rtrofimovich
Hasn't posted much yet...
- Joined
- Aug 21, 2015
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You may recall me posting earlier about doing my own timing job on my 2012 4.6 after the timing chain tensioner failed (you can read it here). Long story short, the engine ran great after rebuilding the left-side head with new exhaust valves and installing new tensioners, but the it still rattled on warm starts. Also there is a small oil leak from where my RTV sealing job met with my shady reassembly methods of putting this motor back together inside the car. So instead of continuing to investigate the rattles, I ordered a new engine. 2012 4.6 with 24,000 miles, tested and working great - pretty nice swap from my 100,087 mile functionally questionable unit.
The service manual does a really nice job detailing the removal process. However, it states you have to drop the cradle and drop the engine down through the bottom of the car. This is NOT necessary. Disconnect the exhaust at the first connection after the headers. Remove all the belt drive components, the oil filter/cooler housing, and the radiator fan shroud and the engine will come out through the top fine, you just have to watch out as the fit is pretty tight. Also, for the wiring harness, just disconnect everything from the engine and leave the harness in the car. Its a lot easier than trying to pull the harness out with the engine. I also didn't drop the transmission like the manual stated to do, I just drained the ATF fluid and supported it with a jack. This does make aligning everything during reassembly a little more difficult but its not too bad. Once the wiring harness is fully disconnected, there are just two bolts connecting the engine mounts to the cradle. One of mine was actually completely loose which is terrifying to think about. Once those bolts are out, pull the starter. Then, undo all the other bolts holding the transmission to the engine bell housing. They are different lengths and have different reassembly torques so make a drawing of the bell housing on some cardboard and stick the bolts into the cardboard to match where they go on the car. Once its all disconnected, lift the engine up a bit to get it off the cradle cushions. Pull the engine towards the front of the car to give it some separation pressure from the transmission. Shake it around to get it freed from the transmission. There is a sensor going from the wiring harness to the top of the transmission bell housing, remove that sensor from the housing when you have the clearance or else you'll rip it out if you start lifting the motor out. Make sure you are also using an engine leveler attached to your engine lift, this will help shoehorn it out of the engine bay. Work slowly, and always check how much clearance you have to the radiator. The steering shaft will get in the way of the exhaust that's coming out with the engine. You will need to disconnect it from the steering rack. Also disconnect it under the steering wheel so you can push it up out of the way. Once the engine is out, mark the top of the torque converter with a marker or a grease pen to save its alignment orientation with the transmission. Then pull off the torque converter and seat the torque converter back into the transmission FIRST. DO NOT attach it to the flywheel of the new engine, you will never get it mated back up that way (we tried and failed miserably - and had to pull the new engine back out). The torque converter is keyed and has two sets of splines. So mating it to the transmission requires three levels of advancing it into the transmission. The first two are setting the splines, the last one is getting it into the keyed cutouts. This is very tricky and you have to get it juuuust right. Once it seats, it sits very deep in the transmission bell housing, very far back. Also, check the cradle cushion engine mounts and mount bolts to make sure they are still threading correctly. Then, get the new engine into the car following a reverse sequence of the steps you took to get it out (remember how you leveled and angled it on the way out). The steering shaft needs to be positioned correctly when the new engine is being dropped back in. It takes a little bit of shimmying back and forth but it will eventually drop back into place between the exhaust and the engine itself. Before the engine and tranny meet, plug that transmission sensor back into the trans while you still have clearance, you wont be able to do this once the engine is sitting in its place. Screw the bell housings back together and shimmy the engine around until it seats back on the two cradle cushions. Once its in place, start torquing everything back to spec.
This can probably be done with two people, but I had myself, my brother, and my dad working on it. I wouldn't do it with less than three. Two people watching the engine dropping out/in, and one person operating the leveler/lift. Again, this is a bit of a tight fit so take your time. There's a lot that goes into this job and not really a lot of information out on the internet about this pull/drop which is why I figured I'd write about it. More or less this is pretty similar to any engine pull. There is a short YouTube video here that explains you can pull it out the top and a few other things. Feel free to ask questions if you are undertaking this same job, I tried to include all the things to watch out for but I'm sure I forgot something important.
The service manual does a really nice job detailing the removal process. However, it states you have to drop the cradle and drop the engine down through the bottom of the car. This is NOT necessary. Disconnect the exhaust at the first connection after the headers. Remove all the belt drive components, the oil filter/cooler housing, and the radiator fan shroud and the engine will come out through the top fine, you just have to watch out as the fit is pretty tight. Also, for the wiring harness, just disconnect everything from the engine and leave the harness in the car. Its a lot easier than trying to pull the harness out with the engine. I also didn't drop the transmission like the manual stated to do, I just drained the ATF fluid and supported it with a jack. This does make aligning everything during reassembly a little more difficult but its not too bad. Once the wiring harness is fully disconnected, there are just two bolts connecting the engine mounts to the cradle. One of mine was actually completely loose which is terrifying to think about. Once those bolts are out, pull the starter. Then, undo all the other bolts holding the transmission to the engine bell housing. They are different lengths and have different reassembly torques so make a drawing of the bell housing on some cardboard and stick the bolts into the cardboard to match where they go on the car. Once its all disconnected, lift the engine up a bit to get it off the cradle cushions. Pull the engine towards the front of the car to give it some separation pressure from the transmission. Shake it around to get it freed from the transmission. There is a sensor going from the wiring harness to the top of the transmission bell housing, remove that sensor from the housing when you have the clearance or else you'll rip it out if you start lifting the motor out. Make sure you are also using an engine leveler attached to your engine lift, this will help shoehorn it out of the engine bay. Work slowly, and always check how much clearance you have to the radiator. The steering shaft will get in the way of the exhaust that's coming out with the engine. You will need to disconnect it from the steering rack. Also disconnect it under the steering wheel so you can push it up out of the way. Once the engine is out, mark the top of the torque converter with a marker or a grease pen to save its alignment orientation with the transmission. Then pull off the torque converter and seat the torque converter back into the transmission FIRST. DO NOT attach it to the flywheel of the new engine, you will never get it mated back up that way (we tried and failed miserably - and had to pull the new engine back out). The torque converter is keyed and has two sets of splines. So mating it to the transmission requires three levels of advancing it into the transmission. The first two are setting the splines, the last one is getting it into the keyed cutouts. This is very tricky and you have to get it juuuust right. Once it seats, it sits very deep in the transmission bell housing, very far back. Also, check the cradle cushion engine mounts and mount bolts to make sure they are still threading correctly. Then, get the new engine into the car following a reverse sequence of the steps you took to get it out (remember how you leveled and angled it on the way out). The steering shaft needs to be positioned correctly when the new engine is being dropped back in. It takes a little bit of shimmying back and forth but it will eventually drop back into place between the exhaust and the engine itself. Before the engine and tranny meet, plug that transmission sensor back into the trans while you still have clearance, you wont be able to do this once the engine is sitting in its place. Screw the bell housings back together and shimmy the engine around until it seats back on the two cradle cushions. Once its in place, start torquing everything back to spec.
This can probably be done with two people, but I had myself, my brother, and my dad working on it. I wouldn't do it with less than three. Two people watching the engine dropping out/in, and one person operating the leveler/lift. Again, this is a bit of a tight fit so take your time. There's a lot that goes into this job and not really a lot of information out on the internet about this pull/drop which is why I figured I'd write about it. More or less this is pretty similar to any engine pull. There is a short YouTube video here that explains you can pull it out the top and a few other things. Feel free to ask questions if you are undertaking this same job, I tried to include all the things to watch out for but I'm sure I forgot something important.
