As a female owner of two of these vans who is learning how to take care of them herself I would soooo appreciate a step by step tutorial from start to finish. I've just finished putting into them about 10-15k in maintenance to a mechanic for one of them to go down because needs a new transmission, and the other the master cylinder #3 flooded and killed the engine... so I'm told that needs to be replaced. As some who loves to learn how to do fix everything I appreciate all the information you've provided. Thank you!
I have several giant start-to-finish videos, organized in a playlist called...errr...start to finish. I've done transmission removal, and a few other other bigger jobs, but I haven't done a full engine swap video yet. But if your guy wants advice, email me at promastersonly@gmail.com and I can talk him through it. Nothing on this van is particularly difficult or different than any car, and in fact many things are easier.
Thank you for the reply! We bought everything from the dealership. I have all the timing tools I've done the repair in other platforms it's just looking at rear bank looks like it would be tough. I use a 36 mm oil filter sockets for the phaser bolts because they're pretty shallow and 3/8 drive to crack them loose... they're pretty tight. My biggest fear is getting enough Leverage to crack all those Phaser bolts loose on the rear head. At least the PCV valve is easier in a transverse mounted valve cover not like in the Wrangler no room at all. I'll watch the video thanks again for your reply
For the phaser bolts, you need the shallowest 36mm you can find, mostly because you’ll need to fit your torque wrench in when tightening. I think it’s 117 ft/lbs, and that kinda dictates a 1/2 drive torque wrench. Tips: you dont have to take the phaser actuators off the valve covers. Buy a Dorman PCV valve, and it comes with real bolts instead of those damn torx screws. On the rear head, you actually dont really need the banana tool thingy. Pull both phasers at once, do both cams, then put the rear phaser on w/chain. Using a crescent wrench on the rear cam flats, you can pull some slack in the chain and get the front phaser on, rather than relying on the tool to compress the tensioner. On the front bank tensioner, retract the foot, use the tool to compress the tensioner, and then there’s a hole in the top of the tensioner for a grenade pin. I use mechanics wire. If you have ape hands, you could put a jack under the trans diff area - tip the motor a little toward you to gain some clearance.
You sir are the bomb, I picked up a 2022 about 8 months ago and love the van. Watching your videos has given me great confidence in this platform. Keep up the good work, the world needs a whole lot more people like you!!!!
Cool stuff Kip thanks for the video. I think if you made a video about how easy it is to use ANY Pentastar or ANY 62TE for a Promaster it could be helpful. Lots of folks spending big money on....Promaster parts.
Thanks again for all of your help I think once I get that cabin air filter intake crap out of my way I think I'll be all right. I found the super shallow sockets they make for oil filter housing cartridges work great on those bolts they come in a variety from 24 mm up to 36 mm I think the ones I bought were gearwrench. When I do the pentastar in rear wheel drive application I just use an axle nut socket. But these shallow 3/8 ones work great in the Town & Country rocker arms that I've done in the past. I'm feeling a bit better about doing the job this morning. I actually dislike these pro masters I think it's stemming from working on sprinters because I hate those things too... one thing I have learned looking at taking the engine out of one of these it's pretty straightforward . Not a lot of crap to take off thanks to the subframe design you can just drop that whole thing right out the bottom with the transmission like the old North Star days when I work at Cadillac in the 90s thanks man have a great day I appreciate your help!
Engine outs are easy on this van. Jackstands, wheels even stay on, it just walks strait out from the front. We've done it before with engine and trans together, but I think it's more work since you have to take the axles out. I have a few videos showing engines coming in and out.
Honestly the only thing I really struggled with was those stupid plastic retaining Clips on the backside of the rear valve cover that hold the harness to the solenoids in place other than that 2 hours I got it all apart ready to jam the tools in the tensioner
It's actually easier to work on this thing than a 60s car, as crazy as that sounds. Repairs are easy, it's having a correct diagnosis that's difficult.
I have been blessed with a 2016 ProMaster city with a cam swap from a medical company and they have three more that they would like the work performed on. I have experienced I'm a professional technician 43 years now and I've done a handful of the Jeeps and Caravan cylinder heads that had valve problems in the past usually I drop those things out the bottom. This is the first time doing camshafts and lifters on a ProMaster there's just no room. I'm a big dude and I was watching this video we sold the job at 15 hours I'm a flat rate Tech do you think it would be quicker to drop the engine out the bottom and do the work I can't see holding all the phasers in place with the plastic holding tool and trying to torque all the cam caps on that rear cylinder head. Any advice? I don't want to be ripping and tearing all that work for 15 hours and lose my ass on the next two they want to bring in
Zero need to drop the engine out to do cams and lifters. Watch a video from Motorcity Mechanic called Pentastar Rocker arms. It requires $15 of special tools and that's it. Amazon sells them. Space isn't an issue on the promaster, it's actually roomier than the same job on a minivan. Remove the oval fresh air intake and you'll have tons of room. Job books at 8 hours, and the hardest part is getting the rear valve cover off. It'll take you 8 on the first one, 6 on future jobs. If the cam looks good it is good. Use ONLY dealership 296AH rockers, not Amazon counterfeits. Test each lifter by squeezing it - they should be rock hard. Replace if not.
Actually if don’t look like a total nightmare lol Mine is still a little rough idle. All new coil packs and plugs. Do have a code. Hope to pull it tonight. Thinking injectors?
@@promastersonly1419 P0302. It ran like new up to about 6 months ago. Then I started out with this same code. That’s when I found you . Right when I did all the coil packs and plugs. I did find the rubber boot off the air intake on the manifold. I have no idea how long that was off? No ticking at all. It takes off just fine. Times now and then it idles absolutely fine. No rhyme or reason. I’m thinking either carbon buildup or the injector has crap in it. I just cleared the code. I’m sure it will come back. I appreciate your professional advice.
It books at something like 20 hours, but I think that's crazy fast unless you've done it before. My first time, working solo and outside in March, it took me maybe 6 days of 4-5 hour sprints. With good weather, a solo guy could probably knock it out in 3 days. I have a bunch of time saver tips if you want to tackle it. Email me at promastersonly@gmail.com
Arrrgh matey, a comment for the Al Gore rhythm...I hope to never get this far with my '20, so far I'm averaging 1250 miles per year. Yep we're at 5000 miles. If I live long enough I'm well informed 😊
I believe it will retrofit into an older Promaster, but it would never work because the computer isn't set up for it. Nor would you want it to - the 9 speed is reported to NEVER get to 8th or 9th gear, and it's arguably less serviceable than the 6speed.
