Just finished watching all four parts of this engine R & R. I plan on eventually pulling the four cylinder out of my Nissan Frontier as a first time project. Your tips and preparation ideas are genius and will save me much wasted effort when the time comes. The comment about cleaning up and putting your tools up every so often is something I had to learn the hard way, usually while doing major jobs like timing belts, water pumps, and heater cores. Unexpected delays, esp. on older vehicles, include stuck, frozen, rusted, and "previously rounded" nuts and bolts, esp. on older Hondas. Honda fasteners will round so easily if you're not straight on it with a six point socket. I recently completed a big job on an older CR,V, that wouldn't pass inspection due to the MIL being on. Did the timing belt, water pump, all front seals, valve lash, cleaned sensors and throttle body, fuel filter (looked like it had never been changed), NGK plugs, Crank fluctuation sensor, both front motor mounts (one was a "torque mount"), repaired a rodent-chewed harness, and cleared all codes. Whoever did the timing belt previously on this 97 CR,V went wild and used thread lock on everything, including the bolts for the timing cover. The water pump's five bolts were the only ones without the thread lock, indicating it was the original pump (219K miles). It was leaking and had been leaking for a "few months". The customer just kept adding antifreeze daily and was really on top of doing that. He never overheated the engine during that time span. There was a horrible clanking, rattling noise coming from the front of the motor when he dropped it off, and the pump was ready to seize. The customer used his stimulus check to catch up the maintenance. Large jobs like above will test the quality of your tools and equipment. and the rounded nut and bolt removers are of no help in the cramped space of transverse mounted engines. I had to use my Dremel and angle grinder to cut fasteners off that refused to budge. Thank you for taking the time to record this engine swap. The colored tape I will definitely try. I have a compartmentalized box for fasteners, similar to yours, as well as five magnetic dishes from HF to keep the fasteners organized. Your series on the fuel trims was really helpful. Keep the videos coming, and greetings from Louisiana!
One AM and just finished watching the videos. You are correct in pointers to important stuff and not just watching someone R&R bolts and hoses.Thanks for posting series as I would love to have chance to do this if my 2001 vehicle needs a clutch replacement in near future.
Nice work Matt and good tips on the hoist leveler. I can remember spending at least an hour trying to align the dowel pins on an auto transmission that I rebuilt to get back in alignment with the engine block. What a PITA? Looking back, that was probably the most difficult part of the whole job. Thanks for taking some time out to share your engine videos.
I will be doing my first engine swap shortly. I appreciate the clear, straight forward presentation. Now I am reviewing the videos again and putting your advice into a checklist I will follow. Thank you for the guidance.
No problem. It actually isn't really that hard- once you do it, you realize while it's an awful lot of labor (it really is), it doesn't require a lot of brainwork. It's really just unscrewing lots and lots and lots of bolts- it honestly isn't much more than that!
Samuel Skousen I am sure you will be fine- I have a viewer with one leg and he does plenty of car work in fact. You hit the key in your first comment- preparation. Preparation will be far more important than your mobility in fact. Let me know how goes!
Thanks for going through the trouble to produce and publish all your videos. I have watched a lot of them and have learned a lot about auto repair. I especially appreciate your methodical, scientific way of diagnosing problems. Keep up the good work!
Great videos Matt, you explain it all in a very easy to understand manner. When I put my 2.5 straight-six manual back in I did it with the gearbox attached so the load leveler was a godsend. Money well spent.
Agreed on the load leveler. I cannot imagine trying to replace an engine without one, that would really suck. In an application such as what you did it is practically a necessity as you need to have some extreme angles to get clearance into and out of the vehicle. Indeed a leveler is a product that pays for itself the very first time you use it and then some!!
Hey Schordingers Box, awesome tuition man !!!!,,,,,,,,,,,,,,just finishing big gearbox and transfer case change over, so can understand this BIG job, gotta say thanks for ya time and camera positioning
Well Dave if anyone can build their own leveler it would certainly be you, but no there are no roller bearings on the leveler I have- it is simply a screw-drive mechanism that tilts as much as about 45 degrees is all. But I've pulled 454's with it and you can still change the pitch with just a finger pretty much.
