Needing to remove the engine on my 03 Freelander for rebuild. RAVE service manual only show removal procedure for removing the engine and transmission together as one assembly. However the trans section shows trans removal while leaving the engine in! Don't want to pull the trans unless I really have to - lot of extra parts to remove. Appears that I should be able to pull just the engine by removing the flexplate to converter bolts and engine to trans bolts and then supporting the bottom of the trans case when pulling the motor (after removing all the required components and brackets of course). Anybody have experience or tips on this?

 

The transmission can fall away from the engine with the IRD in place, but the engine can't slip by the IRD going down. The engine won't fit going out the top unless you take parts off. You have to lift the gaylander up about 30 inches to get everything to clear when you take it out the bottom. A car lift helps a lot. After you go through the rave steps, you can lower the car down enough where the transmission and engine will rest on a few 4 x 4 wood blocks. You can then lift the car up, and slide it out the front.

I like to take the engine and transmission out together for repairs even if it's only head gaskets. It's much easier to work on, and only takes about 5 hours to drop it out the bottom. Make sure you drain the autobox fluid before pulling the axles or it will be a mess.

 

Thanks for the info. Never thought about taking it out from the bottom. Seems to save taking off all the electrical boxes on top. Problem is I don't have a garage right now and would be hard to support and lift the body outside. The intake and one head were off when I got it. Will pull the other head so is just a bare block to pull out. May just try to support the trans and IRD real good and pull the block from the top. Then I can rebuild it in my nice heated workshop over the winter and tackle reinstalling in the spring. See that you have reset liners on one of yours. Where is a good source of info on fixes to prevent liner slippage? Always thought the were epoxied in but according to the rave manual, the are tapered and pressed in from the top and are removed with the pistons. I have rebuilt a lot of different engines but this is the first freelander. The split block design seems similar to some 4-cyl GM engines that I have done

 

The liners are a slip fit into the block and use a bead of hylomar to seal the coolant. If the engine gets cooked due to coolant loss, the liners will push in to the block if they get hot enough. If they stick up above the block .002 you are good to go. Skim the heads flat regardless as they form an indentation around the gasket fire ring. You can pull the liners and pistons without taking the crank girdle off and save buying the stretch bolts. You must use new stretch bolts on the heads though, as they get weak when you twist them out.

Check liners carefully for cracks. If the head gasket went, and if engine hydro locked it may crack the liner towards the top. Check ends of cams for cracks where the sprockets bolt on. Clean the threads down to the bottom of the hole and use new M8 bolts. You need special tools to hold the cams but you can find them used on UK EBay for cheap.

Have fun it is a good engine, likes to spin and with the jatco box in manual it will go like hell.