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So... ive pulled plenty of subaru engines. None of them were EJ's, all EA81 and EA82s. The EJ cant be much different, but its the Auto that worries me. All the EA's ive done have been manual trans, and its basic.

Im not an auto expert, there are still things that confuse me. Like torque converters... When I goto pull the motor, is there anything special I need to do to the torque converter? Or does it slip onto the motors output shaft?

I was talking to a buddy last night, he said the hardest part of pulling a EJ was getting to the bolts on the torque converter? Can someone elaborate for me?

Any other tips would be apreciated as well. Thanks
-Brian

There's a rubber access cover on the engine bell housing, remove that to get access to the TC bolts.

There are 4 of them with 12mm heads. Turn the crank to get access to all 4.

I'm not familiar with the ej22t. On the other subie engines I've done this on, sometimes a ratcheting wrench works best, sometimes a socket, sometimes a socket on a 2' extension poking out to the front of the engine.

After that, the rest is basically the same as a MT.


To re-attach, tighten up the first one, then back off 1/2 turn. Do the same with the next two, when the 4th is installed, tighten it all the way, the tighten the other 3.

If you tighten them up before all 4 are in, you may have trouble lining up the others. If you have them too loose they will hit the bell housing as you rotate the crank.

I've done this, basically you have to seperate to TC from the flexplate before you pull the engine apart from the tranny.

There is a little access hole on the block (top bellhousing area) between cyl#3 & the T-body covered by a black rubber plug.
Pull the plug & you be able to see the flexplate, rotate the engine until you can see a TC - flexplate bolt.
Remove it & repeat the process - there are 4 bolts in total

Once all the bolts are off you'll see that rotating the engine no longer causes the flexplate to rotate

Opps, I typed too slow!

Oh, yeah, once the tranny is out, if you tip it to far forward the TC will slide out of the trans smash your toes and spill fluid everywhere.

To reseat the TC into the tranny, slide it in as far as it will go, spin it clockwise several times. Then slowly push up/in while rotating it CCW. Then repeat till it is fully seated. The tabs should only extend about 1/4" beyond the tranny bellhousing. Then use a wire through the starter hole and the top bolt hole on the other side to tie the TC into place. Cut and pull the wire after the tranny is on the bottom studs.

Thanks guys. Once i have the TC removed, should I expect a ton of ATF to come pouring out?

I think the TC holds 1-2 qts. If you pull it out and tip it back nut much will spill, then you can dump the TC into a drain pan.

I'd also suggest draining the trans before you pull it.

The trans is not moving.. just removing the motor. Trans and CV's and everything associated will remain in place.

Ah, then you can leave the TC in place. I would however suggest replacing the oil seal behind the TC.

It's always good to replace the trans input seal that the TC rides on any time you ahve the engine out. It sucks to have a trans input leak after you have it all back together and running again...

If you are pulling the engine, you are obviously about to do some major work. Might I suggest removing the intake manifold from the engine. In my experience, this makes getting to the access panel and the flex plate bolts really a piece of cake. There's no fiddling around with a racheting wrench that only gets two clicks per turn. You just get a socket on the bolts with a nice long extension and wala. If whatever you are doing requires you to remove the manifold once it's out of the car, why not just move that step forward in the process and make your life easier?

Thanks for that tip Matt. I may just do that. I am doing head gaskets, and i have a complete engine gasket kit so I will be going over the entire motor replacing everything... even the timing belts, idlers etc.

Unless the engine gasket kit has this transmission seal, i wont be replacing it. I am planning on doing a 5spd swap this summer, so if it starts to leak hopefully the next step will be to just remove it and replace it.

Why not do the hg's in the car? Lots of people like doing them this way, though I don't, it's quicker for most. It's a good experience anyway.

I do pistons in the car.

Is that common practice up there? That isn't the first time I've heard of Alaskans doing pistons in the car. What's the reason for not pulling the engine in that case? I have a hard time getting #3 and #4 pins in without going through the back.

You can't do the rear main and oil seperator plate with the engine in the car. I've never owned an ej22t that didn' have a bad rear main when I got it.

If I had a lift I'd consider doing an in car head gasket. But with my back I can't stand over it on the ground to do the work. Thankfully I've got it down to about an hour to pull an engine...

Drop the tranny to do the sep. It's easier, quicker, and you dont have to drain anything.

Drop the tranny to do the what?

and no, i would much rather lower an engine back into the engine bay, than lift a transmission up into the mounts. Plus, im definatly not tearing my motor down in the car, my back already hates me enough as it is.

One of the techs at the dealership in Anchorage pioneered the operation. He flew over to SOJ... to teach em how to do it and get it approved for procedure. It's about two hours quicker for a tech to do it in the car, rather than pull it. So subaru okay'd it and now thats how they roll up here.
It involves a big rachet strap to hold the engine to one side of the engine bay while the pistons are changed on the opposite side. Then you swap it to the other side, crank it down... and finish the replacement. You have to pull the radiator and lift the condensor out of the way, but thats way easier than yanking the motor.
The intake manifold is just lifted off and put on the cowl. At first I'd thought it looked like more trouble, but when you see the guys just going through the motions to do this thing, its quick.
Anyways... peace.
-Adam

What I don't get is how they get 3 an 4 in quicker than pulling an engine. I always fight with 1 and 2 rod before I give up an put it in through the back.

If it's 2 hours quicker to do it that way, do the get less hours from warranty? Like is there a different op-code for that? Or do they still get to flag the same time/code?

Actually, its up to the tech whether or not they want to do it in the car. The op-code is the same, the job is still "RnR pistons" it just depends on how they want to do it. Some are faster in the car, others are faster out of the car.

I always chuckle when people start talking about how techs do it or how they do it "in our shop". This always implies access to a lift. There's lots of things I do differently when I have a lift at my disposal.

I will NEVER change a Subaru clutch by dropping the tranny if I have to do it on ramps/jackstands. At home, I pull the engine to change the clutch/pp. But if I have a full service shop with a lift and tranny jack, you sure as hell bet the tranny is dropping out the bottom.

I always chuckle with how competitive people get about this and how much ego is tied to how fast they can do it. I don't talk about these things to pound on my chest. I talk about them to try to offer help to others based on my experience.

ps. This is directed at noone in particular, so if you feel like you are being singled out it's because you feel guilty in your heart. It's not because I pointed a finger at you...

Well. Im not in a race or a hurry. Over a week later and all Ive managed to do is get the motor out. Funds have dried up, and when payday comes I can get my heads rebuilt and then continue with the progress.

Matt Monson wrote:I always chuckle when people start talking about how techs do it or how they do it "in our shop". This always implies access to a lift. There's lots of things I do differently when I have a lift at my disposal.

I will NEVER change a Subaru clutch by dropping the tranny if I have to do it on ramps/jackstands. At home, I pull the engine to change the clutch/pp. But if I have a full service shop with a lift and tranny jack, you sure as hell bet the tranny is dropping out the bottom.

I always chuckle with how competitive people get about this and how much ego is tied to how fast they can do it. I don't talk about these things to pound on my chest. I talk about them to try to offer help to others based on my experience.

Word. It's not a race till the car drives...

When it's your paycheck it's a race. The faster you can finish one job the faster you can move onto the next job.

I'd really like to see you Alaskans doing in car pistons. Not because I think you're lieing or something, but just to see how you would get the rear two.

I can't see draining coolant to change a clutch, when renting a tranny jack is so cheap/easy. But that's just me. You should be able to rip out a tranny faster than an engine seeing as how there is less stuff to disconnect, and nothing to drain.