I have a stripped parts car in my garage. Stripped of all but the VG engine and the transmission. I've disconnected all the wiring and pipes but I've got no engine jack or anything specifically for the engine removal. What I have is a hydraulic jack and a pair of jack stands. Anything I can do with that?

 

You can remove all related suspension parts in the way,then drop it out the bottom of the car..

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=322685

 

you can also see if you can rent an engine hoist...if you don't want to mess w/ what greenmax posted. they should be pretty cheap and maybe a lot less work.

 

I only paid 30 bucks when I rented one. The I bought one for a hundred bucks....

 

My garage is pretty cramped. I doubt I can even get an engine hoist in there. The thing is, that my hydraulic jack doesn't get nearly high enough to even cover half the distance that the car is jacked up. I used concrete slabs underneath the jack to get the car on the jack stands. So what I wanna know is how exactly can the engine be dropped. Where do I place the jack, how do I stabilize the engine on the single jack without having it drop on my foot, and finally how all of that can be done with the car twice as high as my only real jack.

 

Maybe add some jack oil to your jack so that it will go up all the way like it's supposed to.

 

Sorry if this is going to sound harsh, but given that situation/sentence alone I would advise you to leave it alone and have somebody that knows what he is doing complete the job ........................ its obvious you don't have the right tools for the job and there is simply no way a single hydraulic jack is going to make things happen - not without serious damage to box and engine and most likely yourself too.

While ingenuity should be admired, IMO you don't have the mechanical aptitude to complete the intended job and as a result, what you are proposing is probably a guaranteed recipe for committing suicide.

 

It's full of oil, but it only goes up so far.

That's not helping me. And by the way, if by saying that I don't have the mechanical aptitude you mean that I don't have a skill of a certified mechanic, you're right. However, the fact that I never removed my entire engine before doesn't mean that I know nothing about it. I'll get the engine hoist if I have to, but I'm doing this myself.

 

It wasn't intended to help you.

By "mechanical aptitude" I meant the ability to figure, by yourself, where/how to go about rigging the tools/supports you yourself said you are limited to - there is nobody here that can realistically tell you what to do with a single jack to safely handle an inherently unstable lump of metal weighing around 400kgTo quote your exact words.............

 

He wasn't trying to help you get the job done, he was trying to help you to get through the job without getting seriously hurt. There is a LOT that can go wrong when lifting an engine out of a car, and a lot MORE than can go wrong when you are doing it using the wrong tools.

In my younger days, me a two of my buddies lifted a straight six cylinder engine out of a car with no hoist, no jack, nothing. We took off the cylinder head to lighten the engine up, then lifted it out. It was a stupid thing to do, and we're lucky that no one lost a finger or hand in the process. Body parts don't regenerate, surgery is expensive and can't always fix everything that we mess up, it just isn't worth taking a risk trying to balance that engine on one jack, and that goes double if you have to ask people on the internet how to go about it, because that demonstrates that you aren't sure of yourself.

There is nothing wrong with doing it yourself, and learning as you go, most all of us have done exactly that, but you have to be safe about it. Get an engine hoist, figure out a way to get it into the garage, it is really the ONLY safe way to go about this job. Then, find someone who will help you with the job. It doesn't have to be someone who knows more than you, just someone that can provide a second pair of eyes, and might see things happening that you don't notice, and someone who can call for help if something does go wrong. I never work under my car, or lifting any load such as an engine, without someone else around to keep an eye on me, it's just a good safety practice.

 

+1 on having a second set of eyes. I always have somone jack the motor up real slow while checking for any remaining harnesses, hoses, etc. Usually you need two people to help it clear the transmission and guide it out of the bay.

 

Now see, this IS helping me. So I really need an engine hoist and a couple of people to help me out. That I can do. This is also exactly the type of info I was looking for when I posted this thread. I never said I was going to do it all by myself. I just meant that I'm not paying any real mechanic to do it.

 

If you are going to do this,then i urge you to invest in some REAL tools.There are plenty of small loan companies that will possibly give you a small loan($500) to buy some tools to do this job the right way..

Get a large jack(mine is a craftsman 3 1/2 ton 21" lift jack)/engine hoist/and a good tool set(like a 150pc. craftsman set)/good set of jack stands..

all listed above should make the job almost easy even for a beginner like yourself,not to mention the tools that you buy will pay for themselves time and time again in the future..

