Pulling the Engine
 

While it is considerably easier to pull an engine with more than one person, this page is derrived from
pulling the engine by myself, so yes it can be done and I am not a spring chicken so you young guys
have an advantage.
So you want to pull your engine for one reason or another. You will need some equipment to do
this. The equipment shouldn't put you in the poor house, but do not try and do it without it.

Engine Hoist (usually around $200 but also can rent one)
Floor Jack
Jack Stands, preferably 4 of them to raise the whole car to about 18" up.
3/8 drive Metric socket Set. Most used #10,12,14,17 but also need # 19
and a 1/2" drive 30mm or 32mm socket for the Half Shaft nuts depending on model year.
Set of box wrenches covering #10,12,14,17
Pry bar or crow bar.
Large screwdriver.
1/2" drive breaker bar.
Drain pans: Suggest a large concrete mixing pan and a couple small plastic pans.
Possibly some Liquid Wrench or Penetrating Spray.
Note: WD40 is not a penetrating type spray and will help very little to loosen bolts or nuts.
That should get the job done.

Before we start, let me advise you to replace all bolts or nuts where they came from as you disassemble
or with any component you may remove. It's a lot easier to locate and size them later for reassembly.
As with anything in taking it apart, you also need to keep some sort of organization to your work or you
will be at a loss when putting things back together.

To start, remove the plenum completely. I will not detail this because most or us ahve done it before
changing spark plugs. Place a towel in the intake runner and a golf ball in the rear turbo outlet.
Should be without saying,, cover all acces to internal engine.

OK, we can start in a couple different places but for this I will start with the radiator.
Drain the coolant system from the valve on the bottom drivers side of the radiator. Open the fill cap to allow
air intothe system so it will drain. This is where the concrete drain pan comes in handy because small drain pans
are just not large enough or cover any splashing or run off from frame members.
Unplug all connections on the passengers side and the drivers side top end going to fans and temp sensors.
Remove the radiator  side brackets.
Get under the car. Oh, I forgot, jack up the car and put it on jack stands.
Remove the underskirting or active aero in the front end.
Disconnect the lower radiator hose.
Lift out the radiator (it sits in rubber gromets and not bolted on the bottom)
The followig photo should be where you are at. Note one of the rubber gromets the radiator sits in.

Now lets move over to the intake side.
Remove the Y pipe, intercooler hoses, intake from filter to turbos, battery, battery bracket, windshiled washer bottle,
Hoses, vacuum lines and anything that connects the engine to the body whether it be wiring, or hoses and get them
out of the way near the side fender well or up above or near the firewall. You should have it looking something like this.

Ok, yeah, you caught me,, I hadn't removed the radiator yet in this one. Aren't tou lucky? You are one step ahead of me.
 

Ok, moving back to the front you need to unbolt the alternator and the A/C unit. Here they are.

The alternator has one top bolt and one botom bolt, but the electrical connection is not only bolted on,
the electrical assembly is also bolted on so if it doesn't want to unplug for you search for why.
This is also assuming you have removed the fender well skirting and released the A/C and alternator belt.
Once the alternator is out oi\f there, ther are 4 bolts on the A/C compressor.
Remove them and lower the A/C unit down to rest on the fram out of the way. This will also require
you to unbolt the top rubber line  from it's anchor near the cruise control box.
Should look something like this.
DO NOT disconnect the freon lines from the A/C unit unless you want a couple hundred dollar bill
to evacuate it and recharge it later at the dealer or an authorized agent. There is no need to.

Ok, now moving to the drivers side unbolt the cruise box and swing it out of the way as shown below.

Ok, we are now done with what's up top for now and need to disconnect the half shafts from the transaxle.
This is where we need the 30mm or 32mm socket. Assuming we have removed the front wheels and wheel
well, shrouding (gee I assume a lot don't I) lets remove the cotter pin from the axle and remove the nut.
Now lets move on to removing the calipers and struts.  Remove the two nuts front and back that hold the
brake line and the anti-lock brake cable. Compress the caliper a little with a screwdriver for ease of removal.
Remove the two bolts from the caliper and slide it off the rotor and hang/suspend it from the fender
bracket which is why we removed the skirting. This is shown in the below photo.

Now go up to the strut connection to the lower unit and mark the top camber bolt before removal as shown below
This is an important part if you wish to avoid a front end alignment when you are done. Thats is an excentric
washer and it adjusts camber for the front wheels. Getting it back to where it was is important.

