Help with Jacking Up Oil Pan for Motor Mounts--1995 E320
I have been reading about doing the mounts on my 1995 E320 for some time and am ready to tackle the job. The one step that always makes me nervous though is jacking up the engine/oil pan. The consensus around here is to use a piece of wood on top of the floor jack, but I still think that the pressure of the wood pushing up on the oil pan will dent it. I can almost imagine the sides of the pan being crushed in by the force of the 2X4.
Can somebody describe exactly how I should set up the wood on the jack so I don't end up with a damaged oil pan. Thanks in advance!
Jack up the front of the car (using the cross-member) and place it on jackstands. Now you can use a large piece of 2x6 to spread the force uniformly along the oilpan to gently lift the engine up, once you've loosened the engine mount--do one side at a time. Using that technique, you're just lifting the engine, not the whole car.
I would never do that job with the car on jackstands. I put the tires up on ramps or blocks. I raise all four tires about six inches so that there's less angle to the engine when you raise it. I use 3/4" plywood for the oil pan, full size of the pan, and then build a front and rear lip on to it so that it won't slide out. Once the engine is raised I also put a screw type jackstand under the plywood as well, just for redundancy. WalMart RV levelers work well for that.
Do it rightfor once and use the lift points on the engine-rent a cherry picker...put the hood in the service position. Just pray you never have to do the driver's engine mount on a 4matic.
Just FMI...where are the lift points on the M104. I didn't know if there was a consensus as to where to safely lift the engine if I were to use a cherry picker.
Also...what would be the problem with using jackstands...very unstable given the amount of force needed to budge the motor mount bolts?
Thanks for the feedback. I am not concerned with the mount job as much as preparing the car to do the mount job
Just FMI...where are the lift points on the M104. I didn't know if there was a consensus as to where to safely lift the engine if I were to use a cherry picker.
Also...what would be the problem with using jackstands...very unstable given the amount of force needed to budge the motor mount bolts?
Thanks for the feedback. I am not concerned with the mount job as much as preparing the car to do the mount job
Don't have a working cell/camera to upload pics, but the brackets are clearly visible on the back and front of the head. Look for pieces of metal sticking up with holes. Mine's a m103, but I doubt they changed the brackets much in the m104. You can buy a cheap engine lift harness assembly that adjust from front to back.
Kevin
Last edited by Real1shepherd; 12-24-2010 at 08:03 AM.
There seems to be a lot of paranoia about these aluminum oil pans. They're actually quite stout. If you strike them with a lot of force (like a speed bump or road debris), they'll crack, but they can easily handle the weight of the engine as long as the load is distributed.
There seems to be a lot of paranoia about these aluminum oil pans. They're actually quite stout. If you strike them with a lot of force (like a speed bump or road debris), they'll crack, but they can easily handle the weight of the engine as long as the load is distributed.
Agreed, they are quite stout. But it always irks me that if someone has the time, space and inclination, why not do it the correct way with a cherry picker and the engine lift brackets? Always the advice here is to attack the pan. Invariably, someone will not support the pan with the wrong amount of padding/wood and break and/or warp the pan causing a leak. Do you think most trained MB mechanics are jacking the pan up with wood?
I suppose most MB techs would use a vehicle lift and hoist combo. But, even though I have a engine hoist, I honestly don't think I'd bother with it, since the legs would get in the way of my maneuvering around underneath the car. I don't know about the gassers, but this is about a 15 min per side job on the diesels; not exactly brain science.
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Invariably, someone will not support the pan with the wrong amount of padding/wood and break and/or warp the pan causing a leak. Do you think most trained MB mechanics are jacking the pan up with wood?
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