What to do while I'm at it?

[Retrospekt]

I'm getting my engine pulled to do my rear main seal and I was wondering what I should have the mechanic do while the engine is pulled. I thought both rear and front motor mounts would be a good idea. Anything else?

Car has 152k and was poorly maintained by the previous owner.

[Chris Crash]

Gaskets all around.

Have him clean the pistons and the camshafts, as well. Those should be nice and sludgey...

Clean the intake.

Replace filters, thermostat, water pump, tensioners, idler pulleys, belts, plugs, wires, hose clamps, hoses,

The water pump + t belt you might say you can do it later, but it's sooooo easy to do with the engine out. It took me longer to unbolt the covers for the t belt than to do the water pump and belt with the engine out.

I'm trying to think what else I just did with mine out...

Gaskets are reallllly important though.

Have him give your valve cover a quick coat of engine paint, too

[Retrospekt]

Hoses and all belts are new. Thermostat new. Timing belt + all gaskets done at 148k.

[Chris Crash]

All gaskets meaning all? or all related to timing belt?

I would definitely pop off the valve cover and just take a peek at the sludge. Clean that up for sure.

If he can get down to the pistons, clean the tops of the pistons as well.

Oil pump! That might not hurt to replace depending on the price.

Clean the oil pan inside area as well.

Maybe clean the EGR system? Can't hurt to take it apart and soak it in some seafoam a few hours.

[hill8570]

Agreed with Chris RE: the oil pan. With a badly sludged engine, I like to pop off the valve cover and spend some quality time with a shopvac, plastic putty knife, and old toothbrush getting as much crust and goop off of the camshafts and such that I can. Then run the car for a bit with some motor flush to get any particles I missed down to the oil pan. Then pull the oil pan, clean out the sludge and check the oil pickup for crap in the screen (changing out if necessary).

So, I'd do the first part before pulling the engine, and then pop & clean the pan and inspect the oil pickup while the engine was out.

[#2!]

Gold paint all around

[JohnGD]

Like Chris Crash said, definitely do all gaskets. Reseal oil pan and do the oil pump and oil pick-up tube o-rings/gaskets. Check the oil pan for sludge. And when it's open, maybe change the main bearings? Make sure they plastigage them for proper clearance.

Some mechanics just push the mains out without removing the crankshaft. But your mechanic's mileage may vary. Otherwise replace the rod bearings too.

If the shop needs to remove the head then do the rings. But parts add up faster than just doing the mains.

Originally Posted by Retrospekt

I'm getting my engine pulled to do my rear main seal and I was wondering what I should have the mechanic do while the engine is pulled. I thought both rear and front motor mounts would be a good idea. Anything else?

Car has 152k and was poorly maintained by the previous owner.

[frenum49]

Well hopefully your mechanic will be pulling the transmission for the rear main seal replacement, not the engine. Whenever I have the flywheel exposed I pull it because I have seen more than a few that crack around the flywheel bolt holes in the flywheel itself under the washer. Semi-rare but still worth checking.

[Retrospekt]

He's not pulling the transmission, he is doing this in his garage. He's just using a lift to pull the engine and do it that way.

He does this procedure on the Gen 3 camry a lot, so I trust him.

He did state that if he were in the shop, he would definitely lift the car and slide the transmission out, but that is not the case. If I brought the car into his shop his boss would charge me around 1,100 dollars.

[Chris Crash]

Why doesn't he pull the transmission with the engine? I thought it was easier that way...

[Retrospekt]

I don't know, I didn't ask. He said you only have to pull one or the other, and he didn't want to slide the transmission out onto his garage floor and work down there the whole time as it would be extremely uncomfortable and take longer.

[frenum49]

If you are going to leave the trans it is less work because you are not pulling ball joints to get the half shafts out, dealing with trans cooler lines, etc. etc. One or the other unless your talking about a Northstar engine or some other ap where there is no room to breath.

[Chris Crash]

I just thought it was easier because then when you put the engine back in, you don't have to hold the trans out of the way while trying to get the engine in!

[Retrospekt]

Well guys I dropped the car off today, along with 700 dollars in cash for the service and motor mounts.

I looked at the your guys' suggestions but I didn't talk to my mechanic about any of it. I feel terrible asking him to do any more work than what we already agreed on. He's already doing the rear main and the distributor o-ring, and I'm only paying him about 400 or so for labor costs.

I did feel real cool walking around with 800 bucks of cash in my wallet, though! That feeling went away after I got my daily account balance text message from my bank.

[Eye8Pussies]

I would personally just pull the motor and tranny out together, but everybody has their own way of doing things

and besides for the rear main seal, the only other things that are easier done when the motor is out would be the rear valve cover gasket (but still doable in car of course), passenger-side differential seal (which should be replaced when the axle shaft is removed) and the rear mount if need be, since the entire assembly can be easily removed and the mount pressed out when the motor is out of the car