Once you remove the two bolts, allow the assembly to drop and also while dropping tap the shaft out of it's spline
and in tilting it to the side, slide it out the rest of the way. The drivers side has a bracket on the half shaft with two
bolts and locator pins that bolt to the side of the motor. The drivers side also doesn't have a keeper ring like
the passengers side does and slides out of the transaxle much easier, however the braket must be turned
a certain way to snake it's way out of there. Here is a photo of the two bolts (partially replaced and the two locator
pins from the half shaft bracket mounted on the side of the engine. The bracket has to snake to the left in between
the heat shield and the rear turbo oil feed line shown.

The passengers side is a little different. No bracket, but there is a keeper ring on the end of the shaft that
goes into the transaxle. I use a crow bar on the side of the transaxle to pop it out of the transaxle.
As shown by the photo below. Note to replacing: it must also be popped back in.

Here is another photo of the shafts keeper ring.

For the sake of people who I have seen say that we have equal lenght half shafts, for the heck of it,
here is  photo of the half shafts next to each other.
The longer one is the drivers side.

Ok, I am going to assume again, that you removed your downpipe and hopefully you have read this before
getting started because you have to remove the downpipe in order to remove the bracket and half shaft
on the drivers side.

On both sides this is about what you will look like in the process of removing the half shaft spline from the axle housing.

That said we are now going to move on to the transfer case and the drive shaft concerns.
Please do not let your drive shaft hang in mid air from it's universal sockets. Go get ourself a bungie cord
or something and tie it up to the frame. Here is a photo of mine after the transfer case has been removed, but the
bungie cord was there before removal. There will be some gear lube that will run out of the drive shaft
spline, so be ready to catch it and store the transfer case on it's end opposite the drive shaft spline so the
gear lube doesn't run out on you.

There is 5 bolts on the transfer case. Make sure they are all removed before trying to pry it away from
the transaxle. Here is a good location to pry and work it back and forth till it comes off the spline.
It's isn't all that heavy, but don't let hit you in the face and keep the drive shaft end tipped up.
Store with the drive shaft spline facing up.

Ok, we now have everything disconnected from the engine hopefully aside from the power steering pump
which is near impossible to remove because you can't get to the bolts. We won't worry about that too quick
right now and move on to the motor mount bolts.
It is now time to hook the engine to the hoist as shown.

With no lift pressure on the engine, remove the front and rear motor mount center bolts.
Now with light lift pressure, remove the drivers side motor mount. If the engine starts dropping from
loosening the bolts, apply a little more lift pressure till the bolts are not remaining tight and the engine is
not dropping further.

Now using a ratchet strap for the transaxle and using the hoist hook apply lift to the transaxle till you are
able to remove the center bolt from the passenger side motor mount as shown below.

In the wheel well of the passengers side are 4 rubber gromets. Remove them to gain access to the
motor mount bolts for the transaxle. Here is a photo. Once the center bolt is removed, remove these,

Once they are removed you have access to the transaxle mount bracket. This bracket shown below must be
removed to allow the engine to move over enough to facilitate removal. There are 3 #17 bolts and
they are tough at times. Best of luck there. As you can also see I have all the wiring off to the side.
Heater core and vacuum lines and other stuff is off to the left either up on the cowl or in the space behind
the strut tower.

Once this is removed it wil allow you to drop the engine down further than normal to get at the power
steering lower bolt a shown in the photo below.

Ok, that removed raise the engine up to get at the top bolt. Yes, this is a pain, but easier than trying to
get at it with the engine in place. Here is a photo of the engine raised to get at the other bolt.
It is also easier to remove if you also remove the tensioner bracket for the Power Steering belt
which can also be barely seen second pulley from right.

Also there is a wire to the Power Steering pump on the top that comes from the engine wiring harness.
The engine is coming out and the Power Steering unit staying behind, so it has to be unplugged.
Don't forget it.

Ok dudes, all that is left is to go up up and away while pulling the engine back away from the cowl.
You need the transaxle strap to hold that end up somewhat for clearance of the front end and moving it away
from the cowl at the same time because of the pitch opf the hood if your engine hoist and your chains
can't allow room.
The following photos are of it coming up and out. Hope that makes things a little easier for you in removing
yours. The up up and away is easier with two people, same with going in because one can lift while
the other maneuvers, but with patience and a little more time, one person can do it.

Here's the finished product.

Additional fluid that came out during pull,, be ready for it.

Ready for transaxle removal.

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