Main Bearing Support Plate- removal help

wildo

Member
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Mazda Protege5
This seems obvious, but I'd rather be safe than sorry- having my crankshaft fall out on my head... You can remove the MBSP with the engine still in the car, correct? It is a support plate, but it doesn't hold the main bearings themselves; so the crank should still be held in with it's own bolts, right?

'03 P5 FSDE

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Geez... How can RTV hold this well!? Any suggestions for getting this off the block??
 
The crank will not fall off. There are main caps that hold it on under the Support Plate. There are some bolts in the middle and those two hidden by the transmission. Came off really easy for my donor block.
 
AGGGGGGHHHHH!!! I'm pretty s*** out of luck right now. I was able to cut the RTV on the front side of the engine, but I can't get to the back. And this thing is not budging! So even if I put it all back together, I'd be squirting oil out the front seam. Damn it, how can it be so hard to get this off?? I must be missing a bolt, but I don't see one anywhere!
 
Wait... what is the word "bolt" indicating here?
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That location is the bottom of the transmission. Are there two bolts literally inside the tranny??
 
FINALLY, after MUCH searching, I found a pic. Looks like if I can just separate the tranny a bit, I might be able to get to these bolts. **** YOU mazda for doing this...

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I don't know if you got it off yet. But I drilled two holes in the transmission bell housing to get to those bolts. Use a 1/4 drive and the thinnest 10mm socket I could find. Here's a pic:
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Interesting! No, I haven't got it out yet. No issues with aluminum shavings in the bell housing? And I take it you used those "pegs" there as guides?

...I'm in the process of pulling the tranny. This would sure save a s*** ton of time...
 
I have no idea how you accomplished that. The flywheel is in the way. Even in your pics, you can see the flywheel... Crap!
 
I have no idea how you accomplished that. The flywheel is in the way. Even in your pics, you can see the flywheel... Crap!

If you look at the flywheel, there are slots that are grooved into it, so that when aligned vertically they give you access to the two bolts. You need to use the starter to turn it slightly until they line up.

Two ways of accessing them, pry the trans case a little (longer but better way) or drill two holes in the trans bellhousing (faster but not recommended way)
 
If you look at the flywheel, there are slots that are grooved into it, so that when aligned vertically they give you access to the two bolts. You need to use the starter to turn it slightly until they line up.

Two ways of accessing them, pry the trans case a little (longer but better way) or drill two holes in the trans bellhousing (faster but not recommended way)

Well, I *just* finished getting the trans unbolted and moved over (after drilling the holes, but not realizing about the half moon access notches in the flywheel. s***... haha- there's a massive waste of time. It sure would have been nice of Mazda to document, you know, any of this in the service manual.

But I digress... Looks like (hopefully) smooth sailing from here. Thanks guys!
 
Because someone else will eventually want to do this, here's a pic for reference:
 

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Yea Mazda's way of making things harder LOL. Yea I was trying to tell you about the two bolts hidden by the trans/flywheel in my first post. Should have included a picture as reference.
 
After dealing with it once, your first post makes perfect sense. Hind sight's 20/20. I guess it was a fun learning experience (or maybe not) haha!
 
eesh, I must have gotten lucky with the half moon access thing, cause I didn't have to move the flywheel at all. I have an atx tho, so there may be a difference...
 
Because someone else will eventually want to do this, here's a pic for reference:

hey Wildo, im in the same situation right now hahaha. did you had to take the shafts off the tranaxle or did you manage to pry the tranaxle alittle to manage to get to the 2 bolts???
 
hey Wildo, im in the same situation right now hahaha. did you had to take the shafts off the tranaxle or did you manage to pry the tranaxle alittle to manage to get to the 2 bolts???

holy crap!! talk about bringing a post back from the dead, i'm in the same situation too but u beat me 12hrs before i would have posted. i first tried loosening some of the tranny bolts but it didnt budge so i drilled the holes like in the pics. now i need to move the flywheel into position to access the nuts. i didnt temove transaxles, but had to take off the crossmember, the verticle bar (forgot what its called) and J-pipe.
 
Hello guys, I've got the same problem, had a big oil leak on my old man's car, I've tried to remove the lower girdle but I can't get to the last two bolts, how do you separate the casing from the engine so I can access the bolts without drilling holes, do I have to remove the trans from the engine or can I just separate it enough to get some room there?

Car has 400,000km on the clock.

Regards
Damo
 
If you look at the flywheel, there are slots that are grooved into it, so that when aligned vertically they give you access to the two bolts. You need to use the starter to turn it slightly until they line up.

Two ways of accessing them, pry the trans case a little (longer but better way) or drill two holes in the trans bellhousing (faster but not recommended way)

Do I need to remove cv shafts to pry tranny back enough?
 
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