Matt, this might be difficult to pinpoint via comments but I figured I'd reach out and ask for other viewpoints. '91 geo prizm has essentially the same engine as what you pulled from this vehicle. A co-worker had all five quarts of oil evacuate the vehicle at idle after parking in her garage, which coated the passenger side of the engine compartment entirely, even throwing it in copious amounts into the wheel well on the passenger side. I think it's worth mentioning that the car has almost 200k miles on it. Visual inspection showed oil on the underside of the hood, directly above the pulleys for air compressor, power steering, harmonic balancer etc, which makes me believe it originated from that side of the engine and not say, a rear main seal (hopefully). I'm not a master mechanic, more of a computer guy, but I always visually inspect and start with easiest explanations and work to the most extreme through process of elimination. That said, how would you suggest to continue diagnostic inspection? Oil plug is in place, oil filter is tight which were the glaringly obvious starting points. But since everything is so utterly coated with oil and it isn't drivable to power wash the compartment, I'm at odds at where to start next. Should I invest in a uv reactive trace fluid, fill the oil and run it to see if I can find a point of origin of the leak? I don't want to cause further harm if the car truly has a grievous mechanical problem by running it without proper oil pressure if say the pump is destroyed, or a crank seal is bad. Not sure if you'll even see this since I'm commenting on a video from a while ago, but any assistance would be great! Love your channel, thank you for all your hard work and dedication to helping us DIY guys that aren't afraid of learning new things and getting a little dirty in the process.
Ah, another fan of the Occam's Razor method. Diagnosing leaks can often be tricky but what I do is keep in mind that like a leak in a roof- the place you see puddled with fluid is almost never even close to actual source. I trace leaks from the bottom up, removing components as necessary to follow the trail. Sometimes running the engine and looking is necessary to create pressure or whatever. But whatever the case, I always start from fresh, liquid drippings at the bottom of the engine and work up following the trail. The source will always have fresh liquid near it so I just ignore any dried crud.
Wish I could upload photos, but alas. Following your suggestion, both main seals are leaking. Drained the coolant and found oil in it :/ She paid $700 for the vehicle, and doesn't have the financial means to buy another. Right now I've spent almost an entire day getting ready to pull the engine, but there are a few differences that have me stumped. On the Corolla you worked on there was a place behind the lower mount to access the drive plate. On this geo, No such access exists (also worth noting it's a manual transmission, which is why I'm thinking that might be the case) Once the bolts connecting the engine to the bell housing are out should there be anything else to worry about to disconnect the engine from the transmission successfully? I've not bought any manual as of yet because I have faith in my ability to troubleshoot as I go, but it's got me a bit worried with this being my first engine swap.
thank you for your time you take to explain things. the way you apply theory to why you do things is a lost talent. everyone is always in a hurry. thanks again.
Load levellers were a great invention. I was thinking about making my own, the design seems pretty simple. Are there roller bearings inside to allow it to move when a load is on?
Schrodingers Box Heh heh! Actually I am a gal, and my name is Stef! I was about to suggest a better camera set up but did not want to seem ungrateful or like I was trolling because these videos are great. Glad you got around the upgrade! Totally love your channel please keep up the great work!
steftacular Ah even better lol! Yeah I got an HD camera eventually but this is one video that really would have benefitted from it. I even had a "wired" microphone to the camera lol- OMG it was hell filming this one! Thanks for appreciating my videos!
Schrodingers Box You can kind of tell this was not an easy series of videos to make, especially by yourself and with the old camera, so even more props to you for making it happen despite the challenge. I'm trying to teach myself diagnostics and engine repair and your channel has been a godsend. Really killer videos man, please keep going and let us know how we can help!
In many engines, flywheel and torque converter bolts can't be reused due to bolt stretch. This is very difficult to diagnose so it's always best to get new bolts such as ARP fasteners or a similar quality brand. This goes double for torque converter bolts. Ask me how I know... Heck, get the motor mount ones new as well. Bolts are much cheaper and easier then pulling the engine again and reinstalling it. Broken bolts at the side of the road is no fun & can cause extensive additional damage. Reusing bolts, & probably nuts, for parts that bear a lot of weight is a dangerous shortcut. Otherwise, great videos. Summit racing, Jeg's and other parts stores nearly always have replacement ones, in many cases stronger then OEM parts.
Engine swap, last video, only a few comments? How can it be? There should be tons of DIY folks clapping their hands! That said - that's a pity it was FWD car and such a small engine. I was swapping an automatic tranny in bmw e34 v8, lining this stuff up was a real challenge, even with 2 ppl. I'd really like to see some tips from you about such a thing, since we spent 4 evenings doing that, sweating as hell. And a bottom line I want to add here is I already feel as home on your channel - just a few videos left and then I'll be biting nails waiting for a new one :) Greets from Netherlands Matt!
