I bought an engine from an engine dealer in Long Beach to replace my motor in my G35. My mechanic asked me if the engine was from a MT. I the called the dealer and they told me that there was no difference. My mechanic is now having problems installing the engine and saying that the pilot bearing is different on the auto vs manual. Has anyone experienced this challenge?

 

Yes, the Pilot bearing is different. You will need to remove the large steel pilot bushing for the AT transmission from the crankshaft, then install a new MT Pilot bushing. The easiest way to remove the AT steel bushing is with a blind bearing puller.

 

You can also do the grease or bread and socket method.

 

OMG. That sounds like a massive amount of work that would have been unnecessary if the company selling the engine would have simply asked if my car was an automatic or manual. I'm going to end up spending rebuilt engine money for a used engine.
Well thank you guys for the information.

Urbanengineer, I am very curious about this grease or bread and socket method. Can you gimme a brief description?

 

it’s less work than you’d expect. it’s pushing something, bread or grease, behind the bearing and forcing something down the center, a bolt in this case. This pushes the bearing out.

Engine sellers typically don’t remove pilot bearings, this is normal.

 

The difference between that bushing that he’s removing in the video and the VQ35 bushing is that there’s a bit of a ridge for that bread to push against in the video, the VQ35 there’s barely a tiny ridge sticking past the bore in the crankshaft. I have read numerous stories of people trying the bread method and saying it doesn’t work, but I 100% guarantee you a blind bearing puller will work after about four taps of the slide hammer.

 

You're doing an engine swap....

 

It's super common and super easy, you sure you took your car to the right shop? This is literally kindergarten level engine swap stuff. An automatic transmission doesn't use a pilot bushing, they use a plug/line up bearing for the crank. Literally every engine does this and swapping them is a 1-5 minute job for a competent mechanic.

Even if you have to drill and tap a hole in the automatic transmission plug to get a slide hammer on it if it's really stuck in there it's a 10 minute job.

 

First of all, thank you guys for the valuable information. I shared your advice with my mechanic and he was able to pull the pilot bearing in a short period of time. Quick backstory: I let my girlfriend borrow my G35 to run to San Marcos to see her daughter. I didn't check the oil because somehow, I thought it had enough oil for the trip. Wrong! That engine could easily burn a quart to 2 quarts of oil a month depending on how much it's driven. Two holes in the case while doing about 75mph on the 78 frwy. She pulled over quickly and didn't see one drop of oil coming for the holes in the engine. I got a referral from a friend to take the car to this mechanic. Outside of the pilot bearing slip up, he installed the new/used engine without any other issues and it runs great. I have had it about 3 weeks now and the oil level has not changed and is still clear.
Thanks again guys, I appreciate the advice and support.

 

Why is an engine swap so laughable?

 

My comment was in regards to you saying "OMG that sounds like a massive amount of work" when you're doing an engine swap. Of course its a massive amount of work