Removing engine - leaving box in situ

[avants2turbo]

As some might have read, had a bit of a mis-hap last week with the avant, head gasket and big end bearing on No.5

need to remove the motor from the car and leave the gearbox in situ

anyone got any tips/suggestions on the best method for this (how many bolts hold the engine to box?) is anything going to stop the engine coming free with them all undone?

obviously ill remove the bumper, 3 peice slam panel, healights, airbox, rad, DP etc first..

and I do have an engine hoist

[Ross]

Sounds like you have the tools for the job... to be honest i've never removed an engine only put one back in with the help of friends... but I can tell you the bellhousing bolts need to be removed, 8 of them, there are a couple of dowels and of course the input shaft on the gearbox that will keep the engine aligned and attached once the bellhousing bolts are attached but I wouldn't want to count on those.

Sure someone else will give better advice but I suspect cracking all the bellhousing bolts, perhaps remove the most difficult ones behind the subframe, support the engine with the hoist and then remove the others from the top? It will take a little bit of persuasion to separate the engine from the 'box and you'll of course need to remove the coolant pipes and unplug the various wires...

[Jamo]

As you have to change the headgasket this job can be made a hell of a lot easier.......

remove the head and then remove the block, this will give you direct access to the bell housing bolts and do the same when refitting put the block back in and then put the head on once the block is in situ.

It's a lot harder to do this job with the engine complete as access to the bolts is not that good.

Get yourself a copy of the Bentley manuals and follow some of the removal guides that are on the forum.

The trickest parts will be turbo to downpipe nuts.

Label all wires, take pictures and bag and tag the bolts

[avants2turbo]

turbo and downpipe have been off recently, so thats a good start, whats the best way to lift the block out without the lifting eyes of the head to lift it

[S2central.net]

This job is a ballache... As Jamo says - access to those bolts on the bellhousing is challenging to say the least but its not impossible if you have a decent toolkit.

The alternative is to rmove front driveshafts, the prop and drop the engine out complete with gearbox and subframe - probably overkill for what you need to do but its an option

[4WheelDrifter]

Get the head off first. I've done this loads of time now, and it's much easier than doing the engine whole. It makes access so much easier, and makes the engine a lot lighter. It saves you having to undo the manifolds in situ too. Take the downpipe off, and undo the turbo oil and water lines. You only need to do one end of each, which ever is easiest.

Then you can get the block out by hand with a friend. Don't forget the lower engine earth strap. And that PITA spline drive sump/gearbox bolt.

I wouldn't say the job is a ballache. Just time consuming like many Audi jobs.

[Jamo]

Avants2turbo have a look at some of Doug_RS2 earlier thread for pictures, the block can be pulled out on a trolley jack and wood although engine crane makes it a lot easier if you can borrow one.

[johne]

Once you've freed the engine & got it held on your hoist you'll have to raise it an inch or so so the rear of the block can clear the subframe as it comes forward.

As you'll already have removed the front cross member you may it easier to hold the engine on the hoist and roll the car back. Don't forget to support the gearbox. Once free of the engine, the rear of the gearbox will drop, the front will rise until it rests on the steering rack so a block of wood between the two is a good idea.

Make sure you've been very acurate in aligning the clutch plate and as someone who's had 3 pressure plates in 140,000 miles think seriously about fitting a new one whilst you've got the chance...........

As it all goes back in you need to juggle clearing that subframe again and getting the gearbox lined up.

Certainly a good idea to remove the head etc. as already suggested but for anyone else reading this you can get the engine out whole this way. You don't even have to drain the oil and can leave the oil cooler connected if you wish.

John

[avants2turbo]

ive got to all this twice, im going to take the engine/box out of the avant im breaking, do the cambelt and pulley, then take just the engine out of my avant and drop the other motor in, then strip my origional engine and put new rods, bearings, head gasket etc in

[Knight Rider S4]

Well since i have had the pleasure of doing about 3 times in 2 weeks on my coupe i have it down to a fine art

This what I did:

Roll the car up on to ramps so the front end is higher up (I am tall..:-) )

Take off engine splash guard,foglights,indicators,front bumper
I removed the bonnet as it made easy access to everything
With bumper off just take the whole crossmember off with IC attached(loosen boost piping of course and the 2 nuts attaching the aux radiator)make sure you lift off the wiring for the headlights/fogs/ind

Remove top radiator cover ,take the main bottom pipe off the radiator and drain fluid and the small pipe and unplug temp sensor on rad then unbolt bottom mounting for the rad

Next I took off the headlights which is 2 sec job (4 scews securing and multiplug ) and moved all the wiring to the passenger side so out the way and less likely to get damaged

Take the slam panel off front ,disconnect mount for rad and remove bonnet cable , disconnect PS cooler on the pump side loosen clip at RES and turn so pointing up the way to save you losing fluid and tighten clip of course ,rad has another mount beside the PS fluid res take nut off..The aux radiator should lift up ...I kept it attached to main rad as less hassle as all one unit



Disconnet top hose and feed hose from expansion tank ...Now if you were a 3B owner you would employ a midget to try and get the multi plug off the rear of the fan cowling and the resistor that is bolted on by 10mm nut ,,,been ABY this will just pop off as the ABS unit is better positioned, on the left handside and bottom of rad there is more plastic crap which needs unbolted (i binned the section between pump and RAD as the bolts were goosed and rotten)

At this stage you should be able to lift out rad


Mob pics but you get the idea


Just to clear the section of the engine compartment out the way the only real thing left in your way for removing the engine is the PS pipes..some people just disconnect the pump itself and put to the side but i was happier removing pipes from pump and sliding them as far right as possible ...

