Need advice/help pulling EJ25D with an auto tranny

[oleman77]

Ok guys, need some advice or help. My son and I are going to help a buddy out by helping him fix some oil leaks on his sons 1998 Legacy Outback wagon. Its has a EJ25D with an automatic transmission in it. I have read few posts that talk about night mare stories about how their transmission didn't work after they pulled engine. I have never pulled an engine with an automatic transmission only manuals. I'm pretty confident we can do it if I knew how to properly separate the two units. I have read some on a flex plate and that this is where I should separate them (4 bolts?) and leave TC alone. Some say the TC slips out of place and is a pain to get back in place. Does anyone have some pictures and a procedure on how to separate the engine from the automatic transmission in order to pull engine? Once engine is out I'm golden. I do not have a shop manual of this car, has hoping one of you guys might have something or know of a place that does. Thanks a ton fellas!

[matt00rs25]

Just spin the converter by hand and push. Make sure it's seated all the way in or it'll kill it.

[couchfuzzy]

here you go

a bit more model-specific

[oleman77]

All went well, TC stayed in place. Wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be but the 4 bolts that hold flex plate to TC are a pain in the butt. The best way to get to them is to use a 1/4" ratchet, a 18" extension and go through the intake to access the window in the bell-housing.....

[mike-tracy]

When you put the engine back in, try and line up one of the flex plate bolt holes with the bell house "window."

ALso, I wrap thin fishing line around the flex plate bolts when I put them back in, so even if I lose grip on them, they cant fall where you cant reach them. Learned that one the hard way, lol.

[oleman77]

When you put the engine back in, try and line up one of the flex plate bolt holes with the bell house "window."

ALso, I wrap thin fishing line around the flex plate bolts when I put them back in, so even if I lose grip on them, they cant fall where you cant reach them. Learned that one the hard way, lol.

Ya we learned not lining up the flex plate and TC bolts holes with the bell-housing holes before stabbing engine s a pain in the butt. Had to end up moving the TC with a wiring and moving flex plate with crank until the holes lined up. These 4 bolts should have only taken maybe 30 minutes max but they took about a hour and a half. Once we got one lined up the other 3 were a piece of cake. We didn't use the fishing line trick on the bolts but we did stick a rag in the hole so that if the bolt did fall inside it would not of fallen to where we couldn't retrieve it.