kd1yt

I have a 2000 CRV (AWD, automatic) that I am fixing up to be my son's first car. Clearly had very good care over most of its life but the last driver had a coolant leak, stupidly/severely overheated the engine, probably multiple times, seems to have sustained head damage (the CRV, although I think the prior driver must've had her own preexisting head damage to have treated a vehicle like this) and then basically parked it.

I got it for such a low price that I don't care that I am looking at putting a new engine in it: I have located and am lined up to buy a nice condition JDM B20 high compression engine, know about/ will do the crank position sensor & knock sensor swap (the price of the JDM engine makes it not worth fooling with trying to rehab the CRV's original engine that was abused).

My question is this: will it be possible to pull/swap the engine itself without actually pulling both the engine and transaxle?

Space & clearance-wise, it looks like it will be a mighty close shave in there to try to do so (pull/ reinstall the engine by itself)

But, at the same time, with the way that the left end of the transaxle underhangs the subframe on the passenger side, pulling the engine + transaxle as a unit doesn't look like it'll be a casual task, either.

I have plenty of experience at major work on RWD drivetrains, farm equipment, and motorcycles, but this will be my first disemboweling of a transaxle-format drivetrain,

-so I really appreciate any DIY "for dummies" suggestions on do's don'ts, how's, etc. for this project. Even suggestions as to what to muckle onto in supporting and hoisting either the engine itself, or, if it makes sense to pull the engine and transaxle together, what to hook onto there

Thanks very much in advance!

SpokaneSpeed

It's actually not bad at all to pull the whole engine/trans assembly. It's possible to pull the engine alone, but I've always found it easier to pull the whole assembly. Just the way I prefer to do it, personally.

kd1yt

If taking out the engine + transmission together- given the way that the transaxle protrudes under the passenger side front subframe, you must have to tilt the engine/ transmission as you start to move it upwards- how do you do that in a controlled way?

SpokaneSpeed

You can either chain it up and connect ur hook off center with a bolt on either side of your hook in the chain to prevent it from sliding, or what I do is use an engine leveler that has a crank on it that allows me to tilt the assembly easily on the fly, in either direction when removing it. Makes life really easy.

OneBadTurboCRV

It sounds like the people that are answering haven't pulled one out of a CRV before... In my opinion, the ONLY way to pull the engine and transmission out of an AWD CRV or even a regular CRV together is from the bottom. The main issue is getting the CRV up high enough to clear the valve cover (technically intake manifold but you remove that to make it easier). If you have a lift then this isn't an issue obviously, but if you don't then... it gets interesting as no regular floor jack goes that high without blocking.

Pulling a transmission without the engine is common, and isn't that bad aside from how low you have to drop it to clear the transfer case housing coming off the transmission, albeit you can remove the TC but it isn't necessary. You can remove the engine without the transmission but in my opinion it is a major hassle to do so since you are one axle and mount away from removing it all as one anyways. Not only that but it's much harder to work in the engine bay and you have to remove ALL accessories.

If you look around the alternator bracket you will find a spot to hook. Some people use the engine mount on regular setups, but the AWD it makes it too heavy on the back side and a 3rd chain would be required. The other lifting spot is a factory bracket on the top of the transmission. If you look you can't miss it, it's pretty obvious. If you want to attempt to pull it from the top then go ahead, but I tried it once - no thanks. It is possible, but you better rig it right and start with your load leveler at one end of the bar. Remove the radiator and be prepared to bounce off everything and anything. Dropping it out is MUCH better.

Assuming you don't have a lift and only have a engine hoist, have the front end jacked up as high as possible. I don't have a measurement, but you can just measure the valve cover to oil pan. If you can't block it appropriately and don't feel safe then put just enough blocking under the engine/trans to keep it off the legs of the hoist. Then jack up the car high enough, remove the blocking, and slide out the engine/trans.

Honestly, it's all rather straight forward when you take a look at it. Out the top or from the bottom is the choice you are going to have to make for yourself.

kd1yt

It's an automatic- I was hoping that it'd be possible to do something like what you describe, but I didn't want to take a flying leap at it blind and end up with something half apart that neither comes all the way apart nor readily goes back together.

Thank you!

kd1yt

This is really interesting. I have no lift and this will be done out in my gravel driveway, but I do have a bunch of large timber cribbing from some other projects.

If I decided to raise the car and take the engine out from underneath, approximately how high do you think I'd need to "go" up in order to have working room to fully drop the engine out the bottom?

If I do detach engine from transmission, and do it in a way of dropping the engine out the bottom, will the transmission self-support or is the transmission going to need some form of support once the engine is detached from the transmission?

Thanks!

dogbiscuit

I have a MT and did the same swap you speak of. I got my motor from hmotors. I didn't swap the CKF sensor and I just did the CKF bypass wiring trick to resolve ECU issues on the USDM ECU.

I removed mine from the bottom like Turbo stated.

Hooked the engine to the hoist. I didn't have one at the time so I made one out of 2x4" wood and used a comealong to lower the engine on the floor on a large piece of cardboard. Then I jacked the car up as high as I could. With jackstands fully extended on the front jacking points it was still kind of hard to get th out from under the vehicle. the valve cover wouldn't clear the front radiator support. however it was able to be slid out from under the vehicle from near the passenger side wheel well.

I pulled both tranny and engine. I reinstalled the engine and trans mounted together from the bottom in reverse order.

kd1yt

I do have an engine hoist on permanent loan from a good friend.

Approximately how high am I likely to need to raise the car off the ground in order to be able to lower the engine and transaxle out from underneath it? I've got jacks and a bunch of wide roughewn hemlock beam cribbing, but started to realize that with the short length and width of the car, if I have to lift the car way, way up, the whole thing could be a bit teetery....

