Why can't I disconect the engine from the trany?

[kit]

Hi All,

Over the weekend I stripped all the ancillaries off my 97 d90 in order to have the chassis galvanized to learn that I couldn't for the life of me seperate the engine from the trany. once i disconnected all the neccesary bolts and lifted the engine with an engine lift the transmission wouldn't come apart from the engine.

what's going on here? the manual tells me that the car must be in neutral... is this my problem? if so, how do i tell it's in neutral now that i can't role it, etc?

Is there an easier way to do this?

Any help would be great... thanks in advance all.

Kit

[evilfij]

torque converter bolts?

Ron

[rover4x4]

hmm.. there are quite a few bolts holding things together under there. what about the bell housing?

[neo812]

If it doesn't come loose with just a little persuasion ,you still have a bolt or 2 in there. A lot of times I drive a thin gasket scraper in between them in a few places. The oxidation can hold them together pretty tightly. Do this prior to lifting on the engine. If you place to much upward pressure on the output shaft it can bind. If you get a small gap ,just lift it above the mounts and keep working it loose.Be careful not to gouge the aluminum.

[scot]

Ron is right about the torque converter bolts. On most automatic transmissions there is an access hole or slot...and when you turn the crankshaft over the bolts will appear one by one...you have to remove all of them. Lots of people who have pulled only manual transmissions get hung up by this...because there is no torque converter.

[kit]

All your posts were really helpful...
In fact, I think I forgot the bolts inside the assess hole on the drive shaft.
That's what I get for trying to do everything at once.

Thanks everybody. I'll let you know how it goes.

Kit

[kit]

well, you were right... but i'm still stuck.

i realized that i hadn't disconnected the 4 drive plate bolts that secure the drive plate to the converter.
however, this still didn't do it.

i then realized (from the factory 97 d-90 manual) that there were 6 additional bell housing to engine bolts that the manual mentions.
now, I'm almost positive that I removed these but maybe not... where are they? I can't find the 6 bolts that the manual is reffering to.
any ideas?