3RZ-FE Motor Mount Replacement Help

Hi there,
While attempting to replace the motor mounts on my 97 4cyl 3rz-FE 4x4 I found that I was not able to lift the engine independently from the front of the truck.

I placed a jack under the oil pan, with a 2x4 placed in between the jack and pan. Both the passenger and driver side top nuts were fully loosened, with the two chassis mounts loosened as well on the passenger side. I was able to verify that the engine was not seized to the mount nuts by manually lifting the engine with a wedge on the passenger side, even so, lifting the engine resulted in the entire front end lifting and the motor mounts were not unweighted.

Does anyone have any insight into how this could be happening? What other areas could be restricting the free movement of the engine?

Anything helps. Thanks

 

Place the jack and give it a couple pumps to take the weight, then remove the engine mount bracket from the block instead. You'll find it to be much easier. Also make sure both sides are loose/bolts removed. The jack is able to support the engine from the pan fine.

 

i have found on other vehicles that loosening/taking off the tranny mount also gets you more 'play/height' when raising engine to slip new engine mounts into their home

 

I was wondering if this could be my issue. I would think an older tranny mount would especially restrict movement. I will probably try replacing the transmission mount first, then working on the motors and see if that helps me at all. Thanks

 

This makes sense, but my problem is that even with the bolts removed, the engine does not lift from the chassis, instead it still moves as one piece. I’m worried that the oil pan will be damaged if I continue to lift, as it appears to be taking the entire weight of the front end with it. Now I am wondering - do the coilovers need to be fully unweighted before the engine will lift from the mounts? This would make sense, as the front end would raise in height as the weight of the engine is placed onto the jack.

 

I’m pretty sure suspension (although bolted to frame) is separate component

IMO
Those 30yr old mount have just become One with the frame perches

try the tranny mount thing…..
Then with all the E mount bolts removed, give those suckers a few firm whacks with a mallet
Also I would spray PB blaster(or similar) penetrating fluid on mating surfaces of both mounts
GL
Let everyone here the progress

 

Just in case
Rad hoses/AC lines sometimes prevent full height when jacking up the engine
(This is not your issue currently…..just keep an eye out so no hose/line breaks)

 

Removed on both sides right? When I did mine, the front of the truck did lift a little but eventually the engine started going up. You can feel the resistance if it starts to be too much.

Shouldn't need to unload the suspension weight, the engine really doesn't weigh much. Have you tried putting some load on the pan with the jack, disconnecting all the mount bolts on both sides then trying to break the mount free from the frame with a pry bar? From what you describe it really seems like something is connected somewhere still.

 

Hi all,
Finally got around to this job. Was on the back burner for a while, graduated from college and did other jobs such as valve cover gasket, spark plugs, rotors/pads.

I ended up first replacing my transmission mount. Im not sure if this helped to lower the resistance felt when lifting the engine, but I sure felt more confident the second time around and was easily able to lift the motor from the engine mounts. There were 2 adjacent vacuum lines located around the right hand side of the power steering pump (they route to the intake manifold) as well as the air intake pipe that needed to be disconnected for full range of motion.

I removed the top-center nut first, jacked up the engine until engine bracket had just barely risen above the stud, then removed the two side nuts/bolts and slid out the mount. Installing the new mount was interesting but straightforward. Some manipulations was required to get the mount to align with the bracket. I first reinstalled the center nut (had to raise the engine slightly higher due to new rubber), and screwed it until it was about half way down the visible threads. Then, I slowly lowered the engine until the two side holes were roughly aligned with the bracket. At this point I was able to pop both bolts in by moving the mount around, and by pushing on the engine when needed. I then torqued the center nut to around 55 ft lb, gently lowered the engine until full mount contact was made, and torqued the side nuts until around 30 ft lb (tight but not overly tight).

This process was much easier on the passenger side. The driver side required much more manipulation of the mount to get it to align properly. My method was hand tightening the center nut, then lowering the engine until the mount was almost flush with the bracket, leaving enough space to allow the mount to rotate about the center stud. I used the side of a torque wrench to rotate the mount, and pushed on the engine until I was able to pop each bolt in. Then simple tightened to the same torque specs.

Thank you everyone for the helpful insight. In summary, I probably just needed to worry less about damaging the oil pan. I’m sure the engine would have lifted off the mount just fine without first replacing the tranny mount.

As a reminder this was for a 97 Taco w/ 3RZ-FE engine and W22 manual transmission.