Hey guys,
My 2006 vibe with a 1zz-fe and a 5 speed blew a connecting rod through the side of the block.
I bought a used engine to put it. I'm pulling the blown engine from the top. Everything is disconnected, and the engine is loose, but it appears to be blocked by the passenger side axle shaft. We've disconnected the strut (but not the tie rod end or ball joint), and there is space for the axle to push outward. It appears the transaxle side has moved a little bit, but we have been unable to coax it out far enough to remove the engine.
Thoughts? Are we missing something? I've heard some Vibes can have the engine pulled without removing any axle shafts - since breaking for the evening, I wondered if maybe we need to have the shaft rotated to the right spot so the engine passes by a flat spot on the diameter of the cv joint.
If we have to pull the axle shaft - how do you do it? I have a hard time imagining that the wheel end is keeping it in at this point, as we see no movement on the transaxle side, and we can still extend the wheel end. Speaking of which, we pulled the inner joint apart (no damage to the boot) - is there any harm in just pushing it back together, or do we have to pop the boot to line up balls/bearings?
Thanks in advance,
Scott