Thanks man! Yea larger engines are more challenging. One strategy if you can lift the car enough, is to attempt to drop the frame and engine. But normally I struggle too- the worst was a Cadillac north star longitudinal mounted V8 that literally took almost half the day just to bolt back up to the tranny. Just patience sometimes is all you need.
When you are putting in your torque converter (6bolts). Some transmissions have a metal plate or a rubber plate. I have a runner plate that goes over that open space. Will my trans leak or have any problems if i cant get that on there. I think it just acts as a dust cover but im not sure.
Finally finished all parts and will begin to do an engine swap of my v6 fwd engine. Hopefully this goes well, would I also need to completely drain transmission fluid as well?
wow ...Thanks a lot dude, that was an absolutely amazingly helpful series, I just wish i would have known a lot of stuff you pointed out before buying a couple lemons, very good info sir , between watching you and Stacey David, i'm feelin pretty damn good bought a $250 dollar toyota corolla with a running engine, idles a bit rough , could possibly need some struts,ball joints, maybe an engine mount, or perhaps a Harmonic Balancer? HAHA.. (hopefulyl not ) lol Thanks so much!
Outstanding video Matt, thanks! One question, in your second step to starting the engine you mention disabling the ignition and fuel. How did you do this; by removing the relays perhaps?
Paradigm FA It depends on the model. on some it's easier to remove a relay, some easier to remove the fuse, I believe on this model I simply unplugged the 12V coil feed
I couldn't use a load leveler on my last engine replacement because of the garage's ceiling height. Without the leveler, I was 2" from hitting the garage door overhead 😕
Just finished watching all four parts of this engine R & R. I plan on eventually pulling the four cylinder out of my Nissan Frontier as a first time project. Your tips and preparation ideas are genius and will save me much wasted effort when the time comes. The comment about cleaning up and putting your tools up every so often is something I had to learn the hard way, usually while doing major jobs like timing belts, water pumps, and heater cores. Unexpected delays, esp. on older vehicles, include stuck, frozen, rusted, and "previously rounded" nuts and bolts, esp. on older Hondas. Honda fasteners will round so easily if you're not straight on it with a six point socket. I recently completed a big job on an older CR,V, that wouldn't pass inspection due to the MIL being on. Did the timing belt, water pump, all front seals, valve lash, cleaned sensors and throttle body, fuel filter (looked like it had never been changed), NGK plugs, Crank fluctuation sensor, both front motor mounts (one was a "torque mount"), repaired a rodent-chewed harness, and cleared all codes. Whoever did the timing belt previously on this 97 CR,V went wild and used thread lock on everything, including the bolts for the timing cover. The water pump's five bolts were the only ones without the thread lock, indicating it was the original pump (219K miles). It was leaking and had been leaking for a "few months". The customer just kept adding antifreeze daily and was really on top of doing that. He never overheated the engine during that time span. There was a horrible clanking, rattling noise coming from the front of the motor when he dropped it off, and the pump was ready to seize. The customer used his stimulus check to catch up the maintenance. Large jobs like above will test the quality of your tools and equipment. and the rounded nut and bolt removers are of no help in the cramped space of transverse mounted engines. I had to use my Dremel and angle grinder to cut fasteners off that refused to budge. Thank you for taking the time to record this engine swap. The colored tape I will definitely try. I have a compartmentalized box for fasteners, similar to yours, as well as five magnetic dishes from HF to keep the fasteners organized. Your series on the fuel trims was really helpful. Keep the videos coming, and greetings from Louisiana!
One AM and just finished watching the videos. You are correct in pointers to important stuff and not just watching someone R&R bolts and hoses.Thanks for posting series as I would love to have chance to do this if my 2001 vehicle needs a clutch replacement in near future.
Nice work Matt and good tips on the hoist leveler. I can remember spending at least an hour trying to align the dowel pins on an auto transmission that I rebuilt to get back in alignment with the engine block. What a PITA? Looking back, that was probably the most difficult part of the whole job. Thanks for taking some time out to share your engine videos.
Watched all four parts... Very detailed and informative. Your care for others really shows.
Great videos! I'm using them multiple times to get my 1992 Corolla standard engine out and replaced. Super helpful! Thank you
I will be doing my first engine swap shortly. I appreciate the clear, straight forward presentation. Now I am reviewing the videos again and putting your advice into a checklist I will follow. Thank you for the guidance.
