engine from one side at a time, that way both
the front and rear through-bolt holes will lift at the same time, because
the main pivot point will be the opposing side of the engine. Either
that or you will need to use an engine hoist and pull the engine up
from the top, straight up.

Personally, I never had an issue with an A/C line in the way, but I'm
sure it's not uncommon as I've read about this issue before.

As previously suggested, you might want to attempt this by just
lifting on one side of the engine (driver's side).

 

Did they recommend jacking the crank snout in this thread you read?. Cause thats seems nuts to me. I would be very concerned about damaging the crank or bearings. Do you have a hoist (cherry picker) or a friend with a hoist?. Also you need to take tension off the bolts by jacking(or lifting) to that side. If you don't provide lift the tension will remain to whatever part of that bolt is making contact with the metal bracket.

 

I just took both of them out today pulling my engine.

Both are a PITA, the drivers and passenger side both have a brake line (your A/C line) right behind the bolt and will not allow the bolt to come completley off before hitting it.

There are some hold down brackets on the brake lines you can take loose, 10mm wrench. And i had to unscrew the line from the master cylinder. This should give it just enough play to be able to get the bolt out.
The drivers side was the hardest, passenger not so bad.


Edit: I just realized this isnt thirdgen.org...yours may be a little different...