[QUOTE=foolio,Sep 12 2004, 02:35 AM] The point under xviper's jack is soft.

Feel free to try for yourself.

 

racer and 124 spider went back and forth over what the owner's manual and shop manual say is the correct place to jack the car. This was, in part, spurred by my posting x-viper's photo and asking if it was wrong. Since I was going to jack the car for the first time, I wanted to get it right. Well, I guess I was being pretty lazy -- I have both manuals and never opened either one to check. The How-To oil change was so explicit, with great photos, there didn't seem to be any reason to check until 124Spider began this thread.

So, here you go -- owner's manual and shop manual side-by-side:

Owner's Manual:


These diagrams seem to make no clear distinction between the two front jacking points, until you "study" (did they really think people would pick up on this??) the 3 diagrams -- (8.) and (9.) do show the jack much closer to the door than the wheel well, but (7.) is completely vague. But it does say that there is an arrow molded into the underside of the body pointing to the correct jacking point -- really? No such arrows on my car.

Shop Manual:


As 124Spider pointed out, the shop manual is pretty clear about where the jack belongs -- point "B" is under the second flange.

Sorry for beating a dead horse, but I too have put the jack in the wrong place (different car) and caused damage and was trying to avoid doing it again. Yesterday I used a floor jack on the rear and placed a jack stand under the second flange by the front. All went smoothly, but I do have another question: is it safe to have the one side of the car resting on only one jack stand in the front with both wheels off the ground? I didn't like the looks of it, so I kept the floor jack raised under the rear.

 

Holly crap! I have never been more confused about jacking a car up before....

 

I was confused about the correct front jack point when I purchased my S as well. From all the reading I have done (I don't think I read through this post), The 2nd jack point up front should be used when possible. The front point will support the car just fine (in fact you can jack the car up anywhere along the frame rail), just don't use it if you care about bending it.. because it will bend.

edit: because I don't want to bend the front most point, I never use it. This might raise some safety issues since its never suggested to work under the car without a jack stand. To combat this, I always use a jack stand under the end of the car I am working on. For example, if I am working up front, I jack from the rear high enough to fit a jack stand under the front (2nd) jack point.. and vice versa for the rear. This way if the jack fails, I will be in little danger.

 

It seems to be alittle scary jacking the car up by its differential. Its totally safe??? I have a nail in one of the rear wheels. I have a crazy big jack that will support the car with no problems and it even has a rubber pad so nothing will scratch but it seems like a weird place to jack a car up.

 

The Honda shop manual gives the differential housing as a jack point. It's very, very solid.

And, just to emphasize, I would never get under a car not supported by jackstands.

 

I do it all the time. It is totally safe.

The one caveat is that you should use a jack with a rubber pad, rather than bare metal.

 

so what IS the purpose of the first "soft" jacking point? why didn't Honda just make them both the same thickness/size? seems like it would've been much less confusing ...

 

i jack up my car by the diff to raise the rear up, and then jack the car up under the transmission to get the front up.

 

this thread is a bit confusing