petrock

Looks like the main seal (where the motor meets the tranny) is leaking on my girly's ride. The bottom of the bell housing is covered in engine oil and there is no oil forward of or above the bell housing. So I'm guessing its the main seal. Anyway, what is the best/easiest method to fix this?

I don't have an engine hoist to pull the motor out but I do have a dual-bar motorcycle jack that I can use to raise/lower the tranny. So I was thinking I could pull the drive shaft, drop the tranny with the motorcycle jack and move it out of the way so I can get to the seal on the motor. Will this work? Is there a better/easier method? Thanks...

btw, its a 3.8L motor and an auto-tranny.

NeoTokyo

The car is going to have to be higher than most jack stands can go with the height of the auto trans plus the height of the motorcycle jack.

This is best done with a shop pit or a life if you have a friend with one or the other.

Its also going to be a real pain in the *** to get to all the trans bolts without slightly pulling the engine forward.

If you are going to do this at least make it worthwhile and put an Aerostar aluminum driveshaft in there!

This is also a great time to put a J-Mod in and external trans cooler.

What year is her Mustang?

petrock

My jack stands go up about a foot and a half at max extension. My motorcycle jack is about 4 inches high when all the way down and gets about 2 feet off the ground when fully extended. Pretty nice unit. It will be a tight fit I'm sure.


Sadly I don't have access to a shop pit, life or lift. :-) Wish I did on all counts. How much would this job cost (on average) to pay a shop to do it? Hour or two job or will I be charged a PITA tax?


When I rebuilt the top end on the motor about 6 months ago it looked like I could get good access to the top bolts on the tranny if I removed the upper and possibly lower air intake. Or is that still not adequate?


Its my girly's daily driver. Not a "performance" machine by any means. Trying to keep it going as long as possible (at least till she's out of college in 6 years. grad school + vet school).


Its a '98 3.8L.

desertt5

If your motocycle jack is the low it could work. Harbor has an adaptor for a floor jack for holding the transmission. I haven't pulled this one out, but it can't be that heavy to need a huge trans jack. Worst that happens is that you can't pull it and have to start over. I would personally try it with what you have. You might have to borrow some taller jack stands. Or drive out to ABQ and I have some and a trans jack. Just bring beer.

Mitchells list the main oil seal as 4.7 hours labor. So you could buy jack stands and a new jack and still be ahead.

Fink

easiest way to get to auto trans bolts is get a 3/8" metal rod about 2' long and a 3" 3/8" drive extension. If you have a welder/die grinder you can cut the extension in half and weld each half onto the 3/8" rod.

Get a swivel socket and you will can have the bolts loosened in about 10 minutes.

I pulled the 4r75e out fo my F150 this spring and I got it out from under the truck with trans on the trans jack. 5 ton jackstands will provide enough height to get it out from under the car, providing you can jack the car up that high.

You will also need someone to turn the crank by hand so you can get at the torque converter bolts.