I'm working on replacing the oil cooler lines on my 96 blazer 4x4. The line(s) to the radiator are easy enough, but the line(s) from the adapter to the engine are giving me a problem.

I cannot get the old one out. I came back to the forum and found some posts, but only 1 post offers a solution... to jack up the engine under the oil pan.

I do NOT want to end up damaging the pan or ending up with a NEW leak at the oil pan, so my question is...

IS THERE A BETTER, SAFER way to jack the engine up?

Or is this what everybody does to change the oil cooler lines???

I'm guessing about an inch or so will work. I don't know how much space I will gain with the engine mounted / bolted down.

How much space should I expect to gain?

Thanks!

 

Well unless your motor mounts are broken you wont gain a lot of room. And for jacking up the engine, idk if it will work for this engine because its heavier, but on a 4runner i jacked up the engine from the back right on the bell housing and it worked alright.

 

I just cannot figure out how to get the old oil cooler line out and the new one in...

Have you changed yours yet?

The FSM is absolutely a waste on this (and the trans dip tube too). It says unbolt the old and bolt on the new. Duh? But HOW?

 

Assuming your current motor mounts are still intact (which is doubtful) place a 2x6 on your jack and place it under the oil pan and lightly apply some pressure. Unbolt the transmission mount, remove the 2 engine mount bolts and then you should be able to jack up the motor the 1" you need. If your engine mounts are trashed you don't even need to remove the motor mount bolts... Watch for clearance between the engine fan/ shroud and your distributor and the firewall. Then at this point you could go about it two ways. You can use 3 feet of extensions and a u-joint adapter on a socket wrench and get at the bolt holding the line to the block adapter. Or you could remove the entire block adapter (2 bolts going straight up from the bottom) and replace the o-ring and fiber gasket between the block and adapter as well. Neither is fun!

 

I just cut mine in sections, ripped it out and slowly and patiently worked the new one in. Removing the tranny inspection cover gave me lots of room

 

i jack up on oil pans all the time. just make sure you use wood to cushion it and of course make sure the motor mount bolts are out.

another tip is make sure your transmount isnt broken. hate to see that thing shift backwards or forwards... good luck lining everything back up.

if you can get at the harmonic balancer you may be able to use that as a jacking point. i usually do that on ford 5.0 engines or other vehicles that require the engine to be lifted while changing the oil pan