 

Alright, cool. I got a pair of 6 ton jack stands and a 4000 ibs jack. My dad also has all the tools I may need for that. So I think I'm covered except for the hoist itself. If it costs over $250 to buy it, I'll try to find a place to rent one.

 

I have this one..
http://www.shoplocal.com/lid-2092525..._-torin-all.fp

 

Lvr is blunt...and to be honest i kinda side with him.

ok so definitely get a hoist. rent a good sling and a tilter would make your life easier.

i have a lot of tools and i did the pull and install myself but if i had help it would have been sooo much better.

the guys are right...we don't want you to get hurt.

also check ebay, craigslist, etc for used hoists. may be able to buy a used one for cheap.

 

be careful....and if you ever find your engine (or anything really heavy, for that matter) falling over suddenly, just let it fall. Don't put yourself in harm's way for something that can be replaced.....

I made that mistake with a FULL 120gal water heater on an assembly line while i was pressure testing. It fell, i jumped to catch it......well, i did catch it, and save the water heater, but i had to take about 3 days off work, and i'm suprised i didn't break my back.

at 8.34 lbs per gallon, and 120 gallons, about 1000 lbs, plus a 250 lb industrial water heater....caught at about a 45 degree angle with a totally extended body, HURTS....and an 800 or so pound engine, falling on your foot would cause nothing short of toe loss, in the very least.


just my .02

 

Indeed - I call a spade a spade and often get moaned at because of that - just like in this thread where the original question was how to do the job with a single hydraulic jack.

Its very easy (as demonstrated here by verbal diarrhea) to backtrack and change the whole intention/purpose of the thread once demonstrable facts are being put on the table and common sense gets questioned ..................... it can apparently even make a engine hoist fit a garage that was originally too small

 

easy easy...he got the point. let's just leave it as that.

 

Yeah, I got the point. My garage ain't too small, but it's full of junk, like the huge air compressor, lawn mower, car doors, hood, bikes, shelves, opossums, cats, etc. But I can make room for an engine hoist if I really have to, which apparently I do. I also know I'm a noob, but not as much as some other people. Besides, I wanna learn, so having someone else do the job, as LvR suggested, is not an option. But, yeah, I appreciate the help.

 

You shouldn't have any difficulty getting a hoist for under $200. Any money you invest in tools will be a good investment. When I was younger, I made do with what I had, and I wasted tons of time trying to figure out how to do something that would have taken just a few minutes with the right tool.

 

I see hoists on craigslist ALL the time. Save your money and look there first.

 

Are you guys serious? Did I just read a block long thread on dropping a bull**** 3.0 out of a Maxima. Get real cut the friggin hoses and dis connect all the throttles and othe crap. Next unbolt the rail let it drop on the ground and jack the rest of the car up and pull it away from the motor. This is kindagarten stuff. I'm not even a mechanic and I handle that maneuver without a pit crew. Get real.

 

you could tar the engine apart and rebuild it in the other car......

 

Take it easy there dude,the op has never done anything like this before,so cut him and all the people that gave their advice some slack.


IMO,The safest and fastest way for him to remove the engine would be with an engine hoist,not dropping it out of the bottom of the car,so he will still have a rolling chassis after the engine is out..

 

won't it roll either way? if you drop the engine onto something that rolls and just get it out of the way then drop the car back down and it'll roll right?

 

You have to remove almost all the front suspension if you drop it out the bottom of the car.

 

ok. that's what i was thinking might be the case. But i haven't ever removed an engine from a car (just a lawnmower.. much simpler) so it makes sense now. I really want to pull mine but i can't until i have another car to drive for however long it takes to clean/fix/replace what i plan to be working on.

 

Yeah, for me, this is a big thing. Especially considering that there are a few things around the motor, which I've no idea what they do. For instance that half-foot black plastic cylinder kinda between the battery stand and driver-side headlight. It has some tubes going into it. Anyone?

 

i have a smog/emission box there

 

Charcoal canister,it is an emissions device

 

Alright. Now how about another cylinder in that general area. It's much thinner, but is made of metal and also has some tubes going into it. At least one of the tubes going into it is made from aluminum. That's all I can think of for now as far as mystery parts go.

 

dryer for the a/c

 

Aight, cool. I'll look those up on Wikipedia or something.