Hey all, forgive me for addressing a topic that has probably been addressed a million times, but I'm trying to swap out my front and rear engine mounts, then my side ones. Mine are bad and have been for some time and I suspect the motion is tugging at the harness and causing my transmission to act up (ex: when I turn left the RPM's jump and car wont shift for a second).

So I've read that you put the car up on jack stands and support the engine by jacking up under the oil pan with a piece of wood longer than the pan. Does this mean the piece of wood should be longer and wider than the oil pan? The reason I ask is because I can't afford to bend my oil pan. I made the rookie mistake of breaking off a screw when removing it last time, then when attempting to extract the broken thread, i broke off the hardened steel extractor bit inside the screw, making it unremovable. So I want to be perfectly sure that I'm not going to ruin my day.

Thanks for the input guys. This car would've died 25000 miles ago if it weren't for this forum!

 

Just a piece of 2x4 will be fine.

 

Why would you need to support the engine like that? It's not going to fall out.

You can slightly support it on the lower oil pan to keep it from moving when replacing a side mount, but that's all that's required.

Zip off the crossmember and replace those, then do the sides one at a time. It's not a big deal.

 

I was told that you may not be able to get the bolt back in place without manipulating the engine position a little bit and the way to do that is apparently wit ha bottle jack or something under the oil pan (with the wood block). It's not to keep the engine from falling out. The way I see it since my side mounts are shot too the engine might move out of position slightly when I remove the crossmember making the bolts not go back into position perfectly.

 

Oh, I see what you mean. The same still applies. The engine can sag a little, nbd. I impact the bolts and push the engine back up LOL.

You could start the bolts, then jack the middle of the crossmember, then tighten the bolts if you're worried, but the engine isn't really that heavy (relatively).

 

If you put too much pressure on the engine couldn't it pinch the seal and leak shortly after wards? It's all RTV at a relatively light torque right? it says 14 ft lbs. and all tightened in sequence.

 

That's exactly what I'm worried about. I've already got enough oil leaking with the rear main seal. Now I go out today and find out the resonator is cracked at the catalytic converter. Just ordered a new one from rockauto.

I just have a hard time believing there's no other way to support/manipulate the engine aside from below the oil pan...

 

Don't respond to his inane ramblings. And I have no idea what you're talking about with the exhaust. Also, there's no need to really support the motor.

 

You're not going to bend the oil pan unless you put the jack right in the center of it with nothing to distribute the force. Even then, you wont bend it enough to make it leak. Any chunk of wood will be fine.

You're worrying way too much about this and don't let maximatech12 give you any of his crazy ideas.

 

I supported the engine by the oil pan (with a piece of 2x4) just a few days ago to change the passenger side motor mount.

Wouldn't ya know, no crushed oil pan, no new oil leaks, no problems.

 

This is exactly what everybody has been trying to tell the op.

 

I think people that crush the oil pan aren't paying attention to what they are doing.

If the car starts to lift up, you're obviously at a point where you need to stop lifting up on it. When changing motor mounts, you're literally just putting enough pressure on the engine to support it, nothing more.

 

Exactly, we're not talking about jacking the car up (wheels off the ground) by the oil pan. Just supporting some of the motors weight.

 

yeah guy you'll be ok with any thick chunk of wood.. just use a jack to just support the engine with a chunk of wood to switch what you need out. The theory behind this is that metal to metal contact is never good.. I remember a guy i knew jacked his engine up with just a tiny bottle jack to lift his engine with no board between and pierced his drain pan HAHAHHA... IDIOT.. This guy obviously shouldn't have been working on cars in the first place. He also didn't lift his car on the designated jacking points and tried to lift his car by the floor boards and dented them in.. This was also way too funny, this guy was like tim taylor's way dumber brother..

 

Thanks guys, will give it a shot after I fix my exhaust leak.

Well someone wore their sassy pants today