well I'm trying to get my oil pan off, but keep the engine in the car, basically I bought a breaker bar today because I was trying to get the engine loose from the motor mounts, well I got the bolt turning and I was thinking "WOOHOO! One more step to car workage!" well, after 5 minutes of turning that bolt, I sit there going "okay ********, something's not right" lol.

Well, I assumed that whatever thread it was going into was welded in or built into the motor mount... haha I was wrong! Had a spinning nut on the other side. Does anyone know the size of this nut, and does anyone have any tricks to keeping it from moving while i wrench?

EDIT: also, while I'm taking the bolt out from the motor mount to loosen the engine... do I need to have my jack under the pan so that the engine doesnt drop, or is there no chance it'll drop after i take out the bolt?

 

 

lol, got an email that i got a response to the thread, thought i'd have something helpful! :lala:

 

The engine wont go anywhere when you take the bolts out. The angle of the bottom half of the clamshell mounts, and the fact that the k-member is in its way will assure this. I dont know the size of the bolts offhand but use a box end wrench as a backup wrench on the bolt or nut thats hard to reach so it wont spin around on you.

EDIT: if you stick a jack under the pan, put a 2x4 between the jack and the pan or youll crush the bottom of the pan in. As for lifting the motor, some people have jacked under the balancer to lift the engine. Never done it myself since I have a hoist so i dont know if its truely bad for the crank/balancer or not.

 

thank you dimented24x7 that helps reassure my thinking. I have a big hunk of wood set across the oil pan that i use when i jack up the engine. I heard some people jack from the balancer as well, but i dont think i could get my hands in there to put the blocks of wood up between the engine and engine mounts once i got it jacked up enough heh, plus I dont know how well that is on the balancer either.

Thanks again

 

I've had to drop my pan twice. The nut is 11/16" and the bolt head is 5/8". I've lifted from the balancer both times with no adverse affects. I did use a block of wood with a V-notch cut into it for stability reasons though.

 

Do what I did a few weeks ago... take out the bolts in the motor mounts, put a 2x4 under the balancer and jack it up there. Worked great for me.