Have the car up to do a few things; wheels are off... I want to warm up the engine and gearbox in order to drain the oil -- can this be safely done on the lift? I'm thinking vibrations and such as the car idles for ~10-15 min to get warm?
Yeah I wouldn't do that personally. Just drain the oil as is or drive it beforehand. Awfully dangerous IMHO. I'm sure others would argue that its fine if securely supported, but I wouldn't do it. Two post lift? Jack stands?
Jackstands right now but I have access to the lift as well... I figure I'll remove the undertray and body panel as it sits on stands, then put the wheels back on quickly, drop it and run it to temp, then lift it and drain the fluids?
I agree with Curt. Dive it, lift it, drain it, drop it, fill it. What objective are you trying to achieve by starting a car on a lift? Before I went too far with this, I would find out if your insurance covers something like you car coming off a lift you are operating the lift. A shop has insurance for this type of thing, do you? ceb39
I say drain the old cold and move on with the project. You wont get it all out when its cold but I bet its most of it. If you are worried, then re-change the oil after a few thousand miles instead of waiting the normal interval.
You are willing to work under it but not run it???? On a hoist it is pretty routine to run a car, take it through the gears and run up to triple digit speeds on the hoist. We put them all the way up running, sometimes in gear and work under them. Just stay away from any moving parts. When I am wrapping up a major, about the last 30 - 45 minutes it is on the hoist it is running so I can leak check everything and get it all up to temp to do all the tests before I put any of the access panels back on. I was in the shop with 5 cars all the way up on hoists during the Loma Prieta earthquake (7.1 Richter scale) and just watched them all shake around. Lots of stuff fell over but not the cars.
Ah I see.. supported by 4 jack stands. It could be argued that Jack stands versus wheels its still supported either way. I'm just super careful when I'm under my car or have it lifted up.
Thanks -- since this is a first time doing this on a 360 I may just put the wheels on and start it while it's at the lowest point on the lift (with the wheels on and obvioulsy in neutral) just to monitor the behavior. The reason for running the car while up is that parts need to be taken off the car (bumper, undertray) after which -- if draining fluids or checking for leaks, the car should be running...
I drove my car to my indie mechanic and he just put it on jack stands to remove the under tray then up on the lift to drain the transmission fluid. Still warm so drained just fine. Instead of removing the bumper I would just cut a hole in the differs so you can remove the strainer. I cut a 2⅜" diameter hole opposite the strainer and purchased a plug from Ricambi (the one that covers the holes in the luggage compartment to access the front bumper bolts -- it's the perfect size). Makes doing the service so much easier. Alan
Do you have the part number for the plug you got at Ricambi? I'm contemplating doing the same for my rear bumper as the process of dropping the damn thing just to change the screen seems very complicated to me. Thanks.
