Gen 1 6.2 engine mount / motor mount replacement

[PD1744]

-Clean intake mating surface



- Install intake manifold



- Clean up and install injectors and fuel rail.





- Install coil packs

 

[PD1744]

- Install alternator cradle, alternator, and serpentine belt.



- Finally the rest of the intake



So that's it. I say this one isn't for the faint of heart. I'm happy I did as I definitely feel like my wrench game leveled up after this one. Glad my stubborn ass actually took help when it was offered. This would have been a bear solo. I honestly feel like this was actually harder than the engine replacement.

So first I want to talk about some issues I noticed while under there. First I found a harness that came off of it's mount and dropped down on the passenger side exhaust flange and is melted through. Could explain the electrical issues I had with my headlight:



Next discovered both LBJ boots blown. I believe it's only been a year and half since I put these on (non OEM). Not a good look. I'm seeing another coolant leak on the core support. Replaced the entire cooling system just a couple years ago. Also some sort of small oil leak. Not sure if it's pan or rear main. Ugh.

So after the job, the truck fired right up which I was happy to see... HOWEVER, it threw a code immediately for HILL DECENT and TRACTION CONTROL. Seems to have thrown it into limp mode. It had a smooth high idle, then would drop down and lug. No RPM movement when I apply throttle. I never put it in gear. Just shut it down. I'll pull a code this evening and go from there. If it's not this damaged wiring harness that I sort of just taped up and moved away for now, it could be the aforementioned diff vacuum lines. Stay tuned I guess. After all that work, I was a little deflated to have this pop up, but when you've been wrenching as long as I have, you know this is more par for the course vs. that rare unicorn day when everything goes right, as expected, and ahead of schedule.

 

[PD1744]

i know a better way to do this. just blow your motor and have someone else replace it. and while they are at it, hand them the new motor mounts.

^^ THIS MY BROTHER ^^

@PD1744 I thought you could change the mounts without having to take the top of the engine off. Is it a clearance issue or just your preference to do it this way?

Again, maybe. From what I could tell you'd crash right into the cowl. Definitely not the 'end all be all' method here and I wouldn't discourage anybody from trying it another way. But we did discover the more stuff we took off the easier it made life. Sort of a 'time vs frustration' equation.

 

[PD1744]

UPDATE!!!!

That's a win gents! At least I hope. Was nearly 'best case scenario'. I hooked up my scan tool. Best case is clear all the codes, mainly the ABS ones, and hope they don't come back. I noticed one code for low voltage on the throttle position sensor, so after I cleared it, I went up front and checked it and sure enough it wasn't clicked all the way in. Explains my idle and throttle issue. After that, I took her for a short rip and everything was fine. Drove into work this morning and still all good. Rides great! Now, just like when I replaced the transmission mount, the biggest improvements I noticed were how much smoother the shifts were and going over bumps. The drive-train vibration is still there, but greatly dissipated. I'm willing to except this level of vibration as a characteristic of the engine, but it was surely not 'normal' before.

So that's it. If this shows anything, it shows that it can be done by some dude and his bro in a driveway. If this information helps anybody then great. If I can answer any questions, I'll certainly do my best to. Thanks for following along!

 

[Nesc204]

Wow. Im going to get mine done when I get my engine rebuilt. Runs like a champ still but doing it to make New again. Rather rebuild than buy new

 

[rschap1]

AWESOME documenting of this.
Hope I never have to go through it, but nice to know what is involved if so.
Congrats on the fixing !!!

 

[mprice1234]

Real nice post and I'm sure someone will find it very useful! It won't be me, I'm way too old for my remaining limited memory to remember where to put everything back! If it comes to it someday, I'll just have to pay a stealership or local shop to do it.

 

[jondle]

You make me so happy I had mine done. Not beyond my skill, but beyond my free time capacity. A different mount on mine sheered completely off and allowed the engine enough movement to smash the headers into the frame, so I got a two-fer. Great post!

 

[PD1744]

You make me so happy I had mine done. Not beyond my skill, but beyond my free time capacity. A different mount on mine sheered completely off and allowed the engine enough movement to smash the headers into the frame, so I got a two-fer. Great post!

With everything there's a value scale where it makes sense to pay somebody to do things. I like to do jobs myself to have a better understanding of the value and then I can make a judgement on whether or not it's worth it to pay somebody what they are charging to do the job. With this one and quite a few jobs I've done, I managed to discover it's truly worth paying somebody else for their time to have it done.

Wild that yours was that far gone. This is a pretty smart design once I looked at it. They really tried to mitigate catastrophe with the allowable failure modes.

 

[raptor 702]

I've done mine twice without taking anything off the engine...
Y'all trippin