What's a good guess on the combined weight of the B20B engine and Automatic transaxle with the AWD? Just trying to get a sense of how awkard to expect it all to be to move back and forth out from and back under the car in a crushed stone (hardpan packed) driveway?

Thank you all VERY MUCH for all of the suggestions- I am thoroughly impressed and grateful at the know-how and the generosity in sharing it

dogbiscuit

I feel like it's easily under 1000 lbs. I would bet its no more than 500 and maybe around the 3-400 range. It's more awkward than heavy, while you wouldn't pick it up by yourself, two people can move it around easily enough. I would suggest having it rest on something you can slide from under it. I used cardboard in my garage.

Jack the car up and from underneath remove everything that needs to be removed from the engine to separate from the engine bay except for the motor mounts.

Then you can put the car down and remove all the parts connecting the engine to the bay from the top except the main motor mounts also remove the intake manifold.

Then i'd use the engine hoist and have it hooked to the engine and unbolt the engine from the bay to where it's hanging from the hoist.

then you just lower it to the ground and figure out where to slide it out. you could also jack up the front end if clearance is a issue.

This is very minimal description of what needs to be done it's quite a bit of work. you gotta think you're removing a lot of stuff (underbody, AC compressor, PS pump, Exhaust, Intake, whole wiring harness, Antifreeze lines, throttle cable, intake, fuel line, axles, whatever shifter cables the list goes on. Not to mention you're working on a 15-16 year old car, it's gonna give you fits, I bet mostly with exhaust and suspension. those were the areas that gave me the most fits on my restore.

kd1yt

Any ball-park estimates of how high I need to elevate the body of the car off the ground in order to take the engine/ transaxle out from underneath? Thanks!

OneBadTurboCRV

Roughly 2.5' from bottom of core support (where you put your jack under front bumper).

kd1yt

Thank you!!!

tony_2018

It shouldnt be that hard to just pull only the motor though. As long as you remove everything off of the motor (alternator, ac compressor, ps, crank pulley) than it would come out from the top.

Most of this stuff will have to come off anyways because its going onto the replacement.

bansell

How did the swap go… I am about to get into one myself.

kd1yt

I ended up buying a JDM engine+transmission+AWD unit and changing it all as an assembled drivetrain. A local friend who is a stone sculptor with a huge powered (X & Y & Z directions) gantry crane loaned us his shop while on vacation- and after doing it with that, I would not have wanted to try to do it (at least the full drivetrain swap) without a gantry of some sort. We picked up the front of the vehicle about 2.5 feet and set it on big timber cribbing, then lowered the drivetrain out, then raised the new drivetrain in. The single most maddening part was getting the rear motor mount lined up- it kept twisting slightly as the engine was brought into place, and once it twisted, the bolt would't go in, and there was little room to guide it while moving the engine into place. Once that was lined up hooked on, it all went like clockwork. We now have a car with a sound body with a drivetrain with only 105,000 km (about 60,000 miles) on it, and while we were in there, we threw in new front axles, radiator, etc. (all of which were surprisingly cheap on ebay since apparently places are clearing out their parts on these earlier models). Thank you all for the encouragement and support

bansell

Did you swap oil pumps or do the CKF bypass? Also, did you get any codes from the JDM transmission being used? did you swap any sensors on the JDM transmission?

tony_2018

I....don't see why you couldn't just lift both engine and tranny from the top.....

kd1yt

Did the CKF bypass rather than swap oil pumps; worked flawlessly.

All of the sensors on the JDM transmission matched up with the USA transmission EXCEPT the gear indicator switch/cable, which was entirely different *not only a different connector but also a different # and configuration of contacts within the switch). The original USA gear switch was in bad shape so I ended up sourcing a NOS replacement off ebay and putting that on the JDM transmission.

Only thing where I had to color outside the lines to any significant degree was mounting and connecting the evap. emissions solenoid valve- drilled & tapped two 1/4" holes in the manifold for mounting bolts and one 1/8npt hole for a barb connector (the JDM manifold had the round raised "bosses" for these purposes, just no holes). The barb on the 1/8 npt fitting was close enough to work with the hose and was a heck of a lot easier than finding a metric fitting...

kd1yt

The engine and auto transmission, as an assembly, are considerably wider than the unibody rails that they'd have to come up through, to the point that you'd have to put a serious tilt on the eng/tran before lifting, and probably have to raise the car some to initially lower it to achieve that tilt, and even then, the AWD rear output would be mashing up various things when coming up through. Maybe someone else has some magic spatial and maneuvering aptitude that I lack, but having done this, I would never have wanted to try to pull and reinstall the assembled drivetrain through the top.

Concept11

I am also weighing in on whether to swap engines or replace the cylinder head. Compression is 125 - 122 - 100 - 120. I have a 2001 CRV B20ZB engine that really smokes at starting. Drives OK but it is a little sluggish.
Thanks for your response.

kd1yt

I remembered one more thing that'd slipped my mind at the time of the reply above- the one other thing that wouldn't match up between the JDM engine and the USA wiring harness was the connections on the distributor- different connector and different # of wires- so moved the US distributor from the old engine onto the JDM engine. Definitely keep your US engine on hand for things like this until you have the new one in, connected, and working well. Wanted to mention that for potential benefit of others who may take this path.

bansell

Did you have any CEL lights with the new JDM transmission? I need to swap a trans soon and reading mixed results with JDM transmissions.. I did put a JDM motor in the car a couple years ago, still running great!

kd1yt

No fault indications of any kind following the swap. The car has had a few minor to medium other issues unconnected with the swap and typical for age, etc., but the core new drivetrain has been running like a dream. Good luck.