Engine Removal

The following steps are to remove a 360 V-8 engine from a 79 Wagoneer with a TH400 auto transmission and Quadra-trac and AC.  The total procedure took about 5 hours using a tractor loader to lift the engine out of the vehicle.

1. Remove the hood.  Mark the location of the bolts so the hood will be correctly positioned when you replace it.

2. Disconnect and remove battery.  After the battery is removed, the battery tray is a good place to set the AC compressor.

3. Drain and remove radiator and fan shroud.  The radiator and shroud are held in by 4 bolts.  Before removing the radiator, remove the top and bottom hoses, the transmission cooler lines, and the coolant overflow line.  Note: be careful with the fan shroud.  It is easily breakable. (I dropped mine and it shattered into 5 pieces)

4. Remove fan.  I have found that you need to remove the pulley on the water pump to get to one of the bolts that hold the AC bracket in place.

5. Loosen the alternator belt and remove alternator.  Removal of the alternator is necessary to get to some of the bolts that hold the AC bracket in place.   Remember to disconnect the wires to the alternator.

6. Loosen the power steering pump and remove the power steering belt.   The main  pulley on the water pump can be removed now.

7. Disconnect the lines to the charcoal canister and remove it.   Getting the canister lines out of the way makes it easier to get the AC compressor out of the way.

8. Loosen the AC compressor.  There are 3 bolts at the top of the compressor and 3 bolts (I think) at the bottom.  The bottom bolts are about 4" long since they also secure the water pump.  There is also a nut that has to be removed below the AC compressor.  Once the compressor is loose, you should be able to move it to the battery tray.

9. Disconnect the power steering hoses from the steering gear.  You might need a flare wrench or two to get the hoses loose.  One hose is a 18mm and the other is a 16mm.

10. Remove the starter.  The top bolt threads into the starter from the transmission side and can be difficult to loosen.

11. Remove the flexplate cover.  The cover is two pieces.

12. Unbolt the crossover pipe from the exhaust manifolds.  Although I did not do it, totally removing the crossover pipe might unbolting the transmission from the engine easier.

13. Unbolt and remove the passenger side exhaust manifold.  All the bolts except the back one are easy to access.  Unbolting the exhaust manifold will keep the heater core housing from being damaged when you lift the engine.

14. Verify that the transmission cooler lines are not bolted to the oil pan.  On my vehicle, one of the cooler lines was bolted in two locations to the oil pan.

15. Unbolt the converter from the flexplate.  The converter and the flexplate are held together by 3 bolts.

16. Remove the transmission to engine bolts.  There are 6 bolts, two at the very top, two about half way down and two at the bottom.  The two at the top can be reached from the top, the rest need to be reached from the bottom.  The very bottom two are 3/8" allen head.  The bottom bolt on the starter side can be difficult to remove since there is not much clearance for a wrench or socket because of the transmission modulator  and the way the transmission case is formed to clear the starter.

17. Support the transmission with a block on a floor jack.  This will keep the transmission level when you remove the engine and allow adjustments of the transmission height to be made to help when pulling the engine.

18. Remove the motor mount nuts.  There are two nuts per side that can be accessed from the underside of the engine.

19. Lift the engine.  I connected a chain to both sides of the front and a cable puller to the back of the engine.  The cable puller allows adjustments to the "tilt" of the engine while lifting.  You will have to lift the engine about 1" to 2" so the studs in the motor mounts clear the slots they bolted through.  Having the truck supported by the frame and not the wheels might be useful because you won't have to worry about the vehicle "rising" as the load is taken off the springs.  After the motor mount studs clear the slots, you should be able to move the engine forward.  Some adjustment of the height of the transmission and the tilt of the engine might be necessary.

Jeff Hess
Edgerton, MN
1989 Grand Wagoneer
1970 Wagoneer
196? J truck
1979 Wagoneer (now without engine)