Any garage work on your vehicle can be costly, and for jobs, you could do it at home if you had the right tools. While most areas are accessible, the engine poses a different challenge. Whether you need to get to the engine for repair, rebuilding, removing the engine out of a parts car, or putting a new engine in, tasks like these often use tools designed for the task, such as engine hoists.
If you don’t have such tools, you may wonder how to remove an engine without a hoist? Your engine can face issues such as knocking noises; it has low performance, dishes out lots of exhaust smoke, and has a rough idle with inconsistent power.
All are things you can fix on an old engine if you could have access. You may wish you had access to a cherry picker or more options to do this, but you don’t. In our guide, you can find there are options on how to remove engine without hoist. By the end, you’ll find all the ways you can get access to parts of your engine not possible before and fix any issue or add your new engine yourself. (Learn How To Use An Engine Hoist)
How Do You Lift An Engine Without A Hoist?
Engine removal takes several steps. Here you can find all the parts of the process you need to follow so you can do this without an engine hoist to help.
Here are the steps to lift an engine without a hoist:
Safety First:
Park On Level Surface
Parking the car on a level surface and with the parking brake engaged is a must when carrying out the lifting process. If your car isn’t on a level surface, either your car could move, or the jack could roll once your engine is free from its mounts.
1. Unbolt the Engine
When removing an engine, bolts securing the motor to the transmission and engine mounts need removing. Unbolting is possible once all parts connected to the engine are properly disconnected.
Space around the transmission bolts and on top of the bell cover can be limited. For proper engine removal, disconnect all-important gear linkages, wiring harness, and transmission fluid lines.
Before properly removing motor mounts, it is essential to support the engine.
2. Disconnect Engine Accessories
One of the best ways to lift an engine without a hoist is by disconnecting all the engine accessories. Using a wrench, remove the battery cables and place them to the side.
Next, unhook the engine’s connection and remove the car’s wiring harness by carefully pulling all the wire groups away from the engine’s connections.
Drain the coolant and loosen the petcock with your hand to remove the radiator. After that, you’ll need to use a screwdriver to remove the radiator hose from the engine. After that, removing the radiator with a socket wrench would be easier.
Next, you need to remove the fuel line from the injectors or carburetor, depending on the age of your vehicle. Most often, you’ll need to pull apart the two fittings. Block the fuel line so no gas will escape.
One of the last things to remove is the power steering lines and the power steering hose. (Read My Brake Pedal Is Stiff And Car Won’t Start)
3. Raise Vehicle
This is the final step in the lifting procedure, which involves raising the vehicle using a jack and making the undercarriage safe. Then, to prevent the automobile chassis from falling, place a stand under it and use a wrench to loosen the bolt and remove the driveshaft.
Pulling the transmission bolt towards the car rear is critical while keeping an eye out for any fluid leaks.
Remove the jack and lower the automobile by removing a catch pan under the transmission shaft’s end to drain the oil and prevent spills.
Using jack stands and the removal of jacks in the suspension make it easier to remove the engine from the car.
What Can I Use To Move An Engine?
Your vehicle comprises many components, and many tools are available to remove them.
Working on your vehicle has become much more manageable with all the information available.
Various sources are accessible, from basic oil changes to engine rebuilding, but some tools are difficult to work without.
- Make sure your car is parked on a level surface. Then, pop the hood and apply the parking brake.
- Disconnect all of the engine’s components. Remove the battery cables with a wrench and set the battery aside.
- Unplug the connection and pull the set of wires loose with your hand to remove the wiring harness from the vehicle.
- Insert the fuel line removal tool into the connection and pull the two fittings apart to remove the fuel line from the injector rail.
- In the same way, remove the power steering lines. The fuel line and the steering hose should be tucked out of the way.
- You can remove the radiator by loosening the pet cock by hand and draining the coolant into a catch pan.
- You can remove the radiator hoses from the engine by loosening the clamps with a screwdriver and pulling the radiator hoses off by hand.
- Remove the radiator using a socket wrench to remove the mounting bolts and lift it out of the way.
- Place a jack beneath the car’s chassis (in the front) and raise it to a vehicle where you can work comfortably underneath it.
- Place jack stands beneath the chassis to keep it from falling.
- You can remove the vehicle’s drive shaft by loosening the retaining bolts at the rear universal joint with a wrench and pulling the universal joint out of the rear differential.
- You can get the drive shaft out of the transmission by pulling the drive shaft toward the back of the vehicle.
- Place a catch pan under the transmission tail shaft to catch any draining oil.
- Lower the vehicle by removing the jack stands.
- Using a socket wrench, remove your front cross member mounting bolts.
- Separate the rubber hose from the hard-line using a wrench to remove the front brake lines.
- Now it’s time to remove the engine. Place a jack behind the cross member on each side of the front chassis, and have a friend assist you in slowly jacking the vehicle up to lift the vehicle’s body off the front suspension.
- The front suspension, cross member, and engine will be assembled as one piece.
- Roll the engine out of the way and lower the body once the body clears it.
- Remove the jacks and place jack stands beneath the suspension. The vehicle’s engine has been removed.
How Do You Pull An Engine At Home?
If you lack the tools, you can jack up the car and remove everything from the motor. Ensure you remove the head, transmission, clutch, flywheel, and anything connecting the engine to the car. Use an oil pan to drain all the fluids before proceeding. (Read Can Low Transmission Fluid Cause Overdrive Light To Flash)
Beneath your car, make the ground soft by laying towels or old blankets.
Hold your engine up using a jack and check you have removed everything until the engine mounts are the only thing holding it in place.
Carefully remove all engine mounts and ensure the jack is positioned to allow the engine to drop onto the towel padding you made. Don’t worry about the engine dropping a few inches; it is vital as it’s made from cast iron.
With some manpower, you and some help could move the engine into a position clear from the car’s body.
How Do You Lift An Engine Off The Ground?
Engines are removed from automobiles regularly, which is not a big deal. Completing it may be time-consuming, but it is not impossible. First, we’ll go through a quick method to lift an engine without using a dedicated engine hoist.
Use Chain Lift Plate and Pulley System
- The first thing to do is to use the wheel chocks to block the rear wheels from moving, then jack up the front of the car to place the jack stands.
- Ensure the car is stable and will not fall as you work underneath.
- Remove the car’s hood and disconnect any fluid lines attached to it.
- Keep track of every bolt and nut you remove by putting them in a bag.
- You can now go ahead to disconnect the battery and fuel lines.
- You must depressurize the fuel system and disconnect hoses, pipes, and others.
- Proceed by removing all the connectors under the hood; make sure you label everything you disconnect so that you won’t have any problem putting them back.
- Now, drain all the fluids from the engine.
- This is where your draining pan will be helpful. Keep it under the car to avoid staining the floor; all the fluid escaping will pour in.
- Once that is done, remove the coolant and transmission hoses from the radiator. Also, disconnect any hose running to the engine from the pump.
- Remove the radiator and AC system so that they do not get damaged. The last thing to remove is the exhaust system; unbolt the header pipe or the exhaust manifold.
- Since everything has been disconnected, attach the chains from the pully system to your engine lift plate. These are designed to fit many engine types. They also offer multiple holes for chains so that you can adjust engine tilt.
- Before lifting, the motor mounts secure the engine to the frame, so you need to unbolt it. Some cars have 2 motor mounts while others have 4.