Now to the left hand section of engine bay
As you have done stuff already to the EM you know this bit
As the front end is off remove all boost hoses easy access (disconnect multiplug from N75) disconnect vacuum pipe from DV
Disconnect MAF and split airbox remove top part away and then take out 13mm bolt holding it to inner wing /chassis leg..when lifting out be careful not pull on wiring to MAF and N75 as this is a common problem when people experience problems after having it off (wiring clips to seam of the box)

Remove the housing for drivers side headlight 4 10mm bolts this will give more room for the turbo to slip past when coming out

Wiring : As Stu said the earth strap from chassis leg to block needs dissconnected (under turbo wiring attached to the Oil cooler piping !!unbolt clamps!!!)
The oil temp sensor wiring attached to the front of the engine needs to be taken off (star head screw )and then fedback ...with regard the starter motor I left all the wiring attached as i knew i would be unbolting the unit from the belhousing and with the wiring not attached to the oil cooler piping it is easy to put out the way

While under there unbolt the oil cooler still leaving attached to the engine 2 x 13mm bolts attached to the chassis leg beside the earth strap...remove the plastic shroud off the front of cooler as this will p""s you off later

Getting there!!

If you have had the EM off the down pipe should be a doddle ...remember take the hard nut off first (15mm banana spanner job) I got away with just taking off the top part of the wastegate concerteana pipe(4 x 12mm bolts and nuts) I just unplugged the Lambda sensor as the pipe was getting lifted out

Unbolt coupling joints on the bottom of the down pipe then she should lift out or lower depending on what DP you have (car ramps help here with height)



Now to the rear of the engine
I removed the intake pipe and small boost hose (2x10mm cover bolts then 1 x 13mm nut and 1x13 mm bolt)

Take off the throttle body this is held on by 4 x allen bolts (5mm i think) , unplug throttle sensor,intake temp sensor, (3B owners need to unbolt ITS) with this off you should have the throttle cable out the way and more room at the rear to see belhousing bolts ..Note I used latex glove to cover intake of engine just encase something fell in

Fuel pipes I disconnected these at the bulkhead 2 pipes return and feed..cant mix them up as one is 17mm and 15mm i think and other 19mm and 17mm 2 (different sizes)..You will get the 2 water pipes off now to heater matrix

Disconnect the vacuum pipe from the ECU on the IM

On a 3B you would need to move the oil breather pipe but on a ABY they just added a breather to the cam cover

Nearly there!!

Wiring again..Unplug wiring from bulkhead all the multiplugs are colour coded so you cant go wrong this way (you hope!!) on the ABY mark the Coil 2 and 3 outputs
The 2 main plugs need disconnected too

The only wires you cant unplug are the earth straps for the ECU(attached to the IM) and the injector/hall sender wiring ..with these disconnected ,cable tie to throttle cable and have beside the fusebox out the way(more bad mobile pics but you get the idea..lol)


All the wiring for the engine cable tie up and should look like this


At this point you should have enough room to get to all the belhousing bolts on top no problem ,most are 16mm......To help me remember were all the bolts went (different lengths ) i got a thick bit of cardboard and drew a outline of the belhousie and punched holes through it then put each bolt or bolt and nut to were they came out saved alot of hassle ..The starter motor has 2 bolts holding it in ..The top one has a nut at the back of it (long reach 17mm socket i used i think) I removed the the multi plugs on the gearbox side just to make sure they did not get damaged (speed sensor and crank sensor)

Now to get dirty some lower bolts on the gearbox are fun 1x13mm and 1 x 15mm? open ended most of the way out 1/4 turn jobs and the one mentioned already the spline nut and bolt on passenger side (they must of done that for a laugh )

With these out you are left with the engine mounts which are 2 nuts

When using the engine crane use 2 seperate lengths of chain /straps to lift engine out as it sits at a 110 degrees, it will automatically want to straighten up when you remove from gearbox if you use same lengths(does that make sense?)

I jacked up the gearbox slightly to slip past the subframe and out she came


Note : I have just wrote this out from the top of my head so may be missed the odd nut or wire but you get the idea

Personally this takes me 3 hours max non stop no tea breaks

Taking the head off in situ will work but for the time it takes in general and you have a engine hoist/crane I would be happier having it one and put on a engine stand /bench stripping it down

[4WheelDrifter]

Good write-up Steve. Nice details.

I've found that awkward downpipe nut can be tapped around with a chisel, as it's not normally done up too tight.
I've taken engines out and put them back again without a hoist loads of times now. With everything cleared out the way two of you can get either side of the engine, and wiggle the thing in/out. I just sit the engine down on an old tyre just in front of the engine bay. You can have a small breather if you need it.

[Knight Rider S4]

Great tip about the tyres Stu ...I have just had back operation on lower discs so no more lifting engines out without mechanical aids anymore for me

My home made spanner for exhaust nut