Gday all,

I am new to these forums, glad to be a part of them!

I recently bought a TE Magna with 215000kms. A lot of work needs to be done. But I thought I would start with the

-Timing belt
-Auto transmission flush
-Oil change
-New drivebelts

When venturing under the car, unfortunately one problem led to another... it turns out these things also need attention

-Drivers side lower ball joint
-Both CV joint boots were cracked, passengers side birfield joint had excessive clearance (bought new drivehshafts)
-A massive oil leak is coming from around the firewall side of the engine, near the aluminium oil pan so it seems... I tried to troubleshoot where it was coming from by cleaning the oil residue on the block and pan up to the exhaust
manifold, but is seems the oil oozes out when when the engine has been sitting idle for a few days (must be oil pan right?)


I was a bit disappointed about the auto transmission service/computer relearn. The car shifts smooth enough on the road but when shifting from a stationary gear to reverse or drive, there is a three second delay where the engine revs go up, then the car jolts forward (is this how these autos are?)Also, I unfortunately I found long metal slithers attached to the magnetic drain plug following the service, so I assume it is on its last legs...

I have come to a standstill on the T-belt though. I can't remove the front engine mount (drivers side engine mount upper). I removed the bolt, two nuts on top, and the bolt through the engine mount but cant seem to take off the bracket? (are the studs meant to have a neat fit with the bracket?) Any tricks appreciated!

Here is a picture of the bracket

http://www.fastuploader.com/images/pc040191.jpg

i got a te my spare well if you can do it yourself no problems otherwise might cost a bit.
for me my te done 230km not doing belts just gonna wait untill it blows up as a second hand motor with approx 110km for 300.00 so cheaper for me just to put a whole enging in than rather do belts etc
oil leak have you checked its not leaking from the rear rocker
the auto you can try the wynns auto treatment see if it helps
also if you have recently disconected the battery it will also run rough for a while as the computer resets and needs to relearn

With the engine mount, have you got the engine supported from underneath? Jack it up under the sump a bit (make sure you use a block of wood to spread the force) and you should just be able to pull the mount off.

I think I may have found the oil leak... I had the timing cover off and found that the cam seals were hard and brittle. They literally broken into pieces when removed! I replaced both cam seals as well as the front crankshaft oil seal.

With the engine mount, I ended up just removing the lower bracket which attaches to the block. Once out I gave it a few smacks with the soft hammer and it eventually came off (taper lock worked extra well!)

I jacked the engine from underneath with a block of wood, worked a treat!

Cheers