Hello. I’m having the worst time putting the new started in my car. As some would know, this model had the starter bolts going into the front engine mount. When I took the bottom bolt out, the mounting bracket shifted just enough to keep the bottom bolt from engaging the threads on the bracket. It will turn, catch atnthe beginning and pop back out. I’ve been trying to make it a little easier by removing the bracket, but the transmission mounting bolt is completely locked in place. I’ve hammered it, used a breaker bar, it twisted to pieces, wd-40, pb blaster, I have not heated it, not comfortable doing that that close to fuel lines nor do I have access to a blow torch. Would any of you know a good way to force the bottom of the bracket back into alignment?
The factory manual suggests using a floor jack with a block of wood under the oil pan to support the engine prior to removing the starter/engine mount to prevent the shifting of the engine.
Did you do that?
Tester
If you use a floor jack with a block of wood under the oil pan now, you should be able to re-align things.
I had a similar problem one time w/my Corolla, not for the starter, but for replacing the timing belt. I supported the engine from the top ok, but the engine mount shifted just enough to cause me grief getting it back together. After some puzzled moments, I decided to try jacking up the engine from below per the idea posted above, and that immediately brought it back into proper alignment. You might need to experiment a little at where you place the jack/board, but I expect if you try this, you’ll soon have it solved. Suggest to quickly put your crow bar and hammer back into the tool chest. Those are not the best implements for this job.
Hello Tester, used a combination of the jack but I supported it on the transmission bell housing, and an engine support beam for a little extra safety. All repair information I found on my cars model year were for a manual transmission, starter mounting bolts to engine mount bracket are slightly different for those.
OP, educate me on this configuration. I’ve changed starter motors only on transverse mounted I4 type engines, and the starter motor on that configuration isn’t near the front engine mount. It this car a longitudinally mounted V6?
GeorgeSanJose, it’s a tranverse mounted 2 liter 4 cylinder, the starter motor is mounted on the driver’s side, the front motor mount sits directly center, go figure, the starter is mounted to the transmission with two long bolts, about 8 inches long, gve or take an inch. The starter has three holes, looking at it from the back side, top hole is for the top mounting bolt, bottom right bolt is for the bottom starter bolt, bottom left hole only secures a power steering line in place. The long bolts each pass through the starter, go into the transmission housing, then into the front motor mount bracket where they screw into it with welded on circular bolts. I can provide a few pictures of my car if my description is terrible. They can be uploaded Saturday when I get to my relatives house where the car sits, if you’re still interested.
Yes, it would be interesting to see a photo of this arrangement. Thanks.
Alrighty then. First picture is just an eBay image of the bracket itself. The two circular parts on the left of it are the welded on starter bolt nuts. Second picture is one of the starter bolts. Third is just the bolt passing through the starter and the transmission. Fourth is the bolt going into the block from the transmission. Fifth is the bottom left side of the mounting bracket. Just above the yellow oil filter is where that long bolt screws into. Sixth picture is the top of the mount, the big bolt on the right side secures the transmission to the bracket. I can’t get that to move for anything.
One more picture. View of where the top starter bolt screws in. It’s all really rusty, it’s been sitting for a while. Surprisingly the only thing that was seized up was a hydraulic lifter and the fuel pump.
Thanks for posting the interesting photos. Perhaps there’s some confusion about what you mean by “front” mount. On transverse engines, when referring to the engine itself, “front” is usually to the left and “rear” is to the right, as you are looking at the engine standing in front of the car. In other words the “front” of the engine is usually over near the edge of the passenger side of the car, above the tire well area. And there’s usually an engine mount there, which is referred to as the “front” mount. Even though there may in fact be a mount further forward, toward the front of the car, near where the engine and transmission meet up.