Hi All

If i use a block of wood on my floor jack, can i use the engine pan to jack up the front of my 2004 s40 non turbo or will it crush the pan?

Thx

 

Yes, it will crush your oil pan. And possibly damage your engine mounts, which are designed to hold the weight of the engine in one direction, not the weight of the front of the car in the other.

Lots of other perfectly fine alternatives to lifting the front of your car without resorting to using the oil pan as a lift point... a floor jack and a couple cheap jackstands will do the job just fine, and will be a LOT less dangerous than not having jackstands (never, ever, ever get under a car supported by only a hydraulic jack - you're one O-ring failure away from being a pancake. ;-)

 

While it is fine to use a jack and block of wood to support the engine when doing some work, like the timing belt where the engine mount needs to be removed, you should not jack up any car by the engine. What's wrong with using the usual lift points?

 

I thought that would be the case, but the internet based workshop manual that I bought is a little ambiguous. It shows red circles for the 4 jacking point and a red X under the engine, so I wondered if the red X under the engine meant that it was also a jacking point, if it wasn’t a jacking point, why would they put the X? They don’t put a red X under the gas tank so why under the engine. My printer /scanner isn’t working. I will try to post a picture later.

 

The red X is there to scare off anyone who might think it was a good idea to support the car there.

 

Habbyguy, you are probably right. but i expect that more than a few peeps will think it might be ok to jack their as it is marked with "X marks the spot"

 

Or maybe X marks the bent oil pan? ;-)