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I recently was swapping to a baffled oil pan on my 02, but decided to inspect to ensure I had the updated bolts. I unscrewed one of them, confirmed that it was the newer style, and threaded it back in with a socket and long extension using my fingers....I had no issue getting that bolt threaded back in properly on my first attempt. Screwed in like butter. And this was on jackstands. Not trying to downplay the endeavors of others, but I think certain people are a little...dramatic in their descriptions of what they consider difficult.
Yeah you nailed that and you know for sure that mid '02 AP1's have the upgraded bolts already. I'll definitely be swapping new bolts into my '00 AP1 soon as I'm ready to drop and replace the pan. Long extension seems crucial to getting the bolts done right especially if you're on your back.
There is a fitting movie quote for this: "It's not possible." "No. It's necessary."
Do it on a lift if possible. Take your time, a long extension, a swivel for the bolt behind the oil pump, a lot of light, start the new bolts gentle with you fingers to avoid cross-threading. The torque is critical, use a good quality torque wrench.
Just be carfeull and take your time. Its not rocket sience. It´s just 4 bolts in a awkward postion.
It took about 15 minutes to change the bolts, slowly, extra carefull and even cheking the correct orientation of the oil jets with a borescope. Most time consuming was to remove and reinstall the oil pan.
No. The bolts you have marked are the bolts of the rod. The oil jet bolts are located more above and inside the engine, above the crankshaft. You have to turn the cranksahft by hand to get the best possible access.
Last edited by Mr.Matchbox; Sep 19, 2020 at 04:19 AM.
So these are the four bolts with the one labeled "1" as the offending one?
No. Those are connecting rod bolts. The oil jet bolts are much higher up than what you show in that picture, they sit just under the base of the cylinder bores. And the number one bolt is not visible in that picture as it sits above the oil pump parts on the very left of that picture.
The trouble they have was the bolt off cylinder one behind the oil pump. Was this the one you unscrewed & reinstalled?
No, definitely not, lol. I already knew that bolt was a pain in the ass. For a simple inspection I removed the much easier one, I believe from cylinder 3, but realistically 2-4 will be the same, everything just happened to be oriented in a way that that particular jet bolt was easily visible and accessible, so that's the one I removed.
Someone mentioned threading "each of them in and out several times"....I find that pretty bizarre, but everyone has varying results working on their cars, regardless of skill level....a job that might not give me an issue may give others a nightmare, and vise-versa.
All that being said, I WAS prepared and had the updated jet bolts on stand-by in case mine happened to be an 02 in the range that didn't receive them, but if I had to do the job I wouldn't find it too difficult on jackstands. Yes, the #1 bolt can be tricky, but with a wobble and a long extension it's doable. I try not to overthink these things too much and let other people's horror stories get into my head. Just take your time, thread the bolts in by hand until they stop, ensure the jet assemblies are oriented properly with their little indexing tabs in their recesses, and torque to 12 ft/lbs preferably with a digitial torque wrench that actively displays the torque number while you tighten the bolt vs a click-style.
It's not a difficult procedure by any means, my cautionary comments were in regard to the suggestion of doing the job in a parking lot, that is not the place to do something like this IMO. I did mine in my garage on jackstands. The oil pan removal is easy, there is a proper procedure to get the gasket sealer to mate up properly upon installation, if anyone wants to know it just ask.
Thread everything in by hand only - hand on the extension and socket. I do know a couple of people that messed up the threads because they chose to use a ratchet on the tools instead of their hands when it came to starting the bolts. The reason I had to thread them in and back them off was because I wasn't getting the bolts started properly, so they were binding up on me. The fine threads of the bolts (.75) combined with my working position was causing delays in getting the bolts started properly. If you feel the bolts bind up, back them off and start them again, if you put a tool on them after they bind it will damage the threads in the block.
