I have a dead EJ25 in my 98 OBW. The engine won't turn over. I have it in neutral and am trying to remove the torque converter bolts through the cut-out below the throttle body. I was able to remove one bolt, but because the motor is damaged it won't turn over.

 

I have a breaker bar on the crank and one spark plug removed (they are really hard to get to). Do I need to remove the rest of the spark plugs to relieve any compression that might be left? I'm going to try to remove the rest of the spark plugs tomorrow, but the crank will NOT turn at all. Any tips to help remove the rest of the bolts?

 

If this thread needs to be moved to the New Gen board, please do so. I thought my questions were about generic procedures (removing studs and turning a dead engine), so I posted them here.

Edited August 8, 200916 yr by BluetoE
Wrong board?

Wow, that sucks, it might be seized. I've had one like this before and never messed with it.

 

The one thing I can tell you is that I removed a 1996 AWD Automatic EJ25 Legacy Lsi engine and trans at the same time. It was VERY tight, but they both came out attached. So since you need to pull the engine anyway, it might be best to yank them both like this so you have better access to everything.

 

I'm almost tempted to just say smash the engine side bellhousing to bits until you can reach the flexplate bolts, but I ca'nt recall which side the bolts are facing....i think they face the engine though, so you'd have access.

 

another last resort might be removing the intake manifold and actually unbolting the engine block and essentially "splitting it" while in the engine bay. never heard of someone disassembling a motor in a car before but not sure what you're options are. that might allow it to turn over.

I lifted the engine, removed the oil pan, got to a second bolt, removed the other 3 spark plugs, and the crank started turning! Lifting the engine helped a lot when removing the plugs. I guess it was compression and not seized after all. Beer time!

woah awesome. wonder if it was jus from sitting, sometimes they're stuck, i think the rings gets seized in the bore. anyway, glad you got it.

You could just pull the engine with the TC attached. But you have to make absolutely sure that the pump drive is lined up correctly and that the converter seats all the way back into the transmission before you install the new engine.