No problem. It actually isn't really that hard- once you do it, you realize while it's an awful lot of labor (it really is), it doesn't require a lot of brainwork. It's really just unscrewing lots and lots and lots of bolts- it honestly isn't much more than that!
This will be interesting as I had a stroke 4 years ago and it limits my mobility but not what I do.
Samuel Skousen I am sure you will be fine- I have a viewer with one leg and he does plenty of car work in fact. You hit the key in your first comment- preparation. Preparation will be far more important than your mobility in fact.
Let me know how goes!
Thanks for going through the trouble to produce and publish all your videos. I have watched a lot of them and have learned a lot about auto repair. I especially appreciate your methodical, scientific way of diagnosing problems. Keep up the good work!
Will do! Thanks!
Great videos Matt, you explain it all in a very easy to understand manner. When I put my 2.5 straight-six manual back in I did it with the gearbox attached so the load leveler was a godsend. Money well spent.
Agreed on the load leveler. I cannot imagine trying to replace an engine without one, that would really suck. In an application such as what you did it is practically a necessity as you need to have some extreme angles to get clearance into and out of the vehicle. Indeed a leveler is a product that pays for itself the very first time you use it and then some!!
Hey Schordingers Box, awesome tuition man !!!!,,,,,,,,,,,,,,just finishing big gearbox and transfer case change over, so can understand this BIG job, gotta say thanks for ya time and camera positioning
THANK YOU SO MUCH for taking the time to make this. very helpful for my 1st swap. keep on making great accessible content !
Thanks for this guide. This will be helpful when I take on a project as I am looking at restoring a Land Rover Series 3.
Well Dave if anyone can build their own leveler it would certainly be you, but no there are no roller bearings on the leveler I have- it is simply a screw-drive mechanism that tilts as much as about 45 degrees is all. But I've pulled 454's with it and you can still change the pitch with just a finger pretty much.
Matt, this might be difficult to pinpoint via comments but I figured I'd reach out and ask for other viewpoints.
'91 geo prizm has essentially the same engine as what you pulled from this vehicle. A co-worker had all five quarts of oil evacuate the vehicle at idle after parking in her garage, which coated the passenger side of the engine compartment entirely, even throwing it in copious amounts into the wheel well on the passenger side. I think it's worth mentioning that the car has almost 200k miles on it.
Visual inspection showed oil on the underside of the hood, directly above the pulleys for air compressor, power steering, harmonic balancer etc, which makes me believe it originated from that side of the engine and not say, a rear main seal (hopefully).
I'm not a master mechanic, more of a computer guy, but I always visually inspect and start with easiest explanations and work to the most extreme through process of elimination. That said, how would you suggest to continue diagnostic inspection? Oil plug is in place, oil filter is tight which were the glaringly obvious starting points. But since everything is so utterly coated with oil and it isn't drivable to power wash the compartment, I'm at odds at where to start next. Should I invest in a uv reactive trace fluid, fill the oil and run it to see if I can find a point of origin of the leak? I don't want to cause further harm if the car truly has a grievous mechanical problem by running it without proper oil pressure if say the pump is destroyed, or a crank seal is bad.
Not sure if you'll even see this since I'm commenting on a video from a while ago, but any assistance would be great!
Love your channel, thank you for all your hard work and dedication to helping us DIY guys that aren't afraid of learning new things and getting a little dirty in the process.
Ah, another fan of the Occam's Razor method. Diagnosing leaks can often be tricky but what I do is keep in mind that like a leak in a roof- the place you see puddled with fluid is almost never even close to actual source. I trace leaks from the bottom up, removing components as necessary to follow the trail. Sometimes running the engine and looking is necessary to create pressure or whatever. But whatever the case, I always start from fresh, liquid drippings at the bottom of the engine and work up following the trail. The source will always have fresh liquid near it so I just ignore any dried crud.
Wish I could upload photos, but alas. Following your suggestion, both main seals are leaking. Drained the coolant and found oil in it :/ She paid $700 for the vehicle, and doesn't have the financial means to buy another.
Right now I've spent almost an entire day getting ready to pull the engine, but there are a few differences that have me stumped. On the Corolla you worked on there was a place behind the lower mount to access the drive plate. On this geo, No such access exists (also worth noting it's a manual transmission, which is why I'm thinking that might be the case)
Once the bolts connecting the engine to the bell housing are out should there be anything else to worry about to disconnect the engine from the transmission successfully? I've not bought any manual as of yet because I have faith in my ability to troubleshoot as I go, but it's got me a bit worried with this being my first engine swap.
thank you for your time you take to explain things. the way you apply theory to why you do things is a lost talent. everyone is always in a hurry. thanks again.
Load levellers were a great invention. I was thinking about making my own, the design seems pretty simple. Are there roller bearings inside to allow it to move when a load is on?
AWESOME, thank you! This was a great series!
Thanks bro, my only regret is not getting my HD camera before doing this series.
Schrodingers Box Heh heh! Actually I am a gal, and my name is Stef! I was about to suggest a better camera set up but did not want to seem ungrateful or like I was trolling because these videos are great. Glad you got around the upgrade! Totally love your channel please keep up the great work!
steftacular Ah even better lol! Yeah I got an HD camera eventually but this is one video that really would have benefitted from it. I even had a "wired" microphone to the camera lol- OMG it was hell filming this one! Thanks for appreciating my videos!
Schrodingers Box You can kind of tell this was not an easy series of videos to make, especially by yourself and with the old camera, so even more props to you for making it happen despite the challenge. I'm trying to teach myself diagnostics and engine repair and your channel has been a godsend. Really killer videos man, please keep going and let us know how we can help!
In many engines, flywheel and torque converter bolts can't be reused due to bolt stretch. This is very difficult to diagnose so it's always best to get new bolts such as ARP fasteners or a similar quality brand.
This goes double for torque converter bolts. Ask me how I know...
Heck, get the motor mount ones new as well. Bolts are much cheaper and easier then pulling the engine again and reinstalling it. Broken bolts at the side of the road is no fun & can cause extensive additional damage.
Reusing bolts, & probably nuts, for parts that bear a lot of weight is a dangerous shortcut.
Otherwise, great videos. Summit racing, Jeg's and other parts stores nearly always have replacement ones, in many cases stronger then OEM parts.
Engine swap, last video, only a few comments? How can it be? There should be tons of DIY folks clapping their hands! That said - that's a pity it was FWD car and such a small engine. I was swapping an automatic tranny in bmw e34 v8, lining this stuff up was a real challenge, even with 2 ppl. I'd really like to see some tips from you about such a thing, since we spent 4 evenings doing that, sweating as hell.
And a bottom line I want to add here is I already feel as home on your channel - just a few videos left and then I'll be biting nails waiting for a new one :) Greets from Netherlands Matt!
Thanks man! Yea larger engines are more challenging. One strategy if you can lift the car enough, is to attempt to drop the frame and engine. But normally I struggle too- the worst was a Cadillac north star longitudinal mounted V8 that literally took almost half the day just to bolt back up to the tranny.
Just patience sometimes is all you need.
When you are putting in your torque converter (6bolts). Some transmissions have a metal plate or a rubber plate. I have a runner plate that goes over that open space. Will my trans leak or have any problems if i cant get that on there. I think it just acts as a dust cover but im not sure.
Great videos man learned a lot !!!!!!!!
Finally finished all parts and will begin to do an engine swap of my v6 fwd engine. Hopefully this goes well, would I also need to completely drain transmission fluid as well?
Im ready for my first angine swap or eaving rebuild!
wow ...Thanks a lot dude, that was an absolutely amazingly helpful series, I just wish i would have known a lot of stuff you pointed out before buying a couple lemons, very good info sir , between watching you and Stacey David, i'm feelin pretty damn good
bought a $250 dollar toyota corolla with a running engine, idles a bit rough , could possibly need some struts,ball joints, maybe an engine mount, or perhaps a Harmonic Balancer? HAHA.. (hopefulyl not ) lol
Thanks so much!
i just subscribed. thank you very much for sharing.
Outstanding video Matt, thanks! One question, in your second step to starting the engine you mention disabling the ignition and fuel. How did you do this; by removing the relays perhaps?
Paradigm FA It depends on the model. on some it's easier to remove a relay, some easier to remove the fuse, I believe on this model I simply unplugged the 12V coil feed
I couldn't use a load leveler on my last engine replacement because of the garage's ceiling height. Without the leveler, I was 2" from hitting the garage door overhead 😕
happened to me at my old house. usually i would drop engine in bay without leveler then add it after engine dropped.
GO SCHRO GO yeah baby great job
Awesome thank you for the info. Like the random jokes to 👏
Are you a mechanic